I agree that it's quite low. I don't take many pictures but between my iPad and iPhone it's nearly filled. I can't imagine how others deal with it. Apple should focus on selling products, not services, expect for the finge case, which 5.1GB is not.
I wouldn't be surprised if we they do increase iCloud size at the next iTunes event.
I believe that photos in photstream are excluded when calculating how much space you're using
If anyone forgot to add storage and find now a ton of their email is gone remember you can retrieve it, most likely, from Time Machine.
I went through this last year when my wife's iCloud didn't get renewed for some reason. Apple could not help and I thought I was in deep doo doo as she had a lot of business email both in and out that was vital to her.
First buy the extra space!
I discovered you can open Mail, open Time Machine and simply select anything you want to restore from within Mail itself. I have used TM many times to retrieve files or even folders but I had never realized it worked within an App like that before that day. I simply selected the entire In Box contents and clicked Restore. Then again with Sent. No having to restore folders, import stuff … it is so simple I laughed.
For anyone looking to create websites using iWeb and put them online for free, you can output your iWebsite to a local folder, then copy that into your Dropbox, either in "public" or "photos". Then linking people to the "index" file within that project's folder, will direct them to your published website online. And voila. No cost!
I'm not sure how you derived the word "need" from my sentence. Look at how Apple groups their events and products/services; They like to make changes all at once. There was no "need" for iOS 7 on other devices to be released the same week as an updated iDevice but they sure like to do it.
Are you serious? You would have 5GB * num registered devices under said iCloud account. Done. If you still need more, you can buy 10GB at whatever rate a pop. If you deregister a product (which includes selling or returning it), you lose the space bonus. Just like if you cancelled an icloud 10Gb purchase.
There is a limit to the number of iDevices and macs you can register with your account but this way it encourages rather than penalizes folks that have additional devices.
Your math doesn't answer any of the questions I asked. You've completely ignored all logistics involved. Based on your brilliant math I can simply buy and return or add my Apple ID and then delete from any iPhone, iPad, Mac, or iPod Touch to get an additional 5GB for each one. You've made no allowances for the usage to be subtracted, for the storage capacity to be transferred, or for preventing abuse of your foolishly simplistic system.
I'm not quite sure what you think gets deregistered when you sell an item on eBay or Craig's List. If you think erasing setting and data, like one should do when they sell it would be enough then you've again ignored the fundamental issues of the process. What if it was wiped because a child put a password in more than 10 times, or because you lost that one device or it was stolen? You then risk that backup being permanently deleted if that drop in 5GB of space has to remove something so when you go to restore your phone or a new one you can't. That means there would have to be a grace period setup to prevent such occurrences.
So why did you ignore all those circumstances? Why take something that take some planning and design and claim that it's as easy as multiplying 5 times another whole number?
That's what I thought as well. Yet it would be utterly stupid: Force your users to delete files in the cloud (as I did) just to give them back cloud storage 2 weeks or so later. Really why on Earth would that make sense? If so, they would have extended the 25 GB until this event, or had the event before the 25 GB expired.
There might be too few users for them to care or maybe they want to squeeze a year of additional space before making the change, or they will reduce what data will be counted as part of the 5GB in a couple weeks, or they simply don't care. Apple does a lot of questionable things with services, like only giving us 5GB to start with.
For anyone looking to create websites using iWeb and put them online for free, you can output your iWebsite to a local folder, then copy that into your Dropbox, either in "public" or "photos". Then linking people to the "index" file within that project's folder, will direct them to your published website online. And voila. No cost!
Better still pay $100 a year for web hosting and use FTP built into iWeb. That way you get proper Domain Name, DNS and even mail associated with the domain name. Great thing about iWeb's FTP is it only uploads changed files, very efficient and way ahead of its time considering how long it's been since Apple updated it. It's still an amazing App.
What a weirdly passive note from Apple: there is nothing at all that encourages you to upgrade or why (sure, there is a link that refers generally to iCloud storage and there is info there, but nothing obvious that makes you want to click that link).
Apple truly needs to significantly improve this service which, in its current form, is utterly mediocre. Needs, at a minimum, up to 500GB storage, lower price points to compete with others (e.g., Dropbox, Google), free storage on a per-device basis, and allow any document one wants (not just media and iWork documents) to be stored.
Otherwise, they should shut it down and refocus those resources somewhere else.
Interesting. I have been on the net since it began. I started backing up to on- and off-site servers, CD/DVDs, and hard drives as soon as they were virtually available, and particularly after…
seeing one of my employees drop one of MY workstations as he carried it out of the building to work on a massive video program over the weekend. Perhaps I am a little paranoid about losing data. But from that incidence, I continue to encourage all my friends, colleagues and clients to minimize the size of their internal storage drives. Especially by those who use portable computers.
I also feel quite confident to suggest that there are significant differences between the on-line 'storage' services some have mentioned.
Like, when I want to go to the cottage for the weekend I take my car; want to go fishing, I take the boat; want to holiday overseas, I take a plane. And like on-line storage, each has a purpose, each with a different function, liability and cost. As one has outlined, "iCloud is more Popular than Dropbox. However, they are Apples and Oranges."
But whatever one I choose, none are mediocre, including iCloud.
In any case, little of these services are free, or should be. There are costs to build and maintain them. Considerable cost! Why should there be a sense of "entitlement" associated with storing everything I make, just because I bought their machine to produce it.
You'll have to ask Apple why they do the things they do. I'd say it's for marketing reasons why the lump certain things together but we don't really know now do we?
When I was offered 20GB free I decided that it would be nice to have all my photos in the cloud. Then I looked at the size of my iPhoto library and realized it was out of the question.
Today I have my iPhoto library backed up to a second HD at home, to a portable HD at work and Dropbox. I'm reconsidering the Dropbox copy because it uses bandwidth and slows down my computer. I knew the initial upload would be bad (I think it took 4 straight days maxing out my upload bandwidth), but I didn't realize that just launching iPhoto would make so many changes and force Dropbox into a long sync process.
I think the answer is to upload the original photos and videos to Dropbox rather than the iPhoto library. I'll lose an additional backup of image adjustments, red eye removal, crops, tags, etc. but I've already got two other backups and it'll only use bandwidth when I have new photos/videos.
I think the answer is to upload the original photos and videos to Dropbox rather than the iPhoto library. I'll lose an additional backup of image adjustments, red eye removal, crops, tags, etc. but I've already got two other backups and it'll only use bandwidth when I have new photos/videos.
Dropbox's selective sync option along with the structure of the .photolibrary file makes easy work of that.
Step 1: Close out iPhoto.app.
Step 2: In your Dropbox folder create an iPhoto folder (optional step but will keep any transfer from happening).
Step 3: Go to Dropbox app preferences and uncheck that new iPhotos folder.
Step 4: Move your entire .photolibrary file to the iPhoto folder in Dropbox (or wherever you put it).
Step 5: Go back to Dropbox app preferences, locate the newly placed .photolibrary folder under selective sync, and check Masters.
I agree with others here, storage should be based on number of iDevices registered to the account. 5GB per device would be fine, or even 5GB for the first and 3GB for each additional. Otherwise, the pricing structure should be far more competitive.
In any case, little of these services are free, or should be. There are costs to build and maintain them. Considerable cost! Why should there be a sense of "entitlement" associated with storing everything I make, just because I bought their machine to produce it.
I guess I didn't state it very well, or you didn't read it very well. I only said that Apple's currently free service should be on a per-device basis. We're not debating 'free', since it already is: the only debate is about how much of it should be so.
I said nothing about whether all storage -- or even most -- should be free. Of course it shouldn't be. If I want 500GB, I darn well should have to pay for it.
You'll have to ask Apple why they do the things they do. I'd say it's for marketing reasons why the lump certain things together but we don't really know now do we?
I hoped a while back in new device purchases get another 5gb free, $2 per gb is too high.(I have known people too switch to android due to issues with icloud)
I guess I didn't state it very well, or you didn't read it very well. I only said that Apple's currently free service should be on a per-device basis. We're not debating 'free', since it already is: the only debate is about how much of it should be so.
I said nothing about whether all storage -- or even most -- should be free. Of course it shouldn't be. If I want 500GB, I darn well should have to pay for it.
Thanks for the clarification. However, I can assure you that Apple is not giving anything for free. Like any good business sense, everything is costed in. When you factor in all the on-line storage services, there are very good reasons why the perceived differences in pricing.
For what it is worth, I trust Apple more than most. As we have seen, using investors monies to virtually scam the consumer into committing to a service, connive one to move from a viable entity to a promise, or even assist in letting the CEO buy a bigger boat has become the norm. One I really don't want to be part of.
Comments
Weird glitch today. After my automatic payment for iCloud, iTunes Radio stopped working on my iPhone.
Had to log out of iTunes in settings and log back in to fix it. Dunno if it was related.
I agree that it's quite low. I don't take many pictures but between my iPad and iPhone it's nearly filled. I can't imagine how others deal with it. Apple should focus on selling products, not services, expect for the finge case, which 5.1GB is not.
I wouldn't be surprised if we they do increase iCloud size at the next iTunes event.
I believe that photos in photstream are excluded when calculating how much space you're using
You are correct.
If anyone forgot to add storage and find now a ton of their email is gone remember you can retrieve it, most likely, from Time Machine.
I went through this last year when my wife's iCloud didn't get renewed for some reason. Apple could not help and I thought I was in deep doo doo as she had a lot of business email both in and out that was vital to her.
First buy the extra space!
I discovered you can open Mail, open Time Machine and simply select anything you want to restore from within Mail itself. I have used TM many times to retrieve files or even folders but I had never realized it worked within an App like that before that day. I simply selected the entire In Box contents and clicked Restore. Then again with Sent. No having to restore folders, import stuff … it is so simple I laughed.
For anyone looking to create websites using iWeb and put them online for free, you can output your iWebsite to a local folder, then copy that into your Dropbox, either in "public" or "photos". Then linking people to the "index" file within that project's folder, will direct them to your published website online. And voila. No cost!
I'm not sure how you derived the word "need" from my sentence. Look at how Apple groups their events and products/services; They like to make changes all at once. There was no "need" for iOS 7 on other devices to be released the same week as an updated iDevice but they sure like to do it.
Your math doesn't answer any of the questions I asked. You've completely ignored all logistics involved. Based on your brilliant math I can simply buy and return or add my Apple ID and then delete from any iPhone, iPad, Mac, or iPod Touch to get an additional 5GB for each one. You've made no allowances for the usage to be subtracted, for the storage capacity to be transferred, or for preventing abuse of your foolishly simplistic system.
I'm not quite sure what you think gets deregistered when you sell an item on eBay or Craig's List. If you think erasing setting and data, like one should do when they sell it would be enough then you've again ignored the fundamental issues of the process. What if it was wiped because a child put a password in more than 10 times, or because you lost that one device or it was stolen? You then risk that backup being permanently deleted if that drop in 5GB of space has to remove something so when you go to restore your phone or a new one you can't. That means there would have to be a grace period setup to prevent such occurrences.
So why did you ignore all those circumstances? Why take something that take some planning and design and claim that it's as easy as multiplying 5 times another whole number?
There might be too few users for them to care or maybe they want to squeeze a year of additional space before making the change, or they will reduce what data will be counted as part of the 5GB in a couple weeks, or they simply don't care. Apple does a lot of questionable things with services, like only giving us 5GB to start with.
Better still pay $100 a year for web hosting and use FTP built into iWeb. That way you get proper Domain Name, DNS and even mail associated with the domain name. Great thing about iWeb's FTP is it only uploads changed files, very efficient and way ahead of its time considering how long it's been since Apple updated it. It's still an amazing App.
Why do they need an 'event' to increase storage!?
I'm not sure how you derived the word "need" from my sentence.
OK... replace with 'want', and move along...
I got this email.
What a weirdly passive note from Apple: there is nothing at all that encourages you to upgrade or why (sure, there is a link that refers generally to iCloud storage and there is info there, but nothing obvious that makes you want to click that link).
Apple truly needs to significantly improve this service which, in its current form, is utterly mediocre. Needs, at a minimum, up to 500GB storage, lower price points to compete with others (e.g., Dropbox, Google), free storage on a per-device basis, and allow any document one wants (not just media and iWork documents) to be stored.
Otherwise, they should shut it down and refocus those resources somewhere else.
Interesting. I have been on the net since it began. I started backing up to on- and off-site servers, CD/DVDs, and hard drives as soon as they were virtually available, and particularly after…
seeing one of my employees drop one of MY workstations as he carried it out of the building to work on a massive video program over the weekend. Perhaps I am a little paranoid about losing data. But from that incidence, I continue to encourage all my friends, colleagues and clients to minimize the size of their internal storage drives. Especially by those who use portable computers.
I also feel quite confident to suggest that there are significant differences between the on-line 'storage' services some have mentioned.
Like, when I want to go to the cottage for the weekend I take my car; want to go fishing, I take the boat; want to holiday overseas, I take a plane. And like on-line storage, each has a purpose, each with a different function, liability and cost. As one has outlined, "iCloud is more Popular than Dropbox. However, they are Apples and Oranges."
But whatever one I choose, none are mediocre, including iCloud.
In any case, little of these services are free, or should be. There are costs to build and maintain them. Considerable cost! Why should there be a sense of "entitlement" associated with storing everything I make, just because I bought their machine to produce it.
You'll have to ask Apple why they do the things they do. I'd say it's for marketing reasons why the lump certain things together but we don't really know now do we?
When I was offered 20GB free I decided that it would be nice to have all my photos in the cloud. Then I looked at the size of my iPhoto library and realized it was out of the question.
Today I have my iPhoto library backed up to a second HD at home, to a portable HD at work and Dropbox. I'm reconsidering the Dropbox copy because it uses bandwidth and slows down my computer. I knew the initial upload would be bad (I think it took 4 straight days maxing out my upload bandwidth), but I didn't realize that just launching iPhoto would make so many changes and force Dropbox into a long sync process.
I think the answer is to upload the original photos and videos to Dropbox rather than the iPhoto library. I'll lose an additional backup of image adjustments, red eye removal, crops, tags, etc. but I've already got two other backups and it'll only use bandwidth when I have new photos/videos.
Dropbox's selective sync option along with the structure of the .photolibrary file makes easy work of that.
Step 2: In your Dropbox folder create an iPhoto folder (optional step but will keep any transfer from happening).
Step 3: Go to Dropbox app preferences and uncheck that new iPhotos folder.
Step 4: Move your entire .photolibrary file to the iPhoto folder in Dropbox (or wherever you put it).
Step 5: Go back to Dropbox app preferences, locate the newly placed .photolibrary folder under selective sync, and check Masters.
That's it.
In any case, little of these services are free, or should be. There are costs to build and maintain them. Considerable cost! Why should there be a sense of "entitlement" associated with storing everything I make, just because I bought their machine to produce it.
I guess I didn't state it very well, or you didn't read it very well. I only said that Apple's currently free service should be on a per-device basis. We're not debating 'free', since it already is: the only debate is about how much of it should be so.
I said nothing about whether all storage -- or even most -- should be free. Of course it shouldn't be. If I want 500GB, I darn well should have to pay for it.
You'll have to ask Apple why they do the things they do. I'd say it's for marketing reasons why the lump certain things together but we don't really know now do we?
No, we don't.
Seriously Apple, all I want is my iDisk back.
Having a web address where anyone can upload a file to you - without signing up for a proprietary service - is priceless.
Having the folder sit on my desktop to drag and drop files is even more priceless.
I guess I didn't state it very well, or you didn't read it very well. I only said that Apple's currently free service should be on a per-device basis. We're not debating 'free', since it already is: the only debate is about how much of it should be so.
I said nothing about whether all storage -- or even most -- should be free. Of course it shouldn't be. If I want 500GB, I darn well should have to pay for it.
Thanks for the clarification. However, I can assure you that Apple is not giving anything for free. Like any good business sense, everything is costed in. When you factor in all the on-line storage services, there are very good reasons why the perceived differences in pricing.
For what it is worth, I trust Apple more than most. As we have seen, using investors monies to virtually scam the consumer into committing to a service, connive one to move from a viable entity to a promise, or even assist in letting the CEO buy a bigger boat has become the norm. One I really don't want to be part of.
As they say, you get what you pay for.
Seriously Apple, all I want is my iDisk back.
Having a web address where anyone can upload a file to you - without signing up for a proprietary service - is priceless.
Having the folder sit on my desktop to drag and drop files is even more priceless.
Yep - and being able to link a domain name to it was even better.
Dropbox is great but I'd love for iDisk to be added to iCloud...