Upload to a directory which is not below webroot

Hi

FCKeditor does a great job to style the content. I want the user to upload the files to a directory which is not under webroot (and so inaccessible to general public). The main idea is to allow the user to upload the files to a folder, and feed the downloads thru a php page (for tracking, authentication etc) Once file is uploaded, the CMS content manager changes the url to something like /downloads.php?file=<uploaded file name>

I tried absolutepath but it doesnt work. I hope theres a quick solution to this. Only option I can think of is: put an .htaccess in the webroot/files/ folder. But not before trying other options.

cheers