Amazon adds file syncing to Cloud Drive, drops rates below Dropbox

AppleInsider

The struggle between cloud storage providers took another turn on Monday, with Amazon announcing a new version of its Cloud Drive app that brings the ability to sync files across mobile, web, and desktop clients.

Amazon's Cloud Drive has been around for some time, but Monday's update to its capabilities brings it closer to par with popular storage service Dropbox. Cloud Drive users can now download the Cloud Drive app to their Mac or Windows PC as well as to an Android device.

Upon installing the app on a desktop, notebook, or Android device, the contents of a user's cloud drive will remain synced between devices. Changes to files are automatically pushed to other Cloud Drive-connected machines.

The update also means that Amazon's Cloud Player music storage feature has been spun off into a separate operation.

Cloud Drive users automatically start with 5GB of storage for free, with 20GB through 1TB of storage available for $10 to $500 per year. Music listeners can use Cloud Player to store 250 imported songs for free or 250,000 imported songs for $25 per year.

In adding file syncing to its cloud service, Amazon comes into stiffer competition with Dropbox, even undercutting the popular storage service. Apple's iCloud/iTunes Match is still the most widely-used cloud service in the United States, while Dropbox is a distant second. Amazon's Cloud Drive is close behind Dropbox, though, and the lower pricing model Amazon is taking may lead to some shifts in numbers.

igriv

Since Dropbox is using the AWS infrastructure, this has the amusing aspect of Amazon undercutting their biggest customer

maestro64

Amazon, has bought all those 2TB and 3TB over the last year and they need to put them to use, all the floor space at their server farms and no revenue coming in to pay for it. The storage alone is costing about $0.05/GB, they need paying users to pay for all the storage cost they have sitting around with no 1 and 0's being stored.

johnnash

How does this compare to Skydrive? I've been using the crap out of it for the last 3 months and it has to be the most seamless experience I've had from any of the cloud based services. I sync between my iMac, iPad, iPhone and work computer with literally no interaction whatsoever on my part beyond the initial setup.

And no, this isn't a paid (or free) promotional announcement, M$ actually seems to have their shit together when it comes to cloud storage.

al_bundy

Quote:

Originally Posted by igriv 



Since Dropbox is using the AWS infrastructure, this has the amusing aspect of Amazon undercutting their biggest customer

does amazon have unlimited restore of previous versions?

igriv

Quote:

Originally Posted by al_bundy 

does amazon have unlimited restore of previous versions?

Good question...

ankleskater

maestro64 wrote: »

Amazon, has bought all those 2TB and 3TB over the last year and they need to put them to use, all the floor space at their server farms and no revenue coming in to pay for it. The storage alone is costing about $0.05/GB, they need paying users to pay for all the storage cost they have sitting around with no 1 and 0's being stored.

Say what?

mechanic

Doesnt surprise me.  Amazon has not made any money for a long time there always in a race to the bottom for razor thin margins, or negative ones.  How this company can be considered a better buy than apple baffles me.

igriv

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mechanic 

Doesnt surprise me.  Amazon has not made any money for a long time there always in a race to the bottom for razor thin margins, or negative ones.  How this company can be considered a better buy than apple baffles me.

 

Well, short them and buy AAPL then.

imarcw

What I want to know, since it currently makes Dropbox much more useful to me for Mac desktop sync than SkyDrive or Google Drive: does Amazon Cloud Drive on the Mac follow symlinks?

spacepower

igriv wrote: »

Since Dropbox is using the AWS infrastructure, this has the amusing aspect of Amazon undercutting their biggest customer

Just to note, something that Ars and theverge failed to note in their recent iCloud and Apple security bashing articles....

iCloud actually uses Amazon AWS and MS Azure ( or whatever it's called ) for much of its storage. The Verge doesn't seem to know that.

Just install the app Little Snitch to find out where all your data is being stored.

The Vegre is becoming the new NYT, WSJ, Business Insider, with their string of poorly researched and poorly written "hit" pieces. They used to be good, it's sad to see them aim for sensationalism and page views,without fully explaining the tech behind their topics.

Ars is one of the few last remiaining sites that have techies that can write rather than "journalists" who dabble in Tech.

I come here for fun and rumors, not always facts

tom mandana

I was using Dropbox (there is not enough free space for me), Sugarsync (same like Dropbox, and for me slow).

Now I am using new service - Copy. They will give you 15GB for free.

If you register on Copy by this link, and install their application to backup / sync your data, you will get 20GB for free!
Here is the link: https://copy.com?r=zPku0e

Bonus for you is, that if you will find some referral, you will get next 5GB for free per each! Like this, you can get unlimited space for free!

alex teu

Update: Amazon has dropped file sync but odrive can provide you with desktop file sync to Amazon Cloud Drive, with placeholder files. You can also change location of the odrive folder.