I love the service but it has a fatal flaw (by design): no ability to synchronise my photos to my computer. Given the horror stories of Google accounts being locked for any and no reason at all, with no recourse, I've become extremely distrustful of cloud storage. I use it only with regular or synchronised backup. Google used to offer the ability to synchronise pictures to one's PC, but they removed that functionality. Presumably because more friction in this area keeps customers stickier. They're less likely to leave.

The only option is a full download of all pictures, and they do their damnedest to ensure it's uncomfortable. Albums aren't properly labelled and linked. Labels are a mess. Picture naming is broken. Exif data randomly stripped or altered. Duplicates galore. This process ensures that, even if one is diligent and ensures they regularly download the entire database, they'll end up with a completely unmanageable picture library with dozens of duplicates. And most people aren't that studious.