What are the benefits of download-pages?

[PSiegmann]

Hi newsgroup.

Sites which host a large download archive (think download.com) often
times don't give you a desired file directly, but redirect you to a
page, where you wait usualy 5 secs, and then the download appears..

What is the benefit of that? Why not offer the file immediately.. is
it for performance? I ask, because I am currently working on a site,
which will host too some sort of download-archive. My current design
is to give the file immediately out, without the 5 sec wait on a
redirection page.

 

[Michael Nemtsev]

Hello (e-mail address removed),

To avoid file to be downloaded directly by download managers and to get $
from the shown commercials
When u got on the new page the number of commercials are shown and you need
to wait - examine this ads and maybe clicking on smth

---
WBR, Michael Nemtsev [.NET/C# MVP].
My blog: http://spaces.live.com/laflour
Team blog: http://devkids.blogspot.com/

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we
miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it" (c) Michelangelo

 

[Patrice]

It allows to do whatever you want programmatically (for example a big site
could perhaps switch to one fo the mutiple download servers or something)
before sending the file to the browser...