“Nothing has changed the way I use computers in the last few years more than Dropbox. The ability to get at my files from anywhere has made a huge difference. But it’s the cloud — not Dropbox specifically — that has made the difference,” Larry Seltzer writes for BetaNews. “Any cloud storage service that also supported all the platforms I need would do as well… wouldn’t it?”
“About a year ago I gave Box and Google Drive serious attempts. I thought Box’s software was awful. Google Drive was OK as was SkyDrive, but at the time Dropbox seemed the best deal because the software was drop-dead simple and many of the people I was working with already used it,” Seltzer writes. “I have a 200GB Dropbox account, the subscription for which expires in October, so I thought I would re-evaluate things.
Seltzer writes, “It’s also worth mentioning that many people instinctively think of Apple’s iCloud for such comparisons, but iCloud isn’t really a cloud service in the same way as this. Think of iCloud more as a set of synchronization protocols, along with some specialized feature backup, and you’ll understand it better… The one thing I’m sure I’ll do is move from Dropbox. For the top dollar that it charges, it doesn’t offer much that’s special. Its software is still really good, but all the others are at least close now. It’s time to move on.”
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
I’d LOVE to drop DropBox and instead PAY for space on iCloud. But Apple’s iCloud has to CATCH UP to DropBox first.
As an original paying and continual member of .Mac and MobileMe, I currently have 25 GB of iCloud space. However, I cannot figure out how to use more than just a few GB due to iCloud being so damned HOBBLED and difficult to use.
I like what iCloud does! But I require A LOT more. Therefore, my use of Box and DropBox will continue.
Yup.
Dropbox has recently evolved past simple file storage. It now has “container” storage for applications to store data in an unstructured table-like format. This provides application developers with a fool-proof way of sync data across devices without building their own platform.
I’m staying with Dropbob I use it more and more all the time.
Sorry,meant Dropbox.
I thought Box’s software was awful.
What’s awful about Box is that it ONLY allows DOS compatible names AND the fact that it is UNIX package ILLITERATE. That means a slew of characters are VERBOTEN and anything other than a flat file will NOT be sent to their servers. I hate that. 😛
However, seeing as Box handed me 50GB of FREE space, I do my best to use it, ONLY for flat files. Therefore, it has my personal library of documentation, none of which requires encryption security.
IDEAL would be ALL the services of DropBox AS WELL AS client-side encryption folded into iCloud. I am literally WAITING to pay for that service! So hand it over Apple! Catch up!!!
I’m super happy with iTunes match. Tons of songs and photos backed up makes me a happy camper. Also, if you delete your crappy mp3 super-compressed version of a song and then redownload it from iTunes match, you get a pristine high quality file on your hard drive…I still haven’t converted all my songs yet tho.
I do wish they’d offer separate space with a dropbox-esque folder for my Adobe files though.
… But what if you have too much music?
Do you have more than 25,000 songs? If so I’m not sure what service you should use. I have 14,071 songs (just checked from my iPad) and can listen/download anyone of them (data charges may apply). The other benefit and the best one of all, IMO, is all of these are also available on every other Apple device provided it’s connected to the same Apple ID. For $25 a year this is a steal. My only gripe is the 10 device limit.
Actually you can easily have more than 25,000 songs in iTunes Match — songs you bought from the iTunes Store don’t count against that total. So say you have 25,000 pirated songs (shame!) and you put them into iTunes Match. You now have 25,000 *legal* songs, the artist gets paid for them each time you stream/re-DL them, *plus* any songs you buy from iTunes going forward don’t count toward your total.
There are still some people who would have a problem with this, but for 98% of the world, 25K songs is more than they will even HEAR in their lifetimes, let alone own a copy of …
Drop box is cool, but it is expensive from a GB-per-dollar perspective. If they actually convince you to drop money on their service, it should be a massive amount of space … and a much cheaper cost of entry.
Users should never need to look for reasons to stay, but rather it should be difficult to leave.
What keeps me with dropbox is the built in support from several of the apps I use. If those apps could take advantage of, say, iCloud storage, I would leave dropbox. But as I understand it, iCloud is MUCH more difficult to program for.
So the statements about Apple needing to catch up are valid.
It’s not that iCloud is more difficult, it’s that the database syncing simply doesn’t work.
My problem with Dropbox is it puts software on my computer that I know nothing about:
Where is it?
How does it work?
How much access does it have to information on my computer?
How much of my information is it collecting and sending for purposes that I did not request and would not approve if I knew about it?
A little paranoid are we ?
Ah, but is he paranoid *enough*?
I am hearing great things about a company called SpiderOak.
All my devises are Apple, but I love Dropbox for my documents.
I LOVE Dropbox, but they need to have something between free and very expensive. They can dramatically increase their users (and income) by doing so.
Have you tried Copy? I’ve been impressed by them and greater storage although they don’t have the same amount of third party developer support as Dropbox yet…
Time to drop Dropbox? No.
Dropbox is great, just too darn expensive. Personally, I’m rolling my own with OwnCloud, which is free, just provide your own server, or rent a hosted server, seedbox, or even dedicated OwnCloud hosting providers. It’s fast, multi-platform and you can measure stuff in TBs if you want. The only downside is that it doesn’t have as much app integration as Dropbox, which is still #1 in this regard. However, as OwnCloud adoption grows, this could change. See http://owncloud.org
iCloud is not a “hard disk in the sky”. I use Dropbox for that, which replaces the iDisk I used prior to it being discontinued by Apple. Dropbox does the job. iCloud does the job. I’m happy with both for different purposes that each serves.
The main problem with Dropbox is that they need to AT LEAST double the entry free space. Copy(.com) gives you 15GB, Mega gives you 50GB.
I like their platform a lot, but can’t find much use for it until they charge a LOT less for the space upgrades, and no I’m not whoring myself out to get more.
I have accounts on google drive, box, sugarsync, iCloud and a few others that I’ve completely given up on.
Dropbox is the only one that has always just kept chugging along. No mysterious disappearing files, no refusals to upload something with no explanation of what exactly in that filename is so obnoxious. It just keeps on syncing. Yank out the plug in the middle of a sync and it will pick up where it left off the last time.
You can’t put a price on that.
People NEED to be aware that Box wipes out creation-date EXIF data on files. For organisations and businesses that rely on creation-date to sort their Finder and Windows Explorer, Box wipes out that information. Box’s forum had people complaining about this a year ago, and as of July 2013, still nothing done.
I’ve been using Copy for few months and I have to admit, it’s better than Dropbox and Google Drive
They give you 15GB of free space – 20GB if you sign up via this link: https://copy.com/home?signup=1&r=TFhA0U- with a further 2GB for linking to your twitter account.
Basically you start with 22GB and have the ability to earn a further 5GB of free space per referral.
The interface is clean, the program is very fast, supports Wifi Sync and AES256 security, and there’s a client for every platform (Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android).