Apple Increases Free iCloud Storage for Students to 200GB

[tbayrgs]

And I have little sympathy for elitist thinking. Surprised you didn't bring up the 3 coffees/year comparison.

It's not about the $12/year but the principle of when you buy an expensive Apple device, that BASIC backup should be provided for free. As someone else suggested, there should be a free threshold for each device purchased, I personally think it should be 10GB per Device, to enable basic backup. So if you have an iPhone, iPad and a Mac, you should get 30GB of iCloud, then incremental paid-for tiers in 100GB increments. 5GB was never enough since it launched.
Either that or the Onedrive model where many PC manufacturers offer 1TB free for the first year.

As you correctly state, we already spend much $$$ on Apple's increasingly higher priced devices and more for carrier service. It all adds up, but throwing this attitude around of what's another $36, is just plain arrogance.
Not all of us can afford $100+/month carrier plans, I have BYOD data-only plans for a fraction of that.

Basic backup IS provided for free..plug your phone into any computer and you can back it up. Same goes for photos, documents, music, etc. Apple isn't forcing you to use iCloud storage if you don't want to.

None of the competitive cloud services are free and if you compare pricing, you'll find they're all pretty similar.

 

[0924487]

I keep an encrypted .dmg disk image file in my Dropbox

be careful with .dmg images with Dropbox, syncing process might corrupt the disk image. Especially when you open it at multiple locations and sync simultaneously.

 

[ignatius345]

be careful with .dmg images with Dropbox, syncing process might corrupt the disk image. Especially when you open it at multiple locations and sync simultaneously.

Good point -- yeah, you do have to be careful about closing it right after you're done with it. Been doing it for a while and haven't seen any corruption, though. From what I've read, I believe .sparsebundle ones are the most prone to breaking, generally.
[doublepost=1522260795][/doublepost]

People that don't know how to optimize their images. Nor do they delete what they take photos of.

"Optimizing images"? They're already JPEGs, bro. Already have lossy compression applied. Are you proposing downsizing the pixel dimensions? Compressing them further? In case you haven't noticed, storage prices are plummeting, online and offline. The fact that I'm paying for $10/mo. for two TERABYTES of online storage was totally unthinkable a few years ago. So no, I won't be "optimizing" my JPEGs anytime soon.

 

[tentales]

Basic backup IS provided for free..plug your phone into any computer and you can back it up. Same goes for photos, documents, music, etc. Apple isn't forcing you to use iCloud storage if you don't want to.

None of the competitive cloud services are free and if you compare pricing, you'll find they're all pretty similar.

The 5GB limit is too tight to backup an average users iPhone, iPad, etc. unless you consider stock apps and no user data to be "basic". In factory fresh state a backup is pointless, it's needed when you have emails, photos, apps, contact lists, etc. installed and then backups of even one device can easily exceed the 5gig limit, let alone multiple devices.

I'm not expecting to get hundreds of gigs for free, just enough to be practical from an "average" users perspective.
Pro & business users should pay more for higher capacities, but students (now getting 200Gig free) and average users should be able to backup their devices for free. Right now, I'm paying CA$1.35/mth for 50Gig and average backup size hovers around 25Gig for 4 devices.

Google: "most free cloud storage" and you'll find that nearly everybody else offers more than 5Gig and some large or unlimited photo storage.

I'm using 2 other services with 15GB free. Like I said, I'd be happier if Apple were to at least double the current free tier and do this PER DEVICE bought. It would be an incentive for people to purchase extra devices but with little impact on their storage infrastructure, since they apparently can offer 200GB free to students now, would you not agree that 10gig per device to be more fitting ?

 

[tbayrgs]

The 5GB limit is too tight to backup an average users iPhone, iPad, etc. unless you consider stock apps and no user data to be "basic". In factory fresh state a backup is pointless, it's needed when you have emails, photos, apps, contact lists, etc. installed and then backups of even one device can easily exceed the 5gig limit, let alone multiple devices.

I'm not expecting to get hundreds of gigs for free, just enough to be practical from an "average" users perspective.
Pro & business users should pay more for higher capacities, but students (now getting 200Gig free) and average users should be able to backup their devices for free. Right now, I'm paying CA$1.35/mth for 50Gig and average backup size hovers around 25Gig for 4 devices.

Google: "most free cloud storage" and you'll find that nearly everybody else offers more than 5Gig and some large or unlimited photo storage.

I'm using 2 other services with 15GB free. Like I said, I'd be happier if Apple were to at least double the current free tier and do this PER DEVICE bought. It would be an incentive for people to purchase extra devices but with little impact on their storage infrastructure, since they apparently can offer 200GB free to students now, would you not agree that 10gig per device to be more fitting ?

I understand what everyone here is saying. Sure, more for free would of course be great. It’s the ‘uproar’ over the extra cost that I find ridiculous. We’re generally talking about devices that most people are spending over $650 and possible over $1000 to bu, yet they’re complaining about having to spend an extra $12 for enough iCloud storage to wirelessly back up their data. If that $12 is too much to spend, your fiscal perspective is quite skewed and shouldn’t be purchasing that Apple product in the first place. And if that person believes Apple is taking advantage of them, then hit them where is hurts most and go buy another phone/tablet/computer.

And if you really believe someone is hesitating on purchasing a second or third Apple product because they might have to spend an extra $1/mo for cloud storage, I’ve got a bridge you might be interested in purchasing.

 

[tentales]

I understand what everyone here is saying. Sure, more for free would of course be great. It’s the ‘uproar’ over the extra cost that I find ridiculous. We’re generally talking about devices that most people are spending over $650 and possible over $1000 to bu, yet they’re complaining about having to spend an extra $12 for enough iCloud storage to wirelessly back up their data. If that $12 is too much to spend, your fiscal perspective is quite skewed and shouldn’t be purchasing that Apple product in the first place. And if that person believes Apple is taking advantage of them, then hit them where is hurts most and go buy another phone/tablet/computer.

And if you really believe someone is hesitating on purchasing a second or third Apple product because they might have to spend an extra $1/mo for cloud storage, I’ve got a bridge you might be interested in purchasing.

You missed my earlier point about it not being about the amount, but the principle.
Nickel & diming is the arrogance here. Apple knows full well that 5Gig is never enough.

And yes, I've been looking for an exit strategy from their eco system for sometime now and getting closer. Quality (especially in software) has been declining and hardware prices climbing beyond even previous Apple premiums.

The fiscal part is two-fold, one-time vs recurring.
The elitist always argues, "what's this little bit more", but the consumer advocate approaches this from an overall value perspective and affordability.

The fact that you find this pro-consumer argument "ridiculous" shows your elitist corporate welfare thinking. Not everyone that buys a $1000 device is wealthy.

 

[tbayrgs]

You missed my earlier point about it not being about the amount, but the principle.
Nickel & diming is the arrogance here. Apple knows full well that 5Gig is never enough.

And yes, I've been looking for an exit strategy from their eco system for sometime now and getting closer. Quality (especially in software) has been declining and hardware prices climbing beyond even previous Apple premiums.

The fiscal part is two-fold, one-time vs recurring.
The elitist always argues, "what's this little bit more", but the consumer advocate approaches this from an overall value perspective and affordability.

The fact that you find this pro-consumer argument "ridiculous" shows your elitist corporate welfare thinking. Not everyone that buys a $1000 device is wealthy.

Wealth has nothing to do it, just the ability to have some reasonable perspective and common sense. The cost of 50GB of iCloud storage is equal to just over 1% of the cost of an iPhone X here in the US. If that is too expensive, you shouldn’t be purchasing the phone in the first place.

It’s like someone who just spent $75K on a luxury auto bitching about having to spend more for the premium fuel that it requires. If you can afford the extra cost, don’t get that car, plain and simple. There are plenty of other options.

You’re not entitled to an additional free bit of service just because you think you deserve it for purchasing what you feel is an expensive purchase. Don’t agree with a company’s pricing? Go spend your money elsewhere. Nobody is forcing you to give your money to Apple for anything.

I’m anything but wealthy. You know what I don’t do? Spend my $ on things I can’t afford nor whine about it when a cost is outside my budget.

And on that note, I’m going to bow out of this tangential discussion and let the thread get back on topic.

 

[Andyfm]

Who the hell needs 200gb of cloud

Those of us who do things usually need that or more.