Friday Pick: Dropbox

When I first heard about Dropbox a few years ago, I didn’t understand the need. I guess I thought that it was an FTP server for people who didn’t have or know how to use an FTP server to share files. Like yousendit. Boy, was I wrong.

Dropbox is a cloud system that is linked to a folder on every computer that it is installed on with the correct credentials. From then on, as long as there is an internet connection, the files in one folder will constantly match the files in the other folders. Simple. Real simple.

Not only are you able to seamlessly share files between your computers (i.e. your work computer and home computer), but you can also access these files from the website on any computer. Not only that, but you can easily create public links to files to share, giving the other user only access to only that file.

Finally, and this is probably my favorite feature, is sharing. Within your Dropbox, you can share folders with people on a regular basis. For example, my buddy Dave and I are sharing a folder for Digital Stache. Anytime one of us makes a change to any of the files in that folder, not only is it saved on our own computer, but it is downloaded to the others (with a little Growl notification) and backed up on Dropbox’s server. It’s like Apple’s Time Machine, but better in a lot of ways.

With the free Dropbox account you get 2gb for free (if you need a referral, please click here) or 50gb for $99/year or 100gb for $199/year.

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