Currently, if i were to upload or download 100+ to 1000+ files to/from Dropbox, one have to call upload and download for each file. Also, such upload and download are not compressed (not supported in api.dropbox.com's HTTP header.
I think Dropbox would benefit many if it supports a bulk upload and download capability with compression. Imagine one can upload a zip file that contains multiple files and folders, when complete, simply ask Dropbox to expand the zip file. Similarly, provide a list of files and folders to Dropbox, and ask to zip and download to local.
Dropbox's native application can do upload / download multiple times faster than the API upload/download, I would bet that Dropbox has that functions but keep it to themselves. Also, I think Dropbox perform de-duplicaton locally and remotely to avoid some of the unnecessary upload or download, i.e., it can simple replicate locally or remotely during synchronisation.
