Few occurrences have demonstrated the need for high quality, affordable audiovisual storage quite like the Apple stock drop. The electronics giant dropped nearly $20 off its stock price and one of the main reasons, according to Forbes, is its failure to engage with storage demands. Quite simply, the smart capabilities of nearly every new device and service demand audiovisual storage; provide it and you’ll notice the difference in sales and customer satisfaction.
Reclaiming solid storage
SD cards were all the rage in the late 00s, but appeared to have become less popular as the cloud gets bigger and bigger; ExtremeTech now estimate Amazon’s cloud to be at least 90 petabytes alone. When it comes to audiovisual storage, however, they are few competitors. SD cards continue to provide enough space for photographers to take everything they require and provide smart services to their equipment. For this reason, manufacturers including Sony provide dual SD card slots as standard on most of their devices.
Moving towards SSDs
Solid state disks (SSDs) have been part of the essential equipment in any serious computer gamer’s arsenal for a few years now. However, until 2016 they weren’t making many headway until Samsung produced their own portable drive. In late 2018, a drop in SSD prices ballooned the market; MarketWatch estimate sales will rise to $60bn by 2024. With this increase comes competition and benefits to consumers. Expect to see competitively priced SSDs, that also provide sturdiness due to the lack of moving parts. On-the-go photographers will be pleased.
Looking at the cloud
The cloud will, of course, play a role in data storage and management. A key part of this will be automation, and could solve the data problem altogether – storage will be a side thought if snaps are instantly moved to the cloud and then, potentially, onto hard storage at home. Zdnet suggest this will be a big trend in 2019 as part of the ‘unbundling’ process, where each aspect of storage is split apart and divided by different storage methods.
Storage for audiovisual material is a big question, both as the content is typically storage-intensive and because the market is growing. As more and more services and applications use smart technology commanding camera usage, and as more enthusiasts get out and about to snap pictures on increasingly able devices, storage will become strained. Looking to old methods of physical storage, and splitting up the equation among different technologies, will be the trend to watch.
