How would a CLOUD based itunes work?

I would not be surprised if the iTunes Cloud service only worked with content purchased from the iTunes Music Store.

If they let you upload anything, first off there would be a storage issue on their server farm (unless the cloud requires your Mac / PC to be on and connected to the network so you are effectively tunneling back to your local iTunes media store). Second, I am not sure how rights-holders would feel about Apple hosting and streaming (what they see as illegally) ripped content.

By limiting it to iTMS-purchased content, it's easy to use your iTMS account to tie content to device (just as iTunes itself does), it limits the storage (Apple already has a copy on their servers for the iTMS - they can just stream it to you) and it's all properly licensed and legal.

I can only see it working with iTunes Store purchased media. I can't imagine Apple wanting to host my 2TB iTunes library, mainly comprised of CDs, DVDs, and BluRays I've ripped myself.

Of course, I'm not a creative visionary working at Apple, just a nerdy guy in a tie that likes gadgets.

CWallace said:

Second, I am not sure how rights-holders would feel about Apple hosting and streaming (what they see as illegally) ripped content.

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audio would not necessarily be illegally ripped though, as itunes lets you legally import your CDs.

how would apple, or anyone else know that the content in your itunes library had not originated from the CDs you own and that you had imported into itunes?

video content is a different matter of course, as you are not permitted to "rip" DVDs or Blu-rays anyway. DMCA forbids it and would be applicable to apple as a US company.

I just think the iTunes store will know (obviously) what you have bought and allow you to stream it to any Apple device you have/other device.

I really dont see the point though, most people have their stuff synced to said device?

I would personally prefer the new ATV (if it ever comes) to not be a cheap cloud based product and more of a cut down 2010 mini for around £300

I can't see it happening. Many people are still on limited bandwidth on both their broadband and their iPhones.

chenks said:

how would apple, or anyone else know that the content in your itunes library had not originated from the CDs you own and that you had imported into itunes?

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They wouldn't, which is why I am inclined to believe they won't allow it to be hosted. And again, there is the storage angle. Tens of millions of people uploading their music libraries will result in exabytes or more of storage.

CWallace said:

They wouldn't, which is why I am inclined to believe they won't allow it to be hosted. And again, there is the storage angle. Tens of millions of people uploading their music libraries will result in exabytes or more of storage.

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so basically assumed guilt then, nice.

CWallace said:

They wouldn't, which is why I am inclined to believe they won't allow it to be hosted. And again, there is the storage angle. Tens of millions of people uploading their music libraries will result in exabytes or more of storage.

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Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't all this stuff already stored at Apple in some way and all the end user needs is a key to access and stream it?

chenks said:

so basically assumed guilt then, nice.

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In this litigious age, can they afford to operate any other way?

Winnterpeg said:

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't all this stuff already stored at Apple in some way and all the end user needs is a key to access and stream it?

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For iTunes Music Store content, yes. Which is why I believe that could very well be the material they allow access to. Your iTMS identity could be used to validate your access to the contents on the service just as it is used to validate the DRM'd items (like movies and TV shows) you play on your computer and iPhone/iPad/iTouch. The service would know what you have purchased via iTMS and allow you access to that content.

I'm even thinking the non-iTunes purchased, non-DRM'd music currently stored in an a person's "local" iTunes library might get associated (by Title, Artist?) back to the cloud? But only the DRM'd stuff won't like movies, tv, etc. only iTunes purchased versions of these would be available to go to the cloud (which really is the main storage problem anyway).

Probably like iOS Apps right now, where you can re-download content bought from iTunes easily on multiple devices.

Except maybe there would be an easy to access section where it shows all your purchases.

TheBritishBloke said:

I can't see it happening. Many people are still on limited bandwidth on both their broadband and their iPhones.

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Yeah, the 1% of nerds who wants cloud did not really thought about how it can work in the real life.

Consultant said:

Probably like iOS Apps right now, where you can re-download content bought from iTunes easily on multiple devices.

Except maybe there would be an easy to access section where it shows all your purchases.

Yeah, the 1% of nerds who wants cloud did not really thought about how it can work in the real life.

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I personally can't quite see the point. Unless you rip DVDs like mad, a one TB external drive can hold all your stuff easily at home, and then another one TB for backup. That's maybe £120. And one terabyte is _extreme_. All my music, collected over 30 years, fits in 100 GB. So I don't need to _store_ things in the cloud, and most people don't, and those who do need so much storage, Apple wouldn't want them as customers.

But how would I access it? Connecting my iPod to the Macintosh and replacing 8 GB of music with something that I haven't listened to for a while is quick. Ten times quicker than downloading from the cloud. Now imagine an iPhone. Download 8 GB of my own music would cost me a fortune in data cost.

And of course if I can only access things purchased from the Apple Store, well that is so missing the point. Give up 90% of my music? No way.

Let's think different. All our media is stored on our hard drives. What if this new iOS based apple tv device has built in Simplify functionality. The apple TV either holds all our media or has the HD's holding the media attached to it so has the always on streaming capability.

I think the main purpose of the cloud is for streaming video files to multiple i_Devices (especially the iPad and new AppleTV). Buy once - watch anywhere anytime, anyway. Once you get hooked on purchasing movies and seasons of tv shows from iTunes, storage (and sync time) does become a problem.

Winnterpeg said:

I think the main purpose of the cloud is for streaming video files to multiple i_Devices (especially the iPad and new AppleTV). Buy once - watch anywhere anytime, anyway. Once you get hooked on purchasing movies and seasons of tv shows from iTunes, storage (and sync time) does become a problem.

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I'm thinking control.

Apple has everything most people use (music, photos, books, email, social networking stuff, iWork, Mobile Me, etc) on the farm. This is more than the suggested iTunes and old tv episodes. Those aren't compelling enough by themselves.

We wander around with our little iPads/phones/pods and simply access it. No need for storage or much computer power at all, mostly just a screen and a keyboard/input pad.

In time there may be enough fast bandwidth available to allow for almost all computing to be done remotely, to where everyone would be able to tap into supercomputers remotely. Imagine that! No need to buy a Pro do do your photoshop, no updating, no adding memory, nothing. Simply log into theirs and compute away.

There would be fees for all this, but a lot less than buying expensive equipment that overheats into oblivion and gets obsolete anyway. Money spent on the farm would be very much more profitable than the margins on hardware.

Interestingly enough, we already have a "cloud sync" right now via the MobileMe iDisk App. With iOS4, Apple has allowed me to play tunes from this on my iPhone 4. This includes non-iTunes purchased material.

See here for a nice writeup on it:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/04/apple-slyly-enables-background-idisk-music-streaming-in-ios-4/

Personally

I personally think they will integrate it with mobileme somehow and rebrand the whole service calling it something new and different like for the 100.00 mobileme you also get advanced itunes features.

you'd have to have a hard drive to hold temporary files so i think 'cloud storage' isn't totally cloud..if you know what i mean.

I like the thought of iTunes in the cloud; however using iDisk over the last 3 years- it needs serious attention.

Connecting to it takes me about 10-20 secs min, and it certainly is not a speedy creature.