Looking for Mr. Right Cloud Storage Provider

I have been checking out the many different web storage services that are out on the Internet today for various different purposes and looking for things that were the “perfect fit”.  The tools that I looked at were:

•  Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com)
• Box.com (http://www.box.com)
• Stream Nation (http://www.streamnation.com)
•  My Shoebox (http://shoeboxapp.com/)
• Several “backup” services

The important part of the reviews is what I was looking to get from the services; and the scope of my search was a bit “vast”.  Here are the things I was thinking about while looking at the services:

• I have a ton of MP4/M4V videos and people have been talking about Plex, which is an awesome service that allows you to install some software on your PC or storage device in your home; but I do not want to store the files in my home, I want them in the cloud where I can share them and access them from anywhere without my PC being on.
• I need a service that stores documents and easily allows me to share them with friends.
• I was looking at services that work well for a company to eliminate local file servers.
• I did NOT need a service that backed up my PC(s).
• I needed a service that would easily upload photos from my phone (which is an iPhone).

So with that in mind, let’s look at our services; because in the end I decided on a couple of services because each of them offers me different functionality that I can use.  I know that sounds like a pain; but sometimes keeping things separated can be good.  I provide an introduction to the later services; but Dropbox and Box are almost household names these days so I do not really introduce them.  For those that do not know these services they are both file storage and sharing services that allow you to upload/sync files and share them with friends and coworkers.

Dropbox:

This service is perfect for the average home user who wants a place to store files they want to “privately” share with friends.  The features of Dropbox are:

• Free service to get started that grows as you use it and invite friends.  You can quickly get 5-10 GB of space that will keep most people happy.  You can then make the decision to grow beyond that for 10 bucks a month.
• Dropbox will host videos that are easily viewable from a mobile device using their application.
• Dropbox will suck the photos AND videos out of your phone.
• Dropbox allows you to easily share files with friends via an email address (they will have to create or use their Dropbox account).
• Dropbox will sync files with all of your PCs and any shared files will be synced down to your friend’s PCs.
• If your friend deletes some of your files, you can easily recover that which is lost.
• You can upload content from multiple PCs without additional costs.

Some of the downsides of Dropbox:

• Dropbox, while cool, does not provide any real security around files you share.  If you grant friends access, they have full access to the folders and can add, change, or delete items.
• Unlike Box.com, everything in your Dropbox account syncs down to your PC.
• Posting photos to Facebook from Dropbox requires using URLs.
• Sharing with friends requires you to share an entire folder.

Box.com:

 Box has a ton of options and runs the gambit from similar to Dropbox to control around individual files.  You can set sharing to allow only specific people to have “view” access and others to have full access.  It allows for a lot of safety around your documents while allowing collaboration and sharing.

• Box is really designed for business.  It is focused on security, has a wide range of offerings, and can meet a lot of needs.  It is one of those services that will allow you to eliminate a file server.
• Box has a free version that offers a limited amount of storage like Dropbox; but does not grow as you use it without purchasing.
• File recovery in Box is better than Dropbox, because your file control is better.
• In the higher level accounts you get collaboration tools like users being able to edit files at the same time so you can collaborate on a document seeing the changes each of you make “in real time”.
• You can get a Box.com account for 5 dollars for 100 GB per month; but you cannot upgrade a free account to that service.  The upgrade to 100 GB for a personal account costs 10 dollars a month.
• You can upload content from multiple PCs without additional costs.
• Sync can be controlled via the web, allowing you to only sync the files and folders you want.

Downsides of Box.com:

• There is no automatic uploads from mobile devices (although there are some third party apps that support this).
• Box does not convert videos into playable media on mobile devices, so your files may not be useable from a mobile device if they are not the right format.
• While more secure, it is tougher to share files than in Dropbox; although the functionality is much stronger so for business this is not a negative, it is more of a negative for individual/home users.

Stream Nation:

Stream Nation is a new service that works a lot like Plex; but everything is in the cloud.  It extends beyond Plex though, it is really a cloud based “Media Center”.  Where you can pull in your photos, videos, and movies that you have stored in your home and can access from devices around the world.  You can also share your files with friends.  Features of Stream Nation:

• Easy to upload and queues uploads of your photos, videos, and movies.
• Allows you to add the covers for movies.
• Sharing with friends and family is easy (but does require a Stream Nation account).
• Stream Nation is able to pull in photos and videos from services such as Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox, and others.  It can pull in specific folders or all of your photos/videos from those services.
• The mobile apps allow you to suck photos and videos out of your devices.
• They have free accounts with limited storage and paid accounts with up to unlimited storage.
• You can upload content from multiple PCs without additional costs.

Downsides of Stream Nation:

• Let’s face it, the number one downside of any cloud storage is that it might be gone tomorrow, so if you are uploading all of your media and expect it to be there in the future you might be sorry.  Stream Nation is a new service and I hope they are around for a while because I find it handy; but it could be gone soon.
• Stream Nation costs about 20 dollars a month for unlimited storage, which is at the high end of cloud providers; but they are offering a service that is currently very unique.
• If you have a lot of movies, videos, and photos the upload process can take a long time.
• The Stream Nation uploader is easy to add content into; but you only see the current uploads and cannot really manage the queue. 

My Shoebox:

This application came into my radar when I was looking for a place to store photos and videos from my phone without cluttering up Stream Nation where I want to store “family friendly” photos – because it keeps my wife happy when she doesn’t have to see photos of some monkey throwing poo.  Anyway, My Shoebox is a service like Flickr, Instragram, and other photo sharing services.  They offer unlimited storage and provide mobile apps to easily upload photos.  Some of my thoughts on them are:

• They offer unlimited storage for a low cost.
• They ONLY upload photos, your videos on your phone are out of luck.
• They have some good photo editing and management tools.
• Not a lot of people have heard of the service; but they do have free accounts.
• Their website URL is a bit odd, http://shoeboxapp.com/

Backup Services:

Here is where I get really vague… I was looking at a couple of services for storage of movies and media.  The upload process makes this difficult and the mobile applications are weak in a lot of cases.  These services are good if you want to backup and restore files from your PC; but otherwise they do not offer much.  Looking at the different services, I would look at what you get for the cost.  The cheaper the better; but be sure to try out the services (if they do not have a free account or a trial, move on to the next service). 

Conclusion

In the end, I came to the realization that no one service would meet my needs; but that I could live with two different services for my personal needs and one for work.

I ended up going with Dropbox for pulling photos out of my phone and sharing files with friends for personal use.  The ability to easily access files via my mobile device (such as funny videos) was really the winning factor in trying to decide between Dropbox and Box.com when looking at these two services.  Dropbox is like Box for individuals who are not concerned about securing down their data at an enterprise level.

However, the initial driver behind my rabid search was looking for a place to store my movies… I have a lot of iPad/iPhone videos.  For that and storing photos I went with Stream Nation.  I am able to upload photos from my phone by going into the application and selecting them, while all of my photos and videos are uploaded into Dropbox, which keeps them safe and secure for me.

Of course, safe and secure is a bit of an amusing statement.  Dropbox, Box, Stream Nation, and so on do not really provide you any long term protection (as individuals).  Many of these companies do not provide any disaster recovery services and offer no promises for your data.  If they are gone tomorrow your data is gone too.

Now, for my work needs Box.com is really the way to go.  The functionality within Box is a lot like a file server in your office with some additional features such as the ability to allow users to share files in a secure environment.  Your users are able to send links and retain the data within your “cloud,” keeping this safer.

With the enterprise agreements you can get a lot more security and “warm fuzzies” around backup and disaster recovery as well when looking at Box.com