The $99 annual Amazon Prime membership just got a little sweeter with free, unlimited photo storage.
“Starting [Nov. 4], members can securely store their existing photo collections, automatically upload new photos taken and access them anytime, anywhere, at no cost,” Amazon said in a press release.
The new service, dubbed Prime Photos, allows Prime members to upload images from Android and iOS devices, Fire tablets and phones and Mac and Windows computers to the Amazon Cloud Drive.
In addition to the usual devices, the uploaded pictures can be viewed on televisions connected to Amazon Fire or the Fire TV Stick, as well as the PS3, PS4, and some LG and Samsung smart TVs, the press release said.
A $99 annual Prime subscription now gets you unlimited two-day shipping on millions of items, streaming of movies and TV shows on Prime Instant Video, access to the Prime Music library and access to Kindle’s lending library, among other benefits.
Greg Greeley, vice president of Amazon Prime, said in a statement:
This time of year in particular, families are capturing thousands of photos of holiday parties, family gatherings and opening presents. With free unlimited photo storage, we’re providing one more reason for members to use Prime every day.
Amazon said Prime Photos is strictly for personal, noncommercial use, so professional photographers are prohibited from using it.
There are also restrictions on the photos’ file type and size (files can’t exceed 2 GB).
According to CNN Money, Apple’s iCloud, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox also offer file-synching services like the Amazon Cloud Drive, but they charge for the service if you exceed a fairly limited amount of cloud storage. Google charges $120 per year for unlimited cloud space.
But CNN Money said there are potential risks to saving your photos on the Amazon Cloud Drive.
And if the idea of storing your personal photos in the cloud sends shivers down your spine, be forewarned: Amazon doesn’t offer two-factor authentication to secure your photos. ICloud, Google, Microsoft and Dropbox all do.
I’m already an Amazon Prime customer and this is definitely a service I plan to take advantage of. I have several thousand pictures saved among several devices. I would love to declutter and save my photos in one place.
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Now, check out this video about secret ways to save big bucks at Amazon.
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