Good points. I probably should have worded my original post differently so as not to imply that S3 was simply being used because of its popularity. It's clear

Good points. I probably should have worded my original post differently so as not to imply that S3 was simply being used because of its popularity. It's clear that its popularity comes in large part to its utility. Still, I'm curious what other solutions are being used out there. (For instance, with 1 TB hard drives {at 7200 rpm} retailing for $200-$300 these days, perhaps someone has come up with a storage method that's an even better deal than S3?)