Amazon Dropping Unlimited Storage Plans

[The Computer Audiophile]

This is really lame. I just received this email from a friend, and assume mine is coming soon. I have about 12TB of stuff stored on Amazon Cloud Drive through the unlimited plan ($59.99 per year). Not sure what to do now.

 

 

Full text of the message:

 

Dear **** ******, 

Amazon is no longer offering an unlimited storage plan. As a current unlimited storage plan customer, you can choose to keep your existing unlimited plan through the end of your current subscription. Your Prime Photos benefit of free unlimited photo storage is not changing, so you can continue to store all your photos, plus 5 GB of additional content, for free. 

At any time, you can cancel your subscription or switch to a new annual storage plan of 100 GB for $11.99 per year, or $59.99 per 1 TB per year, up to 30 TB, by visiting your Manage Storage page. 

If you have auto-renew turned on and less than 1 TB of non-photo data, you will be automatically renewed into a new 1 TB plan for your existing rate of $59.99/year at your renewal date. If you have auto-renew turned off or have over 1 TB of non-photo data, we will notify you by email before your subscription end date to remind you that you will need to choose a new storage plan. If you choose not to renew your subscription, digital files that exceed your allotted free storage will be deleted after a grace period of 180 days in accordance with our Data Retention Policy. 

For more information about our storage plan changes, please visit our FAQ page. 

Thank you, 

Amazon

[The Computer Audiophile]

Here are some additional details. I went into my Amazon storage management area and found I'm using a bit more than I thought (14.8TB) and was able to see the cost of the new plans. 

 

 

 

Plans / Price

 

100 GB

$11.99 (1 Year)

 

1 TB

$59.99 (1 Year)

 

2 TB

$119.98 (1 Year)

 

3 TB

$179.97 (1 Year)

 

4 TB

$239.96 (1 Year)

 

5 TB

$299.95 (1 Year)

 

6 TB

$359.94 (1 Year)

 

7 TB

$419.93 (1 Year)

 

8 TB

$479.92 (1 Year)

 

9 TB

$539.91 (1 Year)

 

10 TB

$599.90 (1 Year)

 

20 TB

$1199.80 (1 Year)

 

30 TB

$1799.70 (1 Year)

[joelha]

Thanks Chris.

 

I'm currently trying CrashPlan's 30 day trial.

 

It seems like it could be a very good option.

 

Joel

[jhwalker]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Here are some additional details. I went into my Amazon storage management area and found I'm using a bit more than I thought (14.8TB) and was able to see the cost of the new plans. 

 

 

 

Plans / Price

 

100 GB

$11.99 (1 Year)

 

1 TB

$59.99 (1 Year)

 

2 TB

$119.98 (1 Year)

 

3 TB

$179.97 (1 Year)

 

4 TB

$239.96 (1 Year)

 

5 TB

$299.95 (1 Year)

 

6 TB

$359.94 (1 Year)

 

7 TB

$419.93 (1 Year)

 

8 TB

$479.92 (1 Year)

 

9 TB

$539.91 (1 Year)

 

10 TB

$599.90 (1 Year)

 

20 TB

$1199.80 (1 Year)

 

30 TB

$1799.70 (1 Year)

 

Same here - I had the "free with Prime" unlimited offer, and was using Amazon Drive to mirror my music and photos collection (around 8TB) - now will cost me ~$500 / year  

 

I already use CrashPlan to backup everything, but would still be uncomfortable having only one offsite source for this.

[james45974]

there is another thread with more discussion about this

[The Computer Audiophile]

One step ahead of me James. 

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/32052-amazon-changing-cloud-storage-amounts/

 

[james45974]

6 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

One step ahead of me James. 

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/32052-amazon-changing-cloud-storage-amounts/

 

Chris, I had just started looking at Amazon about a month ago becuase I was unhappy with Goolge Drive and I remember CA members using it.  I don't have too large of a data set to backup, maybe 3 TB, so Amazon unlimited looked like a nice option.  Then I saw the article about the changing policies, whch put the damper on my plan!  Still searching for a decent option!

[PeterSt]

I was sure that free stuff (Photobucket or whatever) would eventually let you lose your data.

But this is worse.

[crenca]

Well, this is the drawback of Cloud computing - you are at the mercy of the whims of a few, as the backbone is controlled by the usual suspects.  Folks point to all the issues of the DIY (whether individual, business, etc.) but here they just took Chris's $59 a year storage to $599 - for all it's drawbacks the cost of your own system is never going to suddenly increase by an order of magnitude... 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Great email from QNAP this morning.

 

https://www.qnap.com/static/landing/2017/amazon-drive/en/index.html

[jabbr]

Amazon just bought Whole Foods so same goes for the internet connected fridge  

[rickca]

1 minute ago, jabbr said:

Amazon just bought Whole Foods

Someone needs to get Jeff Bezos into high end audio 

[Ralf11]

2 hours ago, rickca said:

Someone needs to get Jeff Bezos into high end audio 

 

Let him absorb Hole Foods first

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 hours ago, rickca said:

Someone needs to get Jeff Bezos into high end audio 

 

He is, in a sense - https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Home-Audio/b?ie=UTF8&node=12097486011

[crenca]

Thought of this thread when I read this:

 

"Their cloud battle takes aim at the financial advantage AWS gives Amazon. The company's global retail business operates on thin margins, but they are offset by the enormous profits AWS generates. In the first quarter, AWS posted $890 million in operating income, accounting for 89% of overall operating income, even as AWS's $3.66 billion in net sales accounted for just 10% of the company's total."

 

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/06/21/wal-mart-to-vendors-get-off-amazons-cloud.html

 

IMO, Amazon is failing at resisting the need/greed to milk a profit cow for all she is worth.  On the other hand, profits and margins like these reveal a market still in it's birthing/proto stage and as this won't last forever (competitors and consumers will force a maturity of the market over time) and so Amazon is consciously going "short term" and milk the profits while they can.

 

Whatever the truth of the matter is, I say it is best for the consumer to stand back and wait for the smoke to clear...

[rando]

There are a lot of complexities going unspoken to focus on a small group of individuals with large music collections backed up offsite.  Intel is also undergoing a similar shift.  Pay more for less and we are going to have more control over what you can and can't do with our technology to boot.  When you are dealing with system structures on the supercomputer level you need to consider the implications inherent to that level of storage and processing power.  Hacking and other attempts to deconstruct large scale enterprise are rampant currently.