Page Updated: 23 February 2012
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Dreamhost has recently changed the way you can access movies after you have bought them, intended to beef up their security. Instead of receiving a temporary password in an e-mail to access new purchase(s), you must now log into your own Files Forever account to perfom the download, irrespective of which e-mail address you may have used to make a new purchase. Your account information is the e-mail address you used for your user ID when you first opened your account, together with the password you created at that time, assuming you have not updated it since. If you have updated it, obviously use the curent version. If you can't log into your account, you will not be able to access your new movie or your past purchases.

If you have forgotten your password and request that a reminder is e-mailed to you by the system, and that message does not arrive, it means it is being sent to a different e-mail address - to the one you used to open the account and not the one you may be using now. This is a warning to keep your account setup details safe, because WE CANNOT RETRIEVE THEM FOR YOU. This can only be done by the staff at Dreamhost, and that means providing them with a lot of information to verify your identity, and will inevitably lead to a significant delay before you can access your purchase.

If, after reading this help page, you are still having a problem with your download, please write to us at [email protected] and we will assist you if we can. A word of caution: If you simply don't bother reading the instructions here and send us an abusive e-mail accusing us of scamming you, or even "Hey dude, this is really pissing me off!" you will NOT receive a reply. We don't have the time or the inclination to go through the tortuous process of trying to assist uncommunicative knuckleheads.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU PAY
You will receive an e-mail from Dreamhost/Files Forever which looks like the example below.

Hey there!

Your credit card was just charged $9.95, and so you now have the file
"MOVE_NAME_APPEARS_HERE" available to download at:

https://files.dreamhost.com/168930/MOVE_NAME_APPEARS_HERE

You'll be able to access this file from that URL forever!

* It's a permanent online archival backup of the file.
* You can download and re-download it as many times as you want.

If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it at:
https://panel.dreamhost.com/login/forgot.cgi

Enjoy!
Dave North

What the message does not stress is that YOU MUST LOG IN to your Files Forever account before you can access your purchase. Clicking on the link in the e-mail will take you back to the purchase page. That's when you need to log in and the purchase button will be replaced by a link which says "Download this file now!" as in the example below. Click on any of the images here for a larger picture:

A caution about using that download link. Instead of merely clicking on Download this file now! , which may seem the logical thing to do, it's best to click on it while pressing the right button on your mouse. This makes a dropdown menu appear in your browser. From the options in that dropdown window, select "Save File As" or "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" (the wording depends on which web browser you use), and the download will start. This step bypasses any configuration issues on your computer which might cause the movie to play online rather than downloading. If you are using a Mac computer, you need only press the OPTION key and click on the link to start the download.

SEEING EARLIER PURCHASES WHEN YOU BUY AGAIN - YOU'RE NOT PAYING TWICE
Some customers have written after making a purchase because they see their previous purchases listed when they go to download their new movie, and worry that they have been charged twice. This is not the case. Files Forever is literally that - you will see all your purchases listed when you log in, and they will remain available to you forever. If you lose or delete movies and then want to recover them, you can re-download them without being charged again. Compare this with Clips4Sale's 48-hour access policy! All we ask is that you don't give other people access to your password - the movies you buy are yours to keep, but despite what Files Forever may seem to suggest, they are NOT copyright free and not yours to circulate or re-sell. Doing this would harm our business, and if that happens, there will be fewer new movies, and eventually perhaps none at all. We're trying to be fair with you, so please be fair with us.

DREAMHOST STORAGE FEES - THERE ARE NO STORAGE FEES
Some customers have written to ask how to close their Dreamhost account because they do not want to be charged storage fees for their movies. DREAMHOST DOES NOT CHARGE YOU STORAGE FEES . It may seem too good to be true, but it is true; you have access to your movies on your Dreamhost account forever at no charge. The only time you will ever pay is when you make your initial purchase of a movie.