I was with a client last week for a series of meetings. I didn't bring my laptop or netbook with me because of the nature of the meetings I was going to be in, neither was required. At the close one of the meetings, my client asked me about some printed material I'd shown him previously and was wondering if he could have a soft copy of it.
I simply pulled out my iPhone, opened a tool I use called SoonR and was able to give him the file (I will explain in greater detail how this all works). An IT person was looking over my shoulder and said "Oh, you should use Dropbox." I told him I had Dropbox as well and he said "You have both? That's kind of redundant isn't it?"
By now you may be scratching your head? SoonR? Dropbox? What in the world is mip talking about? Well it all relates to services that are cloud-based storage. I want to talk about three such services: SoonR, Dropbox and Zumodrive. I'll describe the three and let you know which one I think is worth installing on your computer and (if you have it) a handheld device like the iPhone.
1) Dropbox
A very robust storage service, Dropbox has some real strengths that are appealing. Installed on my Mac (and other computers) any time I'm working and save a file or drag a file to the Dropbox folder (which shows up and behaves just like a regular folder in my Finder or Windows Explorer) that file is automatically synchronized out into the cloud and pushed to all the other computers I use. And yes, the iPhone client automatically has access to this file as well. I can also share a folder and invite people to that folder - instant collaboration. If I'm at a computer that isn't mine, I can simply login via a web browser which takes me to a screen showing me all my folders and files in my Dropbox. The no charge version of Dropbox gives you a whopping 2GB of storage space and you can upgrade that quite economically to 50GB for $100/year or 100GB for $199/year.
Feel free to explore their tour for more information on this great service.
2) SoonR
SoonR was one of the first of this kind of service I started using many years ago. I liked it because it not only had a desktop client but also a Blackberry client (which is what I carried years ago). The free version of SoonR also gives you a whopping 2GB of space (which is a lot of space for no charge). Like Dropbox you can upgrade that storage but is more costly. For example, to get 100GB of storage is $50/month which is three times the annual cost of Dropbox. SoonR though does something that Dropbox doesn't. With Dropbox, I must put files and folders into the Dropbox folder. With SoonR, I simply tell it which folders I wanted synch'd to the cloud. That is convenient because it doesn't force me to work differently. The iPhone client is excellent and I often use it to access files and email them to people - all without needing my laptop.
3) Zumodrive
When you visit the Zumodrive website you get a real sense that this storage service was built with media (music, photos, videos) in mind. You can however use it exactly like Dropbox and SoonR. They give you less space for the free offering, half of the other offerings at 1GB of storage. You can drag files into the ZumoDrive (just like Dropbox) or you can "link" folders from your computer that automatically get sync'd by ZumoDrive (just like SoonR). It's kind of a hybrid of the two. You can increase the storage and ZumoDrive gives you more storage-tier-options than the other services. For an apples to apples comparison, moving up to 100GB of storage will cost you $20 / month. That is a little bit more than Dropbox but a lot less that SoonR. In my mind, for $240/year for 100GB you get the ability to link folders which is worth the $40 more than Dropbox. The iPhone client is excellent as well, allowing you access to your files in the cloud as effectively as the other offerings.
The Million Dollar Question: Which One Should You Use?
Having looked at these three services and their respective desktop and mobile clients, you are wondering, "Which one will mip recommend?" Well, my answer might seem a bit facetious, but I assure you, I'm not trying to be. The simple answer is: Choose them all. Given that they all offer free versions that provide a good amount of storage and functionality, you really should take advantage of all three. In time, if you find one best suits the way you work and you need more storage, it is a simple process to increase your storage capacity. Using these services will change the way you work, especially if you use a main computer (desktop), a laptop, a netbook and your mobile phone (or some combination of those devices). You will find it incredibly liberating to have your files available all the time regardless of what device you are using at the time.
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