Friday, December 16, 2011

Who Offers The Best Cloud Storage?

By Roy Valance


Despite the presence of so many companies competing in the cloud-based storage market, the majority of customers agree that a few of them definitely stand out from the rest. As a matter of fact, with consideration to price and simplicity of use, there are some who would argue that it is actually just a two-company competition between Amazon and Dropbox.

Below, we'll review the key features and pricing of both of these cloud storage providers and allow you to determine for yourself which one is the King of Online Cloud Storage.

Is Amazon the Right Cloud Storage for Everyday Users?

This past spring, Amazon made a significant play for the fast growing volume of casual cloud storage consumers out there by launching its acclaimed Cloud Drive service. Cloud Drive's price of a dollar per year for a gigabyte of storage space, along with five free gigabytes per new customer was a direct challenge to Dropbox's grip on the particular niche, but it was the new service's user-friendly interface that truly gained the industry's awareness. Aside from its inviting price tag and easy-to-use interface, the place where Cloud Drive truly puts itself above the rest is in handling and streaming music data files.

Seamlessly integrated with Amazon's Cloud Player, Cloud Drive immediately backs up each music file bought from Amazon to the storage account. Better still, it additionally enables Android customers to stream from their storage straight to their mobile device through an app.

Has Dropbox Dropped Into Second Place?

Dropbox was undoubtedly the public's choice (at least in the majority of consumers' minds) before Cloud Drive made its debut in early 2011. Asking for roughly $0.50 per gigabyte stored, hardly any other cloud storage providers can compete with the company's affordable monthly fees.

Unmatched degrees of inter-device file synchronization along with mobile application integration, coupled with what is still the best file sharing system available, will surely keep Dropbox on the list of most-prominent service providers. The challenge is will it continue to be the favorite of the everyday user?

So, Which One Offers the Best Cloud Storage?

The issue of who offers the best cloud storage services is ultimately a very subjective one. Amazon has obviously carved out a corner for itself as the top service for customers who like saving and streaming music (Dropbox doesn't offer this feature) but, though it beats Dropbox on price, it still finishes behind in several places.

Dropbox's file sharing and device-integration technology remain the best out there, and Cloud Drive has not even attempted to take on this facet of its service. Additionally, Dropbox's security features (although somewhat pedestrian compared to some providers) beat Amazon's hands down.

To get back to the original issue of which provider is best, Amazon has Dropbox beat if you are somebody who needs plenty of storage space for cheap, and wants to stream songs to all of your mobile devices. On the other hand, there's really no comparison to Dropbox if you like sharing your files with numerous users with all your devices.




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