Company offers 10GB of Net storage, for free

Company
offers 10GB of Net storage, for free:
“A company called Streamload is offering consumers a
free 10 gigabyte online storage locker for multimedia files,
potentially raising the stakes for larger companies such as Yahoo and
America Online.

Streamload typically provides online storage space for a price, making
it one of the few companies to survive in that business through the
dot-com shakeout. However, it is increasingly competing with larger
companies that offer online homes for digital photographs, and even
the huge archive space provided by Google's Gmail service.

Company executives say the offer of big online storage lockers, once
used only by advanced computer users, is now more relevant to a
broader public that has large collections of digital photographs and
MP3 files.

"It seems to have come to appeal not only to the hard-core early
adopters, but to mainstream users," Streamload CEO Steve Iverson said.
"It's no longer a novelty to have an MP3 player, and even having a
place online to store MP3 files so you can fill up your iPod on the
road has become more common."

Iverson's argument illustrates one side of a race between falling
prices for data storage, such as computer hard drives, and the
increasing ease of storing data on a network.

Some computer experts have argued that when all devices are connected
to the Net, storing data locally will be unnecessary. Others note that
cheap hard drives that are expanding to hold hundreds of gigabytes
mean that it will be more efficient to store data locally whenever
possible.

Streamload's service does allow its customers to share files stored on
the system, much as Yahoo Photos allows subscribers to provide access
to photographs to friends. In the past, this has led to online storage
lockers being used to hold and distribute pirated music, movies and
software, but Iverson said his company had guards in place against
this.

People who sign up for the free 10GB service can only download 100MB a
month and can only upload files of 100MB at a time. Customers who pay
about $10 a month have much looser restrictions. ”

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