For some reason, I was sure that S3 was an end-user file storage service. It's not. It's for web developers who need somewhere to store a large amount of data for back-ending their website. So, say, someone like Flickr might use S3 for the actual photo storage. (I don't know if they do. Just an example.)
So, thanks to a suggestion from CGNaughton, I am now using SugarSync, which was remarkably easy to set up, and seems to work pretty well, although it took three days for the initial sync of my data.
I'm also planning to put the 24G of photos, which I have on an aging Linux box at home, up on SugarSync, which will likely take all weekend. Once that's done, I will finally shut down Buglet, which I have operated out of my house for more than ten years now, and I will then have a total of *zero* servers in my home, for the first time in probably fifteen years.
Having my servers managed, and, in particular, backed up, by someone else, has an awful lot of appeal. It's no longer fun to keep servers updated, patched, backed up, free of dust, and restarted every time there's a power dip.
On a related note, if you're in the Lexington area, and you need a half-dozen aging server machines, come and get them. We're only too delighted to offload them. Most of them were great machines in their time, but I no longer have need of them. Monitors too.
Random bit of info: Flickr don't use S3 as their backend, but I think SmugMug do.
While you could use S3 as a file storage system (much like web companies do - you can move files to your S3 drive via WebDrive's S3 Client or CloudBerry's S3 Explorer), if you're looking for automated backups, sharing & collaboration, SugarSync is the better choice.
As Michael mentioned, SmugMug does use S3 (for main storage; popular images are cached). Very interesting reading here: http://blogs.smugmug.com/don/2006/08/12/amazon-s3-the-holy-grail/
I've been using SmugMug for years and find it to be an excellent service and a great way to store, share and backup your images.
I made the switch from carbonite and I am happy. I am on the $9.99/mo plan but I don't only get back-up I also get access to my files from my blackberry. this is what keep me paying.