I signed up months ago as soon as I heard about the Dropbox beta, but it wasn’t until a few days ago that I received a private beta invitation in my inbox. Dropbox installs on your computer and points to a folder on your computer (named “My Dropbox” on Window’s machines) which it then ties to your online Dropbox account and server space. Anything you drop in that folder gets uploaded to your Dropbox online and you can then access the files by logging in to your Dropbox account online, getting public URLs for the files, or by using Dropbox on another machine you’ve allowed to sync to your account. It’s much like having a personal FTP site, but it’s easier to upload and download files since you have a nice web interface and don’t need an FTP program installed on each machine. Dropbox also allows you to create shared folders that you can invite friends to access. This could be very useful for collaborating on projects. Another handy feature is the log which keeps track of the changes made to your dropbox.

Users should be cautious about uploading sensitive and/or personal files. I wouldn’t recommend doing this in the first place, but if you must, be sure not to drop it in your public or shared folders. From the Dropbox website:

“While you own the content contained in Your Files, you hereby grant all other Dropbox users a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, perpetual and irrevocable right and license to use and exploit Your Files in your public folder. In addition, you hereby grant Dropbox users who have been given access to your shared folder a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, perpetual and irrevocable right and license to use and exploit Your Files in your shared folder. You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents and permissions to grant these licenses.”

I have a few beta invites left if you’re hankering to get your Dropbox on.