Monday, January 4, 2010

Dropbox: A virtual file folder

Dropbox is by far one of my favourite productivity tools. I use it to access files whenever I'm not at home. I also use it to share files, photos and mp3's with friends. It's like having a file folder in the "cloud". If you install their program, it looks like any other of your file folders on your computer. The only difference is that you can access it from anywhere.

One of the best uses for me has been for collaborating on songs with other musicians. One of us begins with a song idea (usually a drum beat and guitar and vocal part) and drops the file into the share folder. Then the other one adds their parts and mix ideas. We both have access to the same files. It even makes it easy to collaborate with someone who lives in another country!

The only drawback is that you only get 2 gigs to start. Not a lot when you are working with music files. You can get more storage space, by referral up to 8 gigs or you can pay a monthly fee of $9.99 to start with 50 gigs of space. Not worth it for me so I'm usually deleting files to make room for new ones..

Either way, it is an amazing tool.

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