A user of the JoelOnSoftware forum recently posed this question. Since we use S3, we’ll explain how we see the advantages. For those who don’t know, at FastSpring we offer a fast, reliable, and secure global file distribution network which utilizes Amazon.com’s S3 bandwidth service to ensure your buyers have a smooth and trouble-free file download experience.
S3 has been great in our experience and according to a number of our clients. The biggest advantage is multiple servers. There are also some capabilities with S3 that would be a pain to implement by oneself. For trial downloads it isn’t an issue, but for post-purchase downloads, S3 makes it easier to do time and attempt limited downloads, so that you can give a customer a URL and not worry about it being posted or shared too much, as it will only work for a few days or attempts (configurable).
As Amazon continues to build out a network around the world, I think you could eventually see S3 being comparable to the distributed speed and quality of something like Akamai.
