Is the iCloud free storage allowance unfair?

[Tinmania]

Is free "free storage" allowance unfair.


Just repeat that over and over, and you would see how baseless this argument is.

Be happy with what you get, they could have made it a paid service.

Exactly. For those of us who used MobileMe it is even better: I used to spend $50 per year for that service (ebay). I could go up to 25GB of iCloud storage and still pay $10 less per year than I was paying for MobileMe. That is with getting MM for half its retail price. Plenty of people paid full price.



Michael

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Oh, I see. Sorry for jumping to conclusions.

Yeah, I had that problem earlier. It's like you delete the backup, but it magically reappears when you try to create a brand new one... I encountered it when the 5 GB were out and I was going to create a new backup without the pictures. I can't for the life of me remember how I managed to fix it though.

It's actually quite possible that I made a backup to iTunes, wiped the iPad, set it up as a new one, deleted the old backup from iCloud, restored from the iTunes backup and made a new backup to iCloud.

Yep, that is exactly what I think is going on. It is remembering--or whatever it is doing--the backup I had with camera roll still turned on.

Unfortunately I cannot wipe the 4S because it is jailbroken and I will lose that if I restore. Oh well, hopefully it just works itself out.




Michael

 

[Dangerous Theory]

If you're going to throw out such a petty "fairness" argument, perhaps you should consider that a 64 GB iPad owner gets a better price per GB of SSD storage. It costs £80 to get 16GB (16 to 32), and another £80 to get another 32GB (32 to 64). So 64 GB owners get 48 GB extra at £3.33 per GB, while 32 owners get 16 extra at £5 per GB.

 

[Redjericho]

Do you think the free iCloud 5GB allowance is fair for all users?

Surely it would be fairer to offer increasing capacity per iPad model. Why should someone who buys a 64GB model get the same free 5GBs as someone who only bought a 16GB model?

Apple should have offered 5GB For the 16GB model, 10GB for the 32GB model and 20GB for the 64GB model.

Edit:
Look at is as a percentage rather than GB.

16GB owners get 31% extra free icloud space
32GB owners get 15% extra free iCloud space
64GB owners get 7.8% extra free iCloud space


That doesn't seem very fair to me

It's called pay more and you get more space.

 

[H00513R]

The allowance is fine by me. I am a grandfathered MobileMe user and was used to subscribing to it yearly. So if I truly need more space, then I have no problem paying for it.

 

[dukebound85]

how is a free service unfair?

you opted to get a higher end device via paying more.

use that same logic now....if you want more space online, well pay for it

 

[Geekbabe]

I don't understand what this argument is about. Storage costs money & I suspect the amount of cash Apple lays out to provide that free 5GB of storage to it's customers is a pretty hefty sum.

 

[torbjoern]

Who needs more than 5 GB anyway? It's not Dropbox. Btw, this is not a rhetorical question, I'd really like to know who they are.

AFAIK, iTunes-purchased content won't be counted towards the 5 GB limit and PhotoStream has a limit of 1000 pictures anyway, which means there will be no less than 4 GB left for iWork docs and e-mail. Oh, and backup for the iOS device settings.

I'm sure there are people out there who need more than 5 GB (even the way iCloud works now) but I'm curious about what they need it for.

 

[nutmac]

Who needs more than 5 GB anyway? It's not Dropbox. Btw, this is not a rhetorical question, I'd really like to know who they are.

1. Video in camera roll. If you do decent amount of video recording, camera roll will shoot up pretty quickly.

2. Apps that can be used to generate copious amount of data, such as multimedia apps like GarageBand and iMovie.

And since you cannot use separate iCloud account per device for backup without affecting documents & data (syncing documents and data across devices), it is quite easy to exceed 5GB or even 55GB paid maximum.

I think Apple should offer 5GB storage per device, with option to purchase more than 50GB additional.

 

[throAU]

you should totally write to tim cook and demand an icloud refund

 

[MacAttacka]

If you're going to throw out such a petty "fairness" argument, perhaps you should consider that a 64 GB iPad owner gets a better price per GB of SSD storage. It costs £80 to get 16GB (16 to 32), and another £80 to get another 32GB (32 to 64). So 64 GB owners get 48 GB extra at £3.33 per GB, while 32 owners get 16 extra at £5 per GB.

Its a well known fact that 32 & 64 GB owners already handsomly subsidise the 16GB line and besides when was the last time memory cost anywhere near £3/GB? Top of the line SSDs come in at well under a a quid a gig and cloudy memory costs considerably less.

 

[AbSoluTc]

1. Video in camera roll. If you do decent amount of video recording, camera roll will shoot up pretty quickly.

2. Apps that can be used to generate copious amount of data, such as multimedia apps like GarageBand and iMovie.

And since you cannot use separate iCloud account per device for backup without affecting documents & data (syncing documents and data across devices), it is quite easy to exceed 5GB or even 55GB paid maximum.

I think Apple should offer 5GB storage per device, with option to purchase more than 50GB additional.

Buy more storage. 5gb is a great starting point for most users. If you exceed the maximum paid amount of storage, that's a personal problem, not an Apple/iCloud problem.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

Its a well known fact that 32 & 64 GB owners already handsomly subsidise the 16GB line and besides when was the last time memory cost anywhere near £3/GB? Top of the line SSDs come in at well under a a quid a gig and cloudy memory costs considerably less.

You missed the point. You're trying to argue that 64GB owners are treated unfairly because they get proportionally less cloud storage. Well they pay (significantly) proportionally less per GB of SSD storage. This easily offsets the supposed "unfairness" of the cloud storage. 32 GB owners pay £5 per GB to get that extra 16GB. If 64 owners had to pay that same rate, you'd be looking at a £640 iPad 3 WiFi versus the current £560.

Instead of complaining about getting "only 5 GB" storage, take the £80 you've saved and buy some extra iCloud storage.

Obviously, you haven't literally saved £80, but your ideology of fairness is a mess.

 

[nutmac]

Buy more storage. 5gb is a great starting point for most users. If you exceed the maximum paid amount of storage, that's a personal problem, not an Apple/iCloud problem.

The largest storage space you can purchase is 55GB (free 5GB + $100/year 50GB). If you want to utilize "documents & data" syncing across iOS and Mac, one iCloud account (and therefore 55GB) must be shared across multiple iOS devices.

55GB maybe enough for many folks, but if if you own multiple high capacity iOS devices and want to backup everything, it may not be enough.

My proposed solution? Allow different iCloud accounts for backup and syncing.

 

[Tinmania]

Its a well known fact that 32 & 64 GB owners already handsomly subsidise the 16GB line

That is priceless. "Well known fact." Cracking up over here. Thanks.

I definitely want some of what you are smoking!



Michael

 

[mrgreen4242]

Needs another option: 5gb per DEVICE would be more fair. I don't think it's fair that I have an iPhone and an iPad and have to share the 5gb between them, where someone who only purchased one device gets the same space.

I can't backup my iPad to my iCloud account because there's not enough room for both. Wireless syncing overnight more or less solves this problem, as I get a backup to my iMac every night, though I've had days where it fails to go for whatever reason.

 

[Mrg02d]

you should totally write to tim cook and demand an icloud refund

I just did. I called him an elitist, want to know what he called me?

 

[Jessemtz25]

I just did. I called him an elitist, want to know what he called me?

Not really lol.

 

[hafr]

Needs another option: 5gb per DEVICE would be more fair. I don't think it's fair that I have an iPhone and an iPad and have to share the 5gb between them, where someone who only purchased one device gets the same space.

I can't backup my iPad to my iCloud account because there's not enough room for both. Wireless syncing overnight more or less solves this problem, as I get a backup to my iMac every night, though I've had days where it fails to go for whatever reason.

Why would the 5 GB per device be more fair than based on internal storage? The whole idea with iCloud is syncing across the devices, basically meaning that one or ten devices - you would still only need the same amount of storage.

It's like saying you need a bigger Dropbox allowance because you're using two computers...

 

[Tinmania]

Why would the 5 GB per device be more fair than based on internal storage? The whole idea with iCloud is syncing across the devices, basically meaning that one or ten devices - you would still only need the same amount of storage.

It's like saying you need a bigger Dropbox allowance because you're using two computers...

Not really. That would only apply to Shared documents and data--and that is only one part of what is being backed up. In my case it is a very small part compared to what is being backed up for apps (which is unique to each device). I don't even have camera roll backups on on any of my iOS devices.

As has been pointed out, the camera roll alone can use a huge amount of space.

Actually, I would rather PhotoStream handle video than use device backups for that. I'd rather pay for that if need be. Then it could work for all my devices and be useful for more than just a device restore.




Michael

 

[Insulin Junkie]

that's just silly now. if they went down that road, which incidentally i hope they never do and i seriously doubt, theyd have to make distinctions between ipad 2 and new ipad owners, 3g and wifi owners, etc. cumbersome, elitist garbage, as other users have already pointed out. comes off a bit as a bewhew spent 100 bucks moar, should get moar free stoof post... guess what, i spent thousands studying for a degree and getting great grades and yet nobody will hire me, despite work experience (i worked for free, btw) where do i go moan that i want what is due and a return for the years of hard work and shittons of money poured into something that is soon to be obsolete? just lulz.

 

[mzjin]

You have G Drive, Dropbox, Skydrive, Amazon cloud drive... there are so many free options (I nearly 50GB free, 25 skydrive, 5 dropbox, 5 G Drive, 5 Cloud Drive) that there isn't really a need for more from Apple. Do your device backups on your computer.

 

[hafr]

Not really. That would only apply to Shared documents and data--and that is only one part of what is being backed up. In my case it is a very small part compared to what is being backed up for apps (which is unique to each device).

The actual apps don't count towards the allowance, and looking at my own backup, the one app that takes the most space takes up 2 MB of the backup, most take up a few hundred KB's each. Which apps are taking up huge amount of space in your backup?

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You have G Drive, Dropbox, Skydrive, Amazon cloud drive... there are so many free options (I nearly 50GB free, 25 skydrive, 5 dropbox, 5 G Drive, 5 Cloud Drive) that there isn't really a need for more from Apple. Do your device backups on your computer.

The whole point with iCloud is to break free from the clutches of the computer... I rarely plugged my iPhone into the computer, meaning the backups would be made with some time apart. With iCloud, it backs up automatically once a day no matter where I am.

 

[Laimbeersux]

Oh, I see. Sorry for jumping to conclusions.

Yeah, I had that problem earlier. It's like you delete the backup, but it magically reappears when you try to create a brand new one... I encountered it when the 5 GB were out and I was going to create a new backup without the pictures. I can't for the life of me remember how I managed to fix it though.

It's actually quite possible that I made a backup to iTunes, wiped the iPad, set it up as a new one, deleted the old backup from iCloud, restored from the iTunes backup and made a new backup to iCloud.