iCloud Pricing Revealed Ahead of Beta Launch

[bobusboy]

[nom]ericburnby[/nom]So many idiots with stupid posts.

sure.

The only drawback to iCloud is it's more expensive than, say Amazon cloud storage (though it's cheaper than Dropbox).

Well its one of many as several users have pointed out.


Worried about getting hacked or Apple snooping your files? Guess you better stop using Hotmail, Gmail, Live or any other online service. Better yet, stop using the internet altogether.

It is a legitimate worry, specially given the recent rash of attacks on consumer websites.


Make an FTP server at home and install a client on your mobile device? Stupid. Now I need to keep a computer running all the time at home consuming electricity. I have to pay TWICE the bandwidth (once from my home PC and once back to my mobile device).

I'll give you the point about the electricity, but ever heard of an HTPC? They tend to be rather efficient when purpose built. And you can tune up your security and encryption how you see fit and never worry about some one else messing up. That said the onus is on you to protect your self and you have no one to blame if something happens.

As for bandwidth, that isn't an issue for every one, personally where I live there is no cap on my bandwidth

Oh, and even then all I've got is nothing more than a simple file storage system.Tell me, Mr. Smart Guy, how is that FTP server going to back up my phone? And I mean ALL of my phone, not just stored documents or music. How is that FTP server going to allow me to keep my calendars, contacts, e-mails and other data/documents in sync for multiple people to view and/or work on?

My android phone auto syncs with my hotmail calendar, and contacts, and facebook contacts and more. And my apps are logged on the android market "my apps" page. Additionally you can archive the applications and back those up on your storage

 

[LORD_ORION]

Tom needs to do a new article

Access your own damn information

1) Setup Wake-on Lan
2) FTP Software
3) Encryption / Decryption of your "online" info

100 bucks a year for 55 GBs? Are you kidding me? Buy a 750 MB drive for that much, and do it yourself.

 

[beameup]

Not going to pay anyone for online file storage. But I will use iCloud, just as I use Dropbox, SkyDrive, etc.

 

[acadia11]

Am I the only one, that thinks it's insane to have everything about yourself, online? From face book, to iCloud, and so on, WT..F is wrong with you people? I read a great story about this , I think University of Texas, or somewhere kid, who pilfered $80 million dollars by taking out HELOCs of wealthy people he would meet at posh hotels. How did he do it, people, put so much information about themselves online these days, you have a couple of conversations, and then do a few searches paid ones and free ones, and you can easily impersonate them, or figure out the right answers that you need to apply for credit in someones name. He did it for millions no body really knows how much he took from his victims, but made an operation out of it, and the FBI never caught him, cause he skipped town back to Nigeria just when they were nabbing all his accomplices. But the point, why do people, simply cough up so much private info about themselves to the "net"?

http/money.cnn.com/2011/01/24/real_estate/onwuhara_home_equity_fraud_full.fortune/index.htm

 

[zak_mckraken]

Your (ab)use of comas gave me a headache.

 

[acadia11]

If it's good enough for Hemingway, it's good enough for me.

 

[Guest]

No one is asking you to use it. Period. If your ftp solution and flash drives are for you, then go for it. Just wondering how you plan to plug the flash drive into you smart phone, or ipod. And if your worried about your data being hacked, what happens if your flash drive is lost or stolen? And for the bright ftp solution, most peoples providers dont allow unlimited data.
For 20 bucks a year I get a solution that works for all my devices and I don't have to do anything other than turn it on, I.m sold.

 

[fellskrazykayaker]

[citation][nom]custodian-1[/nom]expensive[/citation]

Dropbox = $120/year for 50GB
Apple = $100/year for 55GB
Amazon S3 = $92.4/year for 55GB plus charges $0.120 per GB transfer out fee

The all seem pretty close in price. I think privacy is a valid concern with all cloud storage, not just Apple. I think the advantage with Amazon is there are no specific tiers and you can pay for what you need, though you'll pay for data transfers out and/or if you go over the number of gets/puts for that month.

Sure, you can probably setup something with more storage for cheaper with Pogoplug. But things to consider: redundancy, power, time to setup, bandwidth costs/constraints, availability. Most people probably don't have redundant power and backup generators at their house in case the power goes down. That's important to consider if you need your data on the go. There are pros and cons to your own storage vs cloud storage.

I think the best solution is probably to have a combination of both your own and enterprise grade cloud storage.

 

[fellskrazykayaker]

[citation][nom]lolatClouds[/nom]and... there goes teh internets...."Mom, my cloud's full!""Ok dear""Mom, its full again""Ok deer""Mom...."Apple Support "well it seems little jimmy has 27 copies of everything on your cloud storage."Mom,"Oh my, so how much more space should I buy then?"[/citation]

I'd hate to think in this day and age that they won't be using some type of data deduplication.

 

[fellskrazykayaker]

I think people are missing the biggest selling point of cloud storage. It's offsite. If my house burns down and I'm serving up my data from there, then I'm out of luck. If someone breaks into my house and steals my server, I'm screwed.

 

[legacy7955]

[citation][nom]acadia11[/nom]Am I the only one, that thinks it's insane to have everything about yourself, online? From face book, to iCloud, and so on, WT..F is wrong with you people?


THIS!

iCloud = iFake

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]ericburnby[/nom]So many idiots with stupid posts. The only drawback to iCloud is it's more expensive than, say Amazon cloud storage (though it's cheaper than Dropbox).Worried about getting hacked or Apple snooping your files? Guess you better stop using Hotmail, Gmail, Live or any other online service. Better yet, stop using the internet altogether.Make an FTP server at home and install a client on your mobile device? Stupid. Now I need to keep a computer running all the time at home consuming electricity. I have to pay TWICE the bandwidth (once from my home PC and once back to my mobile device). Oh, and even then all I've got is nothing more than a simple file storage system.Tell me, Mr. Smart Guy, how is that FTP server going to back up my phone? And I mean ALL of my phone, not just stored documents or music. How is that FTP server going to allow me to keep my calendars, contacts, e-mails and other data/documents in sync for multiple people to view and/or work on?[/citation]
Geez, who rattled your cage, no one is stopping you from buying iCloud, I guess you have more money than sense. Plus if you weren't such an iSheep being handy-holded all the way you would be able to back up your phone with wireless sync every time you walk within wifi range of an Openreach Network.

Plus as far as burning expensive bandwidth, it sucks to live in the USA doesn't it? Back in little old backwater medieval England I have 100Mb fibre optic with NO caps, throlling or limitation and costs a lot less than what you pay, oh and I live in a relatively rural outlying location so don't even think of coutering with only people in the big cities can get it.

You are just so last decade, maybe if the USA didn't keep raisng it's debt ceiling to over $11 trillion there would be enough cash to invest in a good infrastructure and pay for all the kids to learn a bit more about basic networking.

Touche...

 

[fellskrazykayaker]

[citation][nom]Saxie81[/nom]ummmm Mircosoft's Skydrive I can store 25gb for nothing....[/citation]
Skydrive is great in that it's free but it's 100MB max file size can limit its usefulness. Dropbox claims to not have any file size limitation via the desktop app. Mobileme current maxes out at 1GB file size. But who knows what the iCloud limit will be. Amazon S3 maxes out its file size at 5GB.

 

[Pawessum16]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Here's the way to go, store all your content at home on a bank of several 2TB drives and as time progresses just buy more if you get full.Install an FTP server software for your PC.Install an FTP client on your mobile device, there are already free ones available for Android and Windows.Happily browse your mahoosive collection of whatever risk free and without cost.[/citation]
The one problem with FTP is that it isn't very secure, meaning that if someone malicious stumbles across it then they have access to all your information...and it's easily hacked seeing how if you put a password on it, the password is transferred via clear text, meaning that someone could potentially snoop it out by watching your connection. The better solution is for sftp support, which is more secure (but unfortunately not widely supported). Of course the likely hood of someone willing to take the time to snoop out your password is slim, but it is still something to think about.
There are also other considerations when setting up an FTP server, your download speed will only be as fast as your home upload speeds, you'll have to set up a dyndns account to keep track of your every changing ip address (free and not that hard actually), have software that connects to dyndns on your home computer, set up the firewall on your router correctly and forward the right ports, and lastly be prepared for that moment when you want a file the most and your carefully choreographed system fails.

 

[Pawessum16]

Between skydrive, this, amazon, and dropbox, I have a pretty hefty amount of free online storage...except for me, it's useless, unless I want to back something up that's very important or share something easily with my friends (which is nice about dropbox) =P

 

[mortsmi7]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Geez, who rattled your cage, no one is stopping you from buying iCloud, I guess you have more money than sense. Plus if you weren't such an iSheep being handy-holded all the way you would be able to back up your phone with wireless sync every time you walk within wifi range of an Openreach Network.Plus as far as burning expensive bandwidth, it sucks to live in the USA doesn't it? Back in little old backwater medieval England I have 100Mb fibre optic with NO caps, throlling or limitation and costs a lot less than what you pay, oh and I live in a relatively rural outlying location so don't even think of coutering with only people in the big cities can get it.You are just so last decade, maybe if the USA didn't keep raisng it's debt ceiling to over $11 trillion there would be enough cash to invest in a good infrastructure and pay for all the kids to learn a bit more about basic networking.Touche...[/citation]
50 ft of fiber would serve the entire uk, congrats on your country's accomplishment

 

[t_wilson]

This is how the last sentence should have read:

"It offers users a place to store all of their files as well as the ability to sync all of their data across their devices, so that updated settings, notes, contacts, calendars, etc., are always available to hackers."

 

[Guest]

The extra storage is slightly more expensive for Australian users as compared to the US ones
http/cloudtechsite.com/blogposts/icloud-australia-matches-apple-us-extra-storage-pricing.html

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]mortsmi7[/nom]50 ft of fiber would serve the entire uk, congrats on your country's accomplishment[/citation]
Acually, let's reallocate some of that cash towards basic geography as well

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]pawessum16[/nom]The one problem with FTP is that it isn't very secure, meaning that if someone malicious stumbles across it then they have access to all your information...and it's easily hacked seeing how if you put a password on it, the password is transferred via clear text, meaning that someone could potentially snoop it out by watching your connection. The better solution is for sftp support, which is more secure (but unfortunately not widely supported). Of course the likely hood of someone willing to take the time to snoop out your password is slim, but it is still something to think about.There are also other considerations when setting up an FTP server, your download speed will only be as fast as your home upload speeds, you'll have to set up a dyndns account to keep track of your every changing ip address (free and not that hard actually), have software that connects to dyndns on your home computer, set up the firewall on your router correctly and forward the right ports, and lastly be prepared for that moment when you want a file the most and your carefully choreographed system fails.[/citation]
Good point well made, there are SFTP server and clients available for free too and you can request static IP on most ISPs if people aren't too savvy on dyndns, but I think the point I was trying to convey is that you should have to rent storage space in the cloud when it is free from lots of other places.