# Free Unlimited Photo Storage for Prime members



## Betsy the Quilter

Another bonus for Prime members...can't remember whether I've seen this before, but it was a banner when I visited Amazon this morning.

Not sure if this it'll work for other folk, but here's the link.

EDIT to add better link:
http://www.amazon.com/primephotos

Interesting to me, as I do a lot of photo storage on my iPad, and Apple wants more money to increase my cloud storage. Apparently, I just have to install the app on my iPad. EDIT: AND on my iPhone. 

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington

No, I think it's new -- I've seen it 'reported' as such several places. I first noticed the big banner yesterday, or maybe the day before.

I don't do that many pictures, and they currently auto backup to Google cloud as well as a Dropbox folder from my phone . . . . . . so I'm not sure it'll be a big deal for me.


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## Betsy the Quilter

I do a ton.   So this is A Good Thing.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I do a ton.  So this is A Good Thing.
> 
> Betsy


I totally get that!

I'm debating whether I need to have a backup to my backup to my backup.


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## Betsy the Quilter

Hey.  Free.  Automatic.  What's the downside? 



Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter

Ann in Arlington said:


> No, I think it's new -- I've seen it 'reported' as such several places. I first noticed the big banner yesterday, or maybe the day before.
> 
> I don't do that many pictures, and they currently auto backup to Google cloud as well as a Dropbox folder from my phone . . . . . . so I'm not sure it'll be a big deal for me.


Also note that this also works for your computer....

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter

You're right, Ann, it's brand new as of yesterday, I think.

You'll be able to use the new Fire Stick to view your Cloud Photos...

here's a link to a Tech Crunch article:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/04/amazon-prime-members-newest-benefit-is-free-unlimited-photo-storage/

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington

Betsy the Quilter said:


> You're right, Ann, it's brand new as of yesterday, I think.
> 
> You'll be able to use the new Fire Stick to view your Cloud Photos...
> 
> here's a link to a Tech Crunch article:
> http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/04/amazon-prime-members-newest-benefit-is-free-unlimited-photo-storage/
> 
> Betsy


Well, that's cool, since I ordered one of those!


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## BTackitt

It's not new... I've been using it for years, thankfully. I've lost 3 computers in the past 4 years, but all of my photos are still there in Amazon's cloud.


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## NogDog

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Hey. Free. Automatic. What's the downside?
> 
> 
> 
> Betsy


Your data plan usage, if you're not careful about configuring it to only use wifi.


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## Betsy the Quilter

BTackitt said:


> It's not new... I've been using it for years, thankfully. I've lost 3 computers in the past 4 years, but all of my photos are still there in Amazon's cloud.


Yeah, I've been uploading photos to Amazon's cloud for years...I just can't remember whether it was always unlimited. Unlimited for Amazon's content, but not sure about the photos part. There was something new that the tech magazines picked up on.



NogDog said:


> Your data plan usage, if you're not careful about configuring it to only use wifi.


Well, yeah, that's true. 

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington

BTackitt said:


> It's not new... I've been using it for years, thankfully. I've lost 3 computers in the past 4 years, but all of my photos are still there in Amazon's cloud.


The 'unlimited for Prime' aspect is new, I think.


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## Betsy the Quilter

Yeah, apparently it is new as of 11/4/14--here's the press release, in part.:

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1985413



> SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2014-- (NASDAQ:AMZN)-Amazon today introduced Prime Photos, the newest benefit for Prime members, which provides free unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive. Most people have a lifetime of birthdays, vacations, holidays, and everyday moments stored across numerous devices. And, they continue to create billions of photos every year. Now, Prime members have a simple, secure place to store them all for free. Starting today, members can securely store their existing photo collections, automatically upload new photos taken and access them anytime, anywhere, at no cost. Members can start using the Prime Photos benefit today by visiting www.amazon.com/primephotos.


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## Ann in Arlington

So . . . . the photos on cloud drive has always been there -- turns out I have the app already on my phone and it apperas built into the Fires -- and the new bit is the unlimited storage benefit for Prime members.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

BTackitt said:


> I've lost 3 computers in the past 4 years,


Have you looked behind the sofa cushions? 

Mike


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## BTackitt

Sadly, they were all just really old. One was my last Windows 98 computer. another I had had since...2004.


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## Betsy the Quilter

Ann in Arlington said:


> So . . . . the photos on cloud drive has always been there -- turns out I have the app already on my phone and it apperas built into the Fires -- and the new bit is the unlimited storage benefit for Prime members.


Right! Sorry, didn't make that clear in my initial post. I've been using the Cloud app on my iDevices for awhile.

Betsy


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## HappyGuy

Does anyone know if you can arrange the cloud photos into albums? It looks like I can only sort by date taken or date uploaded.


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## Ann in Arlington

HappyGuy said:


> Does anyone know if you can arrange the cloud photos into albums? It looks like I can only sort by date taken or date uploaded.


Hmmm . . . . . haven't tried . . . . . . . I admit to not being much interested in photos, so I don't have very many. Which means having them grouped by when I took them is fine for me.


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## Atunah

HappyGuy said:


> Does anyone know if you can arrange the cloud photos into albums? It looks like I can only sort by date taken or date uploaded.


I was wondering the same thing. As I pull up my cloud drive on my computer I can create folders for my file side of it, but on photo, its just all there by year. But no place to create an album. I can open the albums and for some reason it created albums based on some sort of criteria, I have one for screenshots for example. I didn't create that.

ONe thing that is new is that they have a new PC app for uploading files to the cloud. They had one, but it stopped working a couple of months ago. It was like another drive on the computer at the time and it would sync with the website. Kind of like drop box and onedrive. But it just stopped working and not syncing anymore. Now in the email I got for the unlimited photos, I also got a link to a new desktop app for uploading to the drive. It works a bit different but at least it works again. I pay a yearly small fee for a 25GB drive so I can back up all my files so its nice I can do that again.

But I haven't figure out yet how to sort the photos.


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## Betsy the Quilter

Well, it seems like one of the things about unlimited storage says you can make collections or something; and I know photos in my cloud drive are in albums based on where they were pulled from.  For example, the images pulled from Facebook have the Facebook albums.

But on the Fire, no, there doesn't seem to be a way to create albums.  I haven't tried importing from my iOS devices lately.

Betsy


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## Atunah

I don't see a way to create albums on the drive website from the computer either. I haven't tried the android app yet so I am just looking at my usual drive folder.


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## Ann in Arlington

Send feedback!


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## Toby

I've also used amazon's cloud drive for the pics I take with my iPhone. The unlimited part is fantastic!


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## SeymourKopath

I just started uploading the photos on my desktop today. Had no problem creating folders for the cloud storage. When I was looking at my cloud, I just had to make sure I was looking at "All" and not "Photos and Videos." Once the photos are uploaded, if I switched the view to "Photos and Videos" they seem to be sorted by upload date.

I can go to the Photos library on my Fire HD 8.9, select Cloud and all of my folders are there. Same thing when viewing the photos on my TV with the new Fire TV Stick.

Earlier posts seemed to indicate that creating folders in the Cloud couldn't be done. Maybe this ability is something new since those posts were made?


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## SeymourKopath

Here's a hypothetical situation: I'm a Prime member today. Suppose I upload a terabyte of photos to the Amazon Cloud. Right now that's free for me. What happens if, sometime in the future, I decide not to renew my Prime membership? What happens to all my photos? Does Amazon delete all the photos in excess of the standard 5GB? Do I get charged for the storage fee for using extra storage space? Any ideas?


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## Betsy the Quilter

SeymourKopath said:


> I just started uploading the photos on my desktop today. Had no problem creating folders for the cloud storage. When I was looking at my cloud, I just had to make sure I was looking at "All" and not "Photos and Videos." Once the photos are uploaded, if I switched the view to "Photos and Videos" they seem to be sorted by upload date.
> 
> I can go to the Photos library on my Fire HD 8.9, select Cloud and all of my folders are there. Same thing when viewing the photos on my TV with the new Fire TV Stick.
> 
> Earlier posts seemed to indicate that creating folders in the Cloud couldn't be done. Maybe this ability is something new since those posts were made?


I haven't used the Desktop app; I think people were mostly talking about looking at the Cloud on their Fires (I know I was). There is no way that I can find to create or move pics into folders on the Fire.

Are you saying that you can actually create folders within the Desktop app?

I do know that when I upload pics from my iPad or from Facebook to the cloud, it uses the folders on the iPad or on Facebook when it uploads.

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter

SeymourKopath said:


> Here's a hypothetical situation: I'm a Prime member today. Suppose I upload a terabyte of photos to the Amazon Cloud. Right now that's free for me. What happens if, sometime in the future, I decide not to renew my Prime membership? What happens to all my photos? Does Amazon delete all the photos in excess of the standard 5GB? Do I get charged for the storage fee for using extra storage space? Any ideas?


Good question. I would expect (and I've had this happen with other services) that I would be warned that my account is going to expire and that I should either renew or move my data. But I don't know for sure.

Betsy


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## SeymourKopath

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Are you saying that you can actually create folders within the Desktop app?


Exactly! And when I go to view them on my Fire HD 8.9 or my TV via my Fire TV Stick, the folders show up there.


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## Betsy the Quilter

Huh!  Cool.  Too bad they can't add that capability to the Fire itself. 

Betsy


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## SeymourKopath

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Huh! Cool. Too bad they can't add that capability to the Fire itself.
> 
> Betsy


Just copy the photos you've taken with your Fire to your Desktop/Laptop (wherever you have your primary photo archive), then create your folders and upload your photos to Amazon's cloud from there. Easy as pie!


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## Betsy the Quilter

SeymourKopath said:


> Just copy the photos you've taken with your Fire to your Desktop/Laptop (wherever you have your primary photo archive), then create your folders and upload your photos to Amazon's cloud from there. Easy as pie!


Well, yeah, not a problem doing that....but I'd rather be able to do it natively.  Although truthfully, I only care when I think about it, which isn't often as I don't use the Fire much for photos.

Probably I could download them from the cloud (they are already there) to the desktop. And then arrange them and put them back up. But would I end up with two copies in the cloud? Hmmm....

I don't really have that many pics on my Fire; most of the pics in my Amazon cloud are from Facebook or my iPad, and thus already in albums/folders. I just find it odd that the Fire won't let you do that; most other devices will.


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## 68564

SeymourKopath said:


> Here's a hypothetical situation: I'm a Prime member today. Suppose I upload a terabyte of photos to the Amazon Cloud. Right now that's free for me. What happens if, sometime in the future, I decide not to renew my Prime membership? What happens to all my photos? Does Amazon delete all the photos in excess of the standard 5GB? Do I get charged for the storage fee for using extra storage space? Any ideas?


I suspect that, this use case is the primary reason they are adding the benefit.  Now you have a vested interest in keeping prime, all of your memories are there!

But yes - my kindles, and iPhones are hooked into this now  Love it.


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## Eltanin Publishing

SeymourKopath said:


> Here's a hypothetical situation: I'm a Prime member today. Suppose I upload a terabyte of photos to the Amazon Cloud. Right now that's free for me. What happens if, sometime in the future, I decide not to renew my Prime membership? What happens to all my photos? Does Amazon delete all the photos in excess of the standard 5GB? Do I get charged for the storage fee for using extra storage space? Any ideas?


When I looked for info on this, I found, "If you cancel or do not renew your Prime membership, you will lose the unlimited photo storage benefit associated with the membership and your uploaded photos will count toward your Cloud Drive storage limit. For more information about your Cloud Drive storage limits and what happens to your content if you exceed those limits, go to About Cloud Drive Storage Limits."

So I clicked on the link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201634570) and it says:



> If you exceed the limit of your current storage plan, you won't be able to upload additional content but you'll still be able to view, download and delete your files, photos, and personal videos for at least three months.
> 
> During this time you can:
> 
> Buy more storage space to keep your content in Cloud Drive from the Manage Your Cloud Subscriptions.
> Renew or sign-up for Amazon Prime to enjoy the Prime Photos benefit. Go to the Amazon Prime detail page to learn more.
> Download and then delete your files, photos and videos from Cloud Drive to bring your account under your storage limit.
> We will send you reminders that your account is over quota but if your account continues to be over quota after three months, we may remove and permanently delete some or all files from your account.


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## SeymourKopath

Eltanin Publishing said:


> When I looked for info on this, I found, "If you cancel or do not renew your Prime membership, you will lose the unlimited photo storage benefit associated with the membership and your uploaded photos will count toward your Cloud Drive storage limit. For more information about your Cloud Drive storage limits and what happens to your content if you exceed those limits, go to About Cloud Drive Storage Limits."
> 
> So I clicked on the link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201634570) and it says:


Thank you very much for posting that info. Exactly what I was looking for.


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