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An alteration made for the latest 2.0 version of the Dropbox app for Android in order to better comply with the rules of the operating system resulted in the removal of some features that, in the 1.x versions, users had come to rely upon. As a result, Dropbox team members these past few weeks have found themselves in damage control mode, as they work to stem a rising tide of frustration from users, some of whom aren't yet buying the company's message that these changes were necessary.

The biggest change the new version makes is to the storage locations for files downloaded from users' Dropbox storage areas to their phones. One is the cache for files that may be useful on the phone, like pictures and music. Another is for documents that may then be opened up in apps on the phone, like the QuickOffice productivity suite or the KeePassDroid password cache. The new version of the Dropbox app moves these locations to directories specified in the Android guidelines. But the change was implemented before users and developers were ready.

The main functions for services like Dropbox and Box.net are simple sharing and, to a limited degree, collaboration. Multiple parties can share access to a cloud-based storage device that's easier to set up than a networked drive. That helps small and medium-sized businesses as much as it helps consumers. But businesses, including even smaller ones, are encountering a need far outside the realm of consumer desire: They're starting to utilize big databases that go way beyond the size or scope of individual files.

This is where an object storage system could come into play. It's a way for data to be symmetrically clustered across multiple devices, utilizing a self-optimizing storage map that keeps data replicated, but never bottled up in the same place. We've seen such a system in OpenStack. One commercial alternative is from a company called Caringo, and is called CAstor. This month, an Israel-based company called CTERA Networks, Ltd. has adapted its appliance-based "Dropbox for SMBs" to support CAStor, in an effort to make object storage and backup more of a turnkey process.

With all the cloud storage providers available these days, one thing I was looking for was a simple way to share and synchronize a networked file server in my office with a cloud-based repository. Sure, there are dozens of providers that will let you synch to your desktop. But what if you have a couple of branch offices and want to share files between them or have multiple users in a single office and single place to backup your most commonly used files? That is a tougher proposition.

Yesterday, Richard's cloud drive article made note of Dropbox and Google Docs and other cloud storage providers. There is a new take on this from a company called Cloud Engines with their Pogoplug service. It combines the typical cloud drive with a piece of hardware. Here is how it works.

You purchase the device, called Pogoplug Mobile for $80. It is about the size of a small paperback, and has ports for SD and USB drives, wired Ethernet and power. Before you hook everything up, you can use either the SD card or a standard USB thumb drive to store backup copies of your files. Next, you connect it to your network and hence to the Internet, register the device and download client software to add other files.

One of the main principles of cloud storage in the enterprise is that users should not have to know the physical locations of the devices that store their files. They're all pooled together into one virtual device that's well replicated and has enormous capacity. Up to now, these conveniences haven't scaled down to the consumer level. That's why, when you hear everyday folks ask about where they should keep their files, their questions boil down to, "Whose cloud would you recommend?"

It isn't exactly a cloud if it comes with partitions. Realizing that, a startup from June 2010 called Joukuu has been building a compelling solution: an all-inclusive desktop for users of multiple cloud-based storage platforms, including Box.net and Dropbox. The result is a kind of all-in-one Finder window for all files and documents, including Google Docs documents that you can edit inline.

There may be no place else to put all this "big data" except the cloud, if the sheer breadth of data continues to expand at the current rate. The demand for storage outside the data center may soon eclipse demand for storage inside it, if the latest four-year forecast by analyst firm IDC proves accurate.

In a report released this morning by IDC's vice president for storage systems, Richard Villars, the firm calculates that enterprises worldwide spent $3.3 billion for public cloud-based storage in 2010.

As many of you know, Microsoft has had a free 25 GB of cloud drive storage for some time with its Skydrive service. Now 4Shared.com is trying out to offer an alternative. You can have up to 15 GB of free storage, as long as you confirm your email account and don't upload any files larger than 2 GB each. More storage without ads and removing the file size and other limits can be had for $10 a month, less if you purchase an annual contract.

A federal judge in New York ruled today in the defendant's favor on a copyright infringement case brought EMI and 14 record companies against cloud music locker service MP3tunes. Judge William H. Pauley III found that cloud-based music lockers are, for the most part, legally in the clear. The judge found that "MP3tunes did not promote infringement" by offering an open cloud storage service for music, meaning that it, as well as big-name services like Google Music and Amazon Cloud Drive, are on the right side of the law.

The record companies claimed that services like these duplicate files in ways that violate copyrights, that they don't do enough to stop repeat infringers, and that playing back songs from a locker constitute a "public performance," which would require a license for the material. The judge rejected all these claims, finding that MP3tunes is protected as a service provider under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The plaintiffs also argued that works recorded prior to 1972 were not protected by the DMCA, but the judge overturned this charge as well.

If you are an Apple MobileMe customer, now is the time to start planning your transition to Apple's iCloud service as some parts of MobileMe are going away. While the move from MobileMe to iCloud is bound to be rocky, the good news is that there are third-party alternatives. However, there are some services that people have taken for granted which just won't be available when Apple pulls the plug on MobileMe next summer. While Apple never really seemed all that committed to MobileMe anyway, many of its features didn't keep pace with the competition. And with some planning and exploration of alternatives, other MobileMe users are likely to find they've wound up in a better place as well.

Dropbox has updated its Terms of Service yet again. The latest revision is much more clear about what rights Dropbox reserves with regards to stored content. This follows an uproar over a revision to its terms last week.

Earlier this week we compared Dropbox's ToS with that of similar cloud storage services, but Dropbox now appears to be the clearest of them all.