Remember when Gmail storage was supposed to be "infinite"? That didn't last long, but at least the storage seemed to grow all the time.
Not so now. My Gmail storage is pretty static. When I started using Picasa I had to pay $20 a year to store my images with a 10GB limit.
I'm nearing the limit, and the next step is "40 GB ($75.00 USD per year)".
Ouch!! That's comparable to the cost of MobileMe, and it's just storage.
Google is getting to be expensive.
Update 9/6/09: I looked over a few of the usual suspects. I have a five year old SmugMug account, but their iPhoto uploader is awful. (PictureSync, which I used to use with them, has been abandoned.) I considered Flickr, but I don't want yet another service. MobileMe is about $70 for 20GB, so it's about the same cost as Google's services once you factor in its other features.
Through DreamHost (KATEVA is my promo code) I have unlimited storage that I'm already paying for, and automated installation of ZenPhoto. I have to export my images from iPhoto and upload them via FTP or sFTP to DreamHost. The downside is there's no provision to pass on any iPhoto metadata, but then that barely works with any of the alternatives. (Maybe MobileMe is better, but Apple routinely screws up anything to do with the intertubes.)
I'm still turning this over. For the meantime I'll use Facebook more (low res images) and use Picasa selectively to reduce my storage drain. Maybe Google will come up with a better approach in the near term
Whatever I do the good news is that I've long used a private blogger blog to track where photos go. So even if I change providers there's a single index to all of our albums.
Update 11/11/09: Google gave us a 75% drop in storage costs. About six months late, but very welcome. So I'm cool with Picasa now.
Yikes, $75/year definitely isn't *free* anymore. Since you can use those 40 GB for e-mails and photos only - maybe switching to flickr is an option ($25/year for infinite storage).
ReplyDeleteI also have an old smugmug account I might start using more.
ReplyDeleteI'd hoped google would figure something else out before I got to this point -- like adding more value to the storage so it was competitive at $75/year.
I'm definitely reaching a decision point!
The industry is pushing cloud apps because they're a license for them to print money, not because using the cloud is in any way good or economic for you.
ReplyDeleteA 1TB SATA hard drive goes for under $100, has minimal recurring costs, and a lifespan of at least five years. Paying for 1TB of cloud storage for five years will contribute nicely to buying the service provider's CEO a brand new yacht.
Using the cloud is not in your best interests.