“It’s just a little bit; it doesn’t matter” is a common thought. People say it to themselves all the time before purchasing or eating something. And now Google’s said it with respect to Picasa storage space, giving members a lot more leeway in terms of how many pictures and videos they can upload.
The previous way Google handled storage caps was simple: Picasa users all had one gigabyte of free storage, and everything they uploaded, whether it was a thumbnail image or three-second clip of a dog sneezing, would count against it.
A post on the Google Photos Blog announced late Friday, “Now, uploaded images that are 800 pixels or smaller and videos that are 15 minutes or less in length no longer count against your free storage limit. This means you can upload and store unlimited photos and videos at the above sizes – for free!”
Then, as a reminder/advertisement, the post added, “800-pixels is a good size for sharing pictures on the web, but if you prefer uploading your images at a larger size for better quality (archival or print), and you are nearing the 1GB limit, you can always purchase additional storage for as little as $5/year. To check your available storage amount scroll to the bottom of your home page or view your settings.”
Anyway, this change should go over well with Picasa users, and perhaps convince more people to give the service a try.
It also speaks to Google’s ability to handle massive amounts of information, since we all know lots of folks are going to upload everything they can, sneaking in just under the new limits.
