Whats the Catch?

[Bert Kemp]

With Prime Get a $15 Amazon credit and enjoy your unlimited photo storage in three easy steps.
You'll receive your credit within seven days.
There gonna give me 15 bucks to save my photos there WHY? There has to be a hidden agenda.I mean just the server space alone will cost them tons. So whats in it for Amazon.
Is anyone doing this does it work ok ?

[bill godber]

They not only know your shopping and viewing habits now they have pictures of you.I don't understand the need for the online storage With the price of memory sticks so cheap why not leave yourself a little privacy and keep them at home?

[Kev Williams]

If your photos are at home you can't plaster the whole internet with them at ludicrous speed... ;)

[Bert Kemp]

Photo sticks mess up hard drives crash, SD cards fail. I've lost irreplaceable photos on sd card and hard drives, never lost anything on the cloud as of Yet LOL . Sure I guess it can happen but not likely with all the back up systems and security they have.
Still wondering what amazon gets out of it.

[Anuj Prateek]

With Prime Get a $15 Amazon credit and enjoy your unlimited photo storage in three easy steps.
You'll receive your credit within seven days.
There gonna give me 15 bucks to save my photos there WHY? There has to be a hidden agenda.I mean just the server space alone will cost them tons. So whats in it for Amazon.
Is anyone doing this does it work ok ?

It's an incentive provided to get your future business.

Read the not so fine prints. Mail that I got says "...Offer only applies to an order over $30 of products and digital content sold by Amazon.ca...". Basically, you get $15 off on order above $30.

I got similar offer on first order in business account. Saved some me $75 on first order. I still don't use business account much but I do check if there is a volume discount. More importantly, I told someone else about the business account offering and he started using business account regularly. So by giving some $150 total credit Amazon acquired a regular Business customer.

[Scott Kilroy]

Basically this cost amazon pennies to store your photos and if you use their printing service they make the money back pretty quickly if not they might charge for it sometime in the future once you become "addicted" to the service. Also it keeps you using and thinking of using amazon in the future.

[Jim Becker]

Amazon has been offering cloud storage for years...they are not just the "store"...and have one of the largest cloud computing environments going. They host a huge number of corporate computing environments in their AWS infrastructure (Amazon Web Services) and there is more than enough storage available for them to offer it to consumers for very reasonable cost.

Scott is correct that services like what Amazon is offering are good investments for the company because it really is hard to switch later, not only because of needing to move stuff, but because many folks use automated backup to the service and changing to a different vendor can be cumbersome because the apps are tied to the specific service.

[Jim Koepke]

With Prime Get a $15 Amazon credit and enjoy your unlimited photo storage in three easy steps.

Prime isn't free.

Just a thought, but my family has hundreds of photos from multiple generations of extended family.

If all my images are in the cloud, what happens when my last day arrives?

There will be no drawer full of old snap shots or albums.

On a lighter side…

One dropped letter when typing can make something come out completely different. :eek: :D


They hose a huge number of corporate computing environments in their AWS infrastructure

I'm guessing Jim meant to type house.

jtk

[Lee DeRaud]

They hose a huge number of corporate computing environments...

My nominee for "Typo of the Week". :)

[Lee DeRaud]

One thing I wasn't able to determine (without actually trying it) was what constitutes a "photo" in this context. Full-resolution, yes, but JPEG only, or do other formats qualify? The vast majority of my storage space for "photos" is RAW and PSD (Photoshop) files: without those, any cloud storage is useless.

[Kev Williams]

Prime isn't free.

Just a thought, but my family has hundreds of photos from multiple generations of extended family.

If all my images are in the cloud, what happens when my last day arrives?

There will be no drawer full of old snap shots or albums.

On a lighter side…

One dropped letter when typing can make something come out completely different. :eek: :D



I'm guessing Jim meant to type house.

jtk


I'm guessing host ... ;)

[Brian Tymchak]

Amazon is cranking up their advertizing business, ala Google. You store your photos on their service, they scan the photos and build a profile of you, and then they tailor their advertizing to your life experience. They 'll make 100x, probably more, on their investment to store your stuff.

And if you kick the bucket without properly documenting ownership of digital assets in your will, they may be lost to your family forever.

[Bert Kemp]

Prime isn't free.

Just a thought, but my family has hundreds of photos from multiple generations of extended family.

If all my images are in the cloud, what happens when my last day arrives?

There will be no drawer full of old snap shots or albums.

On a lighter side…

One dropped letter when typing can make something come out completely different. :eek: :D



I'm guessing Jim meant to type house.

jtk
My guess would be Host oops I see Kev saaid that LOL

[Jim Becker]

My nominee for "Typo of the Week". :)

ROFLOL!

https://sat02pap002files.storage.live.com/y4mGNxo47Ef9MBZ2z0Z3F9pyUueOWQgvZ4EP6m069sJpBFpJ60 n_yXyzFsa9fMvfxO9b7zZdcShHewJ2lWwW2odDLJBMVlkwfRp6 xb8Oxh0srqYpxIAPFMup1KWK1CZa7sl-ddj3HAQqcxYtnk6PHK_QdN-gT6vz4hXbbRIM8JTBvF5eyobPn7XQMHRCTGekUBK?width=314&height=425&cropmode=none

[Jim Becker]

Just a thought, but my family has hundreds of photos from multiple generations of extended family.

If all my images are in the cloud, what happens when my last day arrives?

That's actually a good question and something that should be planned for if the cloud is the only place the photos are stored.

[Ronald Blue]

I just keep looking up at the sky wondering which of those clouds is full of photos and when they are going to start raining down. Or maybe we will start getting hosed with photos.....:D As I recall Apple users are steered towards Google Photos to store their photos in the cloud. It still gives immediate access to everything but frees device storage up.

[Jim Becker]

Apple users are steered toward iCloud, not the Google competitor. :) But as an Apple user, I actually use competitor Microsoft for cloud storage of files including photos because I have an Office 365 subscription that includes that storage at no extra charge. iCloud doesn't get my photos, but does get all the stuff I want to sync between my devices...messages, calendar, notes, etc. I did try the Google storage for awhile, but I prefer the interface on what I'm using now.

[Malcolm McLeod]

I just keep looking up at the sky wondering which of those clouds is full of photos and when they are going to start raining down. Or maybe we will start getting hosed with photos.....:D As I recall Apple users are steered towards Google Photos to store their photos in the cloud. It still gives immediate access to everything but frees device storage up.

When 'The Cloud' became a 'thing', I always laughed when passing the office area of our IT folks - - with a big sign on the wall: "The Cloud is just someone else's computer." (I think everyone has this figured out by now.)

For the privacy and archival worriers, you can get a 'box of drives' - i.e. Dell offers 12TB RAID 1 configured external storage for ~$500(?)(last time I looked). I think they even call it "My Cloud" - - you own it, plug it in/on your network & property, and you control who/how you or anyone else accesses it from the web (or not). Certainly more expensive than a thumb drive, but it does give some insurance against a HD crash, and its as private as you want to make it.

Probably archaic now, but I setup similar device with 2x 1TB drives several years ago to store SWMBO's research work at home. It was a lot less than $500 - even then. (I'll let the IT wizards tell y'all about RAID levels.)

[Ronald Blue]

Apple users are steered toward iCloud, not the Google competitor. :) But as an Apple user, I actually use competitor Microsoft for cloud storage of files including photos because I have an Office 365 subscription that includes that storage at no extra charge. iCloud doesn't get my photos, but does get all the stuff I want to sync between my devices...messages, calendar, notes, etc. I did try the Google storage for awhile, but I prefer the interface on what I'm using now.

By Apple yes but if you do a search places like CNet recommend google cloud as the preferred option. They have it set up so it works great as well. For some people Apples plan to scan everyone's photos for inappropriate or even illegal child photos it will steer some away. I think this includes looking for photos that may include missing children. I don't want to get into a debate about that because it doesn't bother me that they are doing this for kids. My only thought is where does this stop? What will the next thing be? If you take photos of firearms will you be singled out? I guess that remains to be seen. It also flows against the Apple claim of protecting your privacy at all costs. Just thinking out loud here. No axe to grind.

[Jim Koepke]

I'm guessing host ... ;)

Yep

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Maybe something is missing in my life. Candy has an iPad and does store things in the cloud. This makes it easy to recover everything when it eventually dies.

For me, my computer has a terabyte of storage. After five years it is using less than 20% of that. Maybe if more full length feature movies were stored or something it would get close to full.

In looking for a new external back up drive it seems the smallest you can find is 1TB.

During my early days in the computing world we had a large drive in our shop, about 3X4X6". We called it the bomber because when it was running it hummed like the bombers in WWII movies. It was a whole 5 megabytes of storage.

Soon there will likely be a court case involving the serving of warrants on cloud based storage if there hasn't already been such a case.

jtk

[Mike Henderson]

That's actually a good question and something that should be planned for if the cloud is the only place the photos are stored.

I think I got a note from Google recently about designating a person who will be able to access anything "Google" of mine after my death. I assume Amazon has the same thing.

Companies have responded to news reports of parents who cannot access the digital accounts of a deceased child (for example).

Mike

[Anuj Prateek]

One thing I wasn't able to determine (without actually trying it) was what constitutes a "photo" in this context. Full-resolution, yes, but JPEG only, or do other formats qualify? The vast majority of my storage space for "photos" is RAW and PSD (Photoshop) files: without those, any cloud storage is useless.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GGU2SU8Y22DZYRMQ

RAW files are supported.
I actually did not know that. This makes it more useful.

[Anuj Prateek]

Amazon is cranking up their advertizing business, ala Google. You store your photos on their service, they scan the photos and build a profile of you, and then they tailor their advertizing to your life experience. They 'll make 100x, probably more, on their investment to store your stuff.

And if you kick the bucket without properly documenting ownership of digital assets in your will, they may be lost to your family forever.



I assumed Amazon won't access file contents, so checked the privacy policy. They DO have access. I was excited seeing the raw file support and was planning to switch. I will stick with S3 based backups.


3.3 Our Use of Your Files. We may use, access, and retain Your Files in order to provide the Services to you, enforce the terms of the Agreement, and improve our services, and you give us all permissions we need to do so. These permissions include, for example, the rights to copy Your Files, modify Your Files to enable access in different formats, use information about Your Files to organize them on your behalf, and access Your Files to provide technical support. Amazon respects your privacy and Your Files are subject to the Amazon.com Privacy Notice located here (https://www.amazon.com/privacy).




Disclaimer: I work at AWS/EC2. I use S3 and other services as customer. Any view is personal.

[Lee DeRaud]

In looking for a new external back up drive it seems the smallest you can find is 1TB.
I've given away larger disks than that. :)

At this point, 1TB costs maybe $50 for name-brand, but it gets cheaper as you ramp up the size: Costco has 8TB Seagates for $120, or $15/TB.

[Jim Becker]

For some people Apples plan to scan everyone's photos for inappropriate or even illegal child photos it will steer some away.
I believe that idea was dropped a while ago...

[glenn bradley]

They not only know your shopping and viewing habits now they have pictures of you.I don't understand the need for the online storage With the price of memory sticks so cheap why not leave yourself a little privacy and keep them at home?

Ding, ding,ding.

[Bert Kemp]

Its real:D468553

[Ronald Blue]

I believe that idea was dropped a while ago...

Actually they are only delaying it but it's still going to happen just not this year from what I've read. More tweaking of the plan or something like that. Delayed or paused it doesn't sound like it's dead just not happening immediately. I personally don't care what they do.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/03/apple-delays-controversial-plan-to-scan-iphones-for-child-exploitation-images.html

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-icloud-photo-scan-csam-pause-backlash/

[Curt Harms]

Photo sticks mess up hard drives crash, SD cards fail. I've lost irreplaceable photos on sd card and hard drives, never lost anything on the cloud as of Yet LOL . Sure I guess it can happen but not likely with all the back up systems and security they have.
Still wondering what amazon gets out of it.

Physical devices DO fail. They're also tiny and cheap, keep several copies. At least one copy off site in case of fire/flood/theft. The biggest problem for me would be to keep copies somewhat up to date. Jim B. mentioned AWS. It's the biggest cloud provider in the world, bigger than Microsoft and Google. Supposedly that generates the majority of Amazon's net profit. They have acres and acres of computers and associated infrastructure, I'm sure they can find a miniscule corner for individuals' storage.