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   Dropbox Drops Pro Price, Adds Pro Features

   Adam C. Engst

   Dropbox may have set the standard for file sharing services, but with
   Google Drive and Microsoft's OneDrive lowballing the price of storage,
   Dropbox has found it necessary to tweak the details on its paid
   [1]Dropbox Pro accounts to compete, now offering a single 1 TB tier for
   $9.99 per month or $99 per year.

   Previously, Dropbox charged $9.99 per month for 100 GB, $19.99 for 200
   GB, and $49.99 for 500 GB, and users who had one of those plans will
   see their accounts switch to 1 TB of storage and the lower fee in the
   next few days. Dropbox hasn't said if it will refund users who are in
   the midst of a more expensive annual plan.

   In comparison, [2]Google Drive also offers 1 TB for $9.99 per month and
   for those who don't need that much space, 100 GB for $1.99 per month.
   The personal [3]OneDrive account is normally $1.99 per month for 100 GB
   or $3.99 per month for 200 GB, but a current promotion on OneDrive for
   Business drops the 1 TB price to $2.50 per month. Amazon's [4]Cloud
   Drive will probably be dropping its pricing soon, given that 1 TB costs
   a whopping $500 per year there.

   More compelling for those who don't need more space are the new
   features that Dropbox is adding to Pro accounts (free Dropbox accounts
   won't get these features):
     * [5]View-only permissions for shared folders is the big one that
       many long-time Dropbox users have wanted, so you could share a
       folder with someone without worrying that they'd change or delete
       files.
     * Shared links gain two additional features: [6]password protection
       and [7]expiration dates, both of which give you more control over
       who can access a shared link.
     * [8]Remote wipe enables you to delete the Dropbox folder from a lost
       device the next time it comes online. This is useful mostly for
       Apple users who consider their only important data to live in
       Dropbox; otherwise you'd be better off using FileVault to protect
       all your data (as fully explained in Joe Kissell's '[9]Take Control
       of FileVault') or remotely wiping the entire device using Find My
       iPhone.

   Needless to say, an update to Joe's '[10]Take Control of Dropbox' will
   be making its way onto Take Control's publishing calendar, though the
   next few months are pretty booked as we gear up for Apple's upcoming
   operating system revisions.

References

   1. https://www.dropbox.com/pro
   2. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2375123?hl=en
   3. https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/plans/
   4. https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/learnmore#plans-section
   5. https://www.dropbox.com/help/5823
   6. https://www.dropbox.com/help/5887
   7. https://www.dropbox.com/help/5888
   8. https://www.dropbox.com/help/4227
   9. http://tid.bl.it/tco-filevault-tidbits
  10. http://tid.bl.it/tco-dropbox-tidbits

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