Apple notifies former MobileMe users complimentary storage soon to expire
In an email sent out by Apple on Thursday, former MobileMe members were notified that their free iCloud storage would expire at the end of September, bumping them down to the usual 5GB allotted to new users.
According to Apple's email, upgraded accounts, and their associated free storage allotments, will expire on Sept. 30, 2013, nearly two years after iCloud was released to the public in 2011.
When Apple introduced iCloud, the service gave users 5GB of free storage for photos, phone data, and other items. As a nod to former MobileMe members who were subscribed to tiered cloud data plans, Apple offered free cloud storage at their then-current tier levels for one year. The gratis storage was originally set to expire in September 2012, but Apple extended the period by one year.
In addition to the expiration date, Apple provided users with the amount of space they currently use on iCloud, allowing them time to move data off the service before the data cap is installed. It is unclear what will happen to those users who ignore the letter, though it is unlikely that Apple would erase stored data without first sending a letter of warning.
According to Apple's email, upgraded accounts, and their associated free storage allotments, will expire on Sept. 30, 2013, nearly two years after iCloud was released to the public in 2011.
When Apple introduced iCloud, the service gave users 5GB of free storage for photos, phone data, and other items. As a nod to former MobileMe members who were subscribed to tiered cloud data plans, Apple offered free cloud storage at their then-current tier levels for one year. The gratis storage was originally set to expire in September 2012, but Apple extended the period by one year.
In addition to the expiration date, Apple provided users with the amount of space they currently use on iCloud, allowing them time to move data off the service before the data cap is installed. It is unclear what will happen to those users who ignore the letter, though it is unlikely that Apple would erase stored data without first sending a letter of warning.
Comments
You are looking for the button "Downgrade Options...". In here it will be set to the 5GB level, just simply switch it to the appropriate level you want and it will automatically charge your card on file for that amount.
Just wish we could charge it now or at our own set time.
The negative: It now becomes pretty obvious how limited the design of iCloud really is. As you can't even access the storage space used by most apps, you just can't copy or move files in the Finder to some other location. You have to go into every single app and use whatever means available to mail, export or delete the data. There is also no way to influence the backup space consumed by iDevice backups (e.g. my iPad backups seem to include gigabytes of newspaper and magazine data that I could download freely from the original sources anyhow).
It should be 5GB PER DEVICE.
That headline seems like an elegantly polite way of saying:
MobileMe users about to get mugged.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NasserAE
5GB backup storage needs to be reconsidered. It is just not enough if you have more than one device. I have one iPhone, one iPad mini, and 2 iPads and I already use 7GB. My sons iPod touch (32GB) is already over the 5GB and cannot backup without deleting things from the camera roll.
It should be 5GB PER DEVICE.
yes 5gB per device. My wife has an iPhone, numerous IOS and two macs linked - i also only get the same.
Also the icloud storage is no where near useful as MobileMe.
I haven't used iCloud. Since they took away iDisk I have no use for the extra storage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NasserAE
5GB backup storage needs to be reconsidered. It is just not enough if you have more than one device. I have one iPhone, one iPad mini, and 2 iPads and I already use 7GB. My sons iPod touch (32GB) is already over the 5GB and cannot backup without deleting things from the camera roll.
It should be 5GB PER DEVICE.
The iPad iPhone backup is a good point. the only way you can 'backup to the cloud' is by NOT backing up music, photos etc... not much of a backup at all. This continues to be a disappointing state of affairs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreyfus2
The positive: The grace period was more than generous and Apple handled that perfectly well. Fully legitimate to ask for payments now.
The negative: It now becomes pretty obvious how limited the design of iCloud really is. As you can't even access the storage space used by most apps, you just can't copy or move files in the Finder to some other location. You have to go into every single app and use whatever means available to mail, export or delete the data. There is also no way to influence the backup space consumed by iDevice backups (e.g. my iPad backups seem to include gigabytes of newspaper and magazine data that I could download freely from the original sources anyhow).
You can choose what to backup to iCloud. On your iOS device go to iCloud -> Storage & Backup -> Manage Storage -> Choose your device (the one your using now) then turn off the things you don't want to backup. You can also access your iCloud iWork documents on your Mac by going to the ~/Library/Mobile Documents/.
Yes, iCloud is limited and this can be a pain sometimes. However, limitations can be good for the average user. If you want something you have complete control over then you can also use other solutions such as Dropbox. There are many apps with Dropbox integration. I actually use both iCloud and Dropbox and each provide unique set of features that I need.
iCloud is a rather downscale offering from Apple.
Apple and networking have historically not done well together. Sigh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Right_said_fred
The iPad iPhone backup is a good point. the only way you can 'backup to the cloud' is by NOT backing up music, photos etc... not much of a backup at all. This continues to be a disappointing state of affairs.
I don't think Music is backed up to iCloud (I am honestly not sure since I am using iTunes Match). Camera Roll is taking lots of space in the backup though. Photo Stream doesn't count toward your iCloud storage.
But yes. I have to move videos and photos from my sons iPod touch to my Mac to get it to backup (maintain less than 5GB backup).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Right_said_fred
The iPad iPhone backup is a good point. the only way you can 'backup to the cloud' is by NOT backing up music, photos etc... not much of a backup at all. This continues to be a disappointing state of affairs.
Hard drive storage space costs less than $0.10 per GB. Just add electricity and bandwidth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
Hard drive storage space costs less than $0.10 per GB. Just add electricity and bandwidth.
When Apple migrated its MobileMe users to iCloud, I really missed iDisk for file storage and access across multiple devices, whether at home or away. At various times during the day, I'm using an iMac, a MacBook, an iPad, an iPhone or an iPod touch. I appreciate being able to access any of my content hassle-free from any of my devices, practically anywhere.
Solutions:
1. iCloud is still useful for syncing Contacts (Address Book), iCal and Notes, and for Find My Phone to locate iPhone, iPad, Mac or iPod touch.
2. For document files and camera uploads - Dropbox - a very user-friendly file hosting service. It works across all Apple devices. For every free referral you provide, Dropbox will provide another 500GB of free storage on top of their 2GB base, up to 18GB free. You can also pick and purchase various various personal and business storage plans if you have greater needs.
2. For iTunes content, I store them on two external drives currently offering a total of 7TB of storage. Remote access is through OSX File Sharing or the StreamToMe app for Apple mobile devices. The beauty of StreamToMe is that you're not restricted to your home WiFi network. You can access your home audio and video content through WiFi hotspots or even through an LTE wireless connection, so long as the external connections provide sufficient bandwidth. The StreamToMe app, paired with the ServeToMe app on Macs, finds and delivers content to Apple mobile devices much faster than the Music or Video apps.
Box.com gives me 50GB for free. Google Drive gives me 15GB. Apple...only 5GB.
That's certainly true for consumer prices, however, enterprise HDD has much higher prices. Also don't forget the costs of cooling, which is a large cost no matter how many data their clients store: the HDD's are spinning wheather there is data on it r not.
Still, I get your point. I do think Apple is at least trying to offer a cloud solution that works for their 'main audience'. With iOS7 we are getting "Photostream. Now with video".
I just don't understand why they offer so little storage, and why they are so slow at rolling out Cloud solutions. I can -somehow- understand their resistance to Finder in the Cloud, but the current state of syncing documents, and the difference in options between, say, Keynote.ipa and Keynote.app is really, well, not working well. With the difference in UI of their mobile and desktop software I can understand that we won't get all options available on the different platforms. You can do a lot more and be more precise with a mouse compared to a finger. Well, on computers anyway lol.
Though they are of course taking iWork in the Cloud out of beta it is still a slow transition to a fully functional Cloud solution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NasserAE
My sons iPod touch (32GB) is already over the 5GB and cannot backup without deleting things from the camera roll.
It should be 5GB PER DEVICE.
If you have a Mac, you can use Photostream to automatically copy the photos to iPhoto and then turn off iCloud backup of photos.
Just gifted this book (through Amazon) to Tim Cook...
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Figure the guy who is crashing Steve's legacy could use some help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JLL
If you have a Mac, you can use Photostream to automatically copy the photos to iPhoto and then turn off iCloud backup of photos.
I know that. I've been doing this since day one. However, the problem is with videos. They take much more space and they can only be moved (full quality) to a computer by USB.
Had the extra 20GB for last 2 years and I'm still using around 600MB from my account. Why? Because you dildos took away iWeb and iDisk - the two most used features that I was willing to pay for... now I moved on and unless at least iDisk comes back, Apple won't see a dime from me again for cloud storage
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frood
That headline seems like an elegantly polite way of saying:
MobileMe users about to get mugged.
That's how I feel!!