Fansubbers & Direct Downloads

Back in 2007 I posted about ADC Fansubs starting to offer direct downloads as an alternative to torrents. Back then it was a surprising turn of events, because so far torrents had really been the only alternative. Now, the majority of fansub groups offer direct downloads instead of torrents. They do this not only as a service to the users but also often to make money themselves, as many file hosts give a share of revenue to the uploaders for every X amount of downloads they get. It's not a bad turn of events though, direct downloads obviously have many advantages compared to torrents.

It made me think, when did this trend start? Could ADC have been the first fansubbing group to offer direct downloads? If not, who was first? At the time there were already plenty of websites offering large directories of anime downloads, but not the fansub groups themselves, that took much longer. Does anybody out there know the answer? Is there any fansubbing group dating pre-2007 with a history of direct downloads I don't know about? Let the world know. Comment.