Well I gotta say that the only way we use spices is to grind fresh for each usage. I came to this realization many years ago when I first came to Asia and realized the tremendous difference in fresh ground versus purchased ground. With a few exceptions the difference is night and day. We buy whole in large quantities from these guys:
http://www.bangkokchili.com/history.html
It's a Disney land for spices when you go into their Chinatown shop their product line is huge.
Here's the way we store them if need be:
Place in an airtight container, if you have a vacuum sealer thats the best. Place in the freezer. Now to really extend their life when you need to replenish your daily use container, pull the sealed pack out of the freezer and let it come to full room temp before opening it. This prevents moisture from condensing if you'd have opened it cold. I learned this from a yeast supplier, as yeast is extremely sensitive to moisture it was what he recommended for yeast. I've done the same ever since for whole spices also and have never sensed a difference in the ground quality. I cannot say the same for even short term stored ground spices, they just loose their intensity too quickly. We use a mortar and pestle mostly measuring by weight the whole spices for our mixes, then pound away. IMHO you get the best quality from the best ingredients processed the best way you know how.
Know one will ever convince to go back to using pre-ground anything unless I cannot get it whole, that's the case with our smoked paprika and chipotle powders, with those we use the same technique described above for storage, and try and buy not in too excessive quantity.