r> The main reason, why I would like to have Blob (sometimes) is that
r> when the content is really big, and I am not interested in the whole
r> chunk, but only in a small part, I still have the possibility (in
r> theory, not implemented yet) to fetch only necessary part of it.
r> Firebird API provides such functionality by allowing to fetch only
r> specific BLOB segment.

r> When using getBytes() or getBinaryStream(), you do not have such
r> possibility.

I don't agree completely, as getBinaryStream returns an InputStream
which has the skip method.

r> Yes, if you are working with the content as an atomic chunk of data.
r> No, if you go forth and backward looking for something. Then Blob is
r> more useful.

I think it also common to store something "big" in the database as
well as storing little atomic chunks, let's say a little logo image or
a smaller text...

Daniel