Help me compare apples to oranges
December 4, 2015 7:47 AM Subscribe
What is 150GB equivalent to, in terms of "things in the world"? I need a simple comparison that will help people visualize what that amount of data amounts to.
I know 150GB isn't particularly hard for most people to comprehend, in comparison to, say, an exabyte. But I've been asked to put this quantity of data into the context of "numbers of things," like, "number of movies" or "number of e-books." (Obviously, we're talking rough averages here--I know the length/content varies widely, but we're not going for precision here).
However, I don't want it to sound like an ad for your mobile carrier's data plan, and I think I can do better than just "types of digital media." I just want something kind of interesting and unusual, but still very relatable to a group of adults who are neither particularly tech savvy nor tech unsavvy.
I have a burning hope that mefi will have more creative ideas than I will ever be able to come up with!
Though I am acutely aware that this request seems rather insanely specific.
I know 150GB isn't particularly hard for most people to comprehend, in comparison to, say, an exabyte. But I've been asked to put this quantity of data into the context of "numbers of things," like, "number of movies" or "number of e-books." (Obviously, we're talking rough averages here--I know the length/content varies widely, but we're not going for precision here).
However, I don't want it to sound like an ad for your mobile carrier's data plan, and I think I can do better than just "types of digital media." I just want something kind of interesting and unusual, but still very relatable to a group of adults who are neither particularly tech savvy nor tech unsavvy.
I have a burning hope that mefi will have more creative ideas than I will ever be able to come up with!
Though I am acutely aware that this request seems rather insanely specific.
Windsor, Ontraio has ~ 320k people
Saskatoon ~ 260k
posted by OmieWise at 8:01 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Saskatoon ~ 260k
posted by OmieWise at 8:01 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Wolfram alpha isn't particularly helpful with the term 150GB, but when searching for 1000GB, it gives this comparisons:
~~ ( 0.05 ~~ 1/20 ) × text content of the Library of Congress (~~ 20 TB )
More cool is this BBC Infographic: http://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/bytesized/assets/images/bytesized.png
Sorry neither of those is specifically for 150GB.
posted by czytm at 8:02 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
~~ ( 0.05 ~~ 1/20 ) × text content of the Library of Congress (~~ 20 TB )
More cool is this BBC Infographic: http://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/bytesized/assets/images/bytesized.png
Sorry neither of those is specifically for 150GB.
posted by czytm at 8:02 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
A high-definition movie on a Blu-ray disc is around 20GB, so 150GB is about 7.5 movies.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:04 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:04 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
150 GB is 1.2x10^12 bits.
if you started to count every bit in 150 GB and you counted one per second, you'd be counting for about 38,000 years.
10^12 is also the estimated number of fish in the entire ocean.
posted by vacapinta at 8:05 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
if you started to count every bit in 150 GB and you counted one per second, you'd be counting for about 38,000 years.
10^12 is also the estimated number of fish in the entire ocean.
posted by vacapinta at 8:05 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
3 MB is an decent estimate of average file size for an MP3, so 150GB of music is 50,000 songs, or 25,000 45 RPM records, if the audience is old enough to know what a 45 is!
posted by COD at 8:13 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by COD at 8:13 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: If it was something like word docs or PDFS, it could be 11,250,000 pages of paper or 3,750 bankers boxes of paper.
posted by wocka wocka wocka at 8:22 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by wocka wocka wocka at 8:22 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
As a Fruit Salesman a few years back I was encouraged to use a cabinet space analogy, wherein GBs represented the amount of available space I had in a pantry to store stuff. (Memory was equated to counter stop space, I think.) It was pretty effective IMO.
posted by Hermione Granger at 8:27 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Hermione Granger at 8:27 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Moby Dick in .txt is 1.2 MB.
Show pictures of Moby Dick books, and use plays on quotes from the book to drive your point home.
posted by oceanjesse at 8:45 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Show pictures of Moby Dick books, and use plays on quotes from the book to drive your point home.
posted by oceanjesse at 8:45 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
There are 150 million American men, so you get 1000 bytes for each one. Maybe a small photo? So it could hold photos of every American man.
posted by smackfu at 9:55 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by smackfu at 9:55 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
A high-definition movie on a Blu-ray disc is around 20GB, so 150GB is about 7.5 movies.
I think we should bear in mind that not everybody understands or appreciates the difference between SD and High Def. A normal single-sided DVD is 4.7 GBs a pop, so 150 GBs is equal to about 30-32 standard-def movies.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:09 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think we should bear in mind that not everybody understands or appreciates the difference between SD and High Def. A normal single-sided DVD is 4.7 GBs a pop, so 150 GBs is equal to about 30-32 standard-def movies.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:09 AM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
From the title text of an xkcd comic featuring a 16GB MicroSD card:
Also, the original iPod was 5 GB, but Apple would just say "1,000 songs in your pocket."
Tangentially: When - if ever - will the bandwidth of the Internet surpass that of FedEx?
posted by jander03 at 12:45 PM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
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"That card holds a refrigerator carton's worth of floppy discs, and a soda can full of those cards could hold the entire iTunes store's music library."
Also, the original iPod was 5 GB, but Apple would just say "1,000 songs in your pocket."
Tangentially: When - if ever - will the bandwidth of the Internet surpass that of FedEx?
posted by jander03 at 12:45 PM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Wow--you guys are awesome. Lots of great ideas here. Thanks.
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 3:11 PM on December 4, 2015
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 3:11 PM on December 4, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by OmieWise at 7:58 AM on December 4, 2015 [3 favorites]