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Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

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Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#551

Post by archon810 »

fwiwm2c wrote: post #220
mholt wrote: post #46

Time to dust off my side project, Timeliner [1] which downloads your Google Photos (and other content from various services) and indexes them in a local SQLite DB. Then after backing them up locally, I won't feel bad about deleting them from the cloud later to free up space. I've been using Timeliner for a while but need to update it. New maintainers welcomed, if you're interested! (One major "oof" is that the Google…

Why not just pay $30/yr to get access to all the features which Google Photos (and other Google services) offer? I know $30 is not the same everywhere but if you are in US (and assuming you are in tech given you are on HN), you'd spend that much in a dinner without thinking much. There is something about paying about online services which brings a lot of resistance in us (me included but I think I am getting over it)

$30/year will get you... 100-200GB?

I can easily fill up that much data in a single month with videos of my kids.

The next tier is 2TB for $10/mo. Then 10TB for $50/mo.

All of a sudden, you're paying $600 a year and it isn't as insignificant as you suggested.

Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#552

Post by franzwong »

If I need to pay to upload new photos, I would choose a cloud service based on the features it provides.

Of course I can keep the old photos in Google Photo and upload new photos to other cloud service, but I would lose the ability to search "all" photo in a single place.

Now, I just want to have a function to download all photos from Google Photo and consider switching to others.

Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#553

Post by jl6 »

Fej wrote: post #406
jl6 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For all we know, YouTube may be haemorrhaging money and they just haven’t figured out a way of charging for storage - yet.

YouTube generates $15b in revenue on ads, plus YouTube Premium memberships [1] and so the cost of storing and serving all of the data would also have to total in the billions, after paying ad revenue to creators as well as other costs. That could be the case, although if they were taking a substantial loss it's unlikely they would hold on for as long as they have. YouTube also has the benefit of having monopoly power…

I’m inclined to agree with you, but we simply don’t know because Google doesn’t report YouTube financials separately. They could still be taking a loss and subsidising it with general search revenue.

Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#554

Post by jl6 »

lelandbatey wrote: post #328
jl6 wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minor nitpick: Dropbox doesn’t preserve the original filename (e.g. IMG_1234.JPG), instead changing it to a timestamp-based filename. It also doesn’t preserve Live Photos on iOS.

You're correct, turns out Dropbox does rename the files and I'd forgotten. It seems you're right about some quirks in their automatic photo saving system on iOS. Ive been using them with Android exclusively and had good support for auto saving pictures of all kinds. OP, if you're on iOS Dropbox may not be for you.

I do use paid Dropbox on iOS and aside from the two defects I mentioned, it’s very reliable. Actually there’s a third: the Dropbox iOS app cannot reliably run in the background, so mass uploading is only possible when the phone is plugged in and the screen switched on with the app in the foreground (e.g. overnight) - but this is the fault of iOS.

Is there an alternative you’d recommend? I also use Dropbox for its cost-per-TB and Linux client.

Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#555

Post by thekyle »

archon810 wrote: post #551
fwiwm2c wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just pay $30/yr to get access to all the features which Google Photos (and other Google services) offer? I know $30 is not the same everywhere but if you are in US (and assuming you are in tech given you are on HN), you'd spend that much in a dinner without thinking much. There is something about paying about online services which brings a lot of resistance in us (me included but I think I am getting over it)

$30/year will get you... 100-200GB? I can easily fill up that much data in a single month with videos of my kids. The next tier is 2TB for $10/mo. Then 10TB for $50/mo. All of a sudden, you're paying $600 a year and it isn't as insignificant as you suggested.

If you're easily generating 200GB per month in photos and videos then a NAS would probably make more sense. But keep in mind the vast majority of people don't take that many photos.

Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#556

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh »

romwell wrote: post #548
andromeduck wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Loss leading is not dumping. 2. Plenty of competitors in the storage space are still thriving including Dropbox, Box, Microsoft OneDrive, Backblaze, Amazon Drive, Apple iCloud, etc. 3. There's even more more competition on the photo sharing side of things like Instagram, Flickr, SmugMug, 500px, imgur, imageshack, Facebook, 1x, photoblog, etc. 4. Photos isn't even the largest service nor Google the most influential…

Yeah, and which of those services you mentioned directly integrate with the camera and gallery app that ships with every other phone? Most pictures taken today are probably taken with an Android camera. Google is, indeed, the most influential player in that sector.

Apple iCloud

Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#557

Post by theshrike79 »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #286
judge2020 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what a shame iCloud's included storage is. One device's backups can dangerously close to 5gb without trying, and any additional device backups will easily push you over 5gb, effectively forcing you into the $1/mo storage plan or $4/mo if you want to share 200gb total with your family.

The worst part about iCloud is how slow it is and how much Photos on macOs crash. It’s barely usable for anything but previewing photos.

YMMV, I've got 300GB of photos in iCloud and I can count the amount of Photos crashes in the last 5 years with one hand.

Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#558

Post by theshrike79 »

judge2020 wrote: post #236
advisedwang wrote: post #55

Sad as I am to see "unlimited" go away, this is probably the best way to do it: * Grandfathering existing photos means I don't have to worry about going back and deleting objects or getting an sudden bump in cost. * 15 GB is pretty generous... iCloud includes 5GB for free. * $2/month isn't a huge jump to the next level of storage.

And what a shame iCloud's included storage is. One device's backups can dangerously close to 5gb without trying, and any additional device backups will easily push you over 5gb, effectively forcing you into the $1/mo storage plan or $4/mo if you want to share 200gb total with your family.

Service business is good business. It's easy to get people paying the $1 for extra backup space.

Now you have their credit card in Apple Pay and you can get them paying for more stuff.

Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#559

Post by deanclatworthy »

benhurmarcel wrote: post #301
deanclatworthy wrote: post #107

Pretty upset about this. I added the app to my mothers phone as it auto backs up everything at high enough quality for her at no cost. Trying to explain to a 65 year old woman with no computing skill how to set up a recurring subscription for online photo storage is going to be a tough ask.

I did the same but I'm really not worried. How long is it going to take for her to fill 15GB really?

It's funny how people make assumptions about technology use among the elderly - myself included. She got a 16GB iPhone a few years ago and filled it with videos within half a year.

She wants her photos/videos with her at all times, but then she would need at least 256gb phone which she cannot afford the contract for. Google photos was a perfect balance for this, as the app works very very well as a photo browser where everything is in the cloud - meaning she could offload all the photos and videos (at an acceptable quality for her [impaired] vision) from the phone.

Re: Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage in June 2021

#560

Post by fomine3 »

nomad543 wrote: post #534
fomine3 wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are people who complaining Ads but also avoids YouTube Premium. I don't know what they want. Pay option to remove ads is great, isn't it?

It's not about accepting or not accepting paying to view videos. It's about how Youtube decimated competition and now the user cannot choose another pricing option and is left with the only option of paying the amount Google wants you to pay.

It's serious dominant problem but not for ads. Don't blame Ads/Premium.
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