I don't usually like to talk about deterioration in language, but this one seems unexcusable. Up and down still have very very vibrant binary meanings. So why is it that the words upload and download are being used interchangeably? Download means someone else has something and you want it, you load the file from a member of a network who is hierarchically above you (you need it, they have it), you take it down. Upload means they don't have it and you want them to have it.
I uploaded my videos which I made to Youtube.
I downloaded the Windows Updates from Microsoft.
Upload and download are for internet, because it deals with the hierarchy of the internet.
Computer components such as scanners, usb drives and ipod have no hierarchical relationship: they are merely extensions of the computer itself. Here the words are "transfer" and "copy". Interestingly, transfer is a word which can be used in every situation. I can transfer files from Yahoo and to Yahoo. I can transfer my photos from my camera to my computer or from my computer to my camera. iTunes transfers files from my computer to my iPod, and data from my iPod to my computer. I don't understand the difference between trigonometry and calculus, so I just say "maths". I know that you might not understand the difference between upload and download, so why not say "transfer"?
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