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Apple Expected to Charge for Cloud-Based Music Storage Service
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notjustjay
macrumors 603
Exactly. It's more than just the $5 for the app and the data cap/bandwidth issues. It is wear and tear on a machine that has to be left on 24/7. It is the hydro cost of running that machine 24/7 instead of turning it off when you go out (this alone may well add up to more than $20/year!) If you don't want your main machine on 24/7 then it is the cost of another Mac mini or NAS or other device to act as the server instead.
It is also wear and tear on your 2 TB drive that has to be on 24/7, as opposed to working more like a backup drive that's only activated occasionally to back up your music files. It is the hassle of ensuring AudioGalaxy and your server and your ISP internet connection are all up and running when you need them to be (dealing with power outages, internet outages, maintenance, restarts, software updates, etc.)
$20/year might well be worth it for the uptime and hydro considerations alone.
right on. now if you have multiple machines and you already do that, then it doesn't make sense to do the cloud service. but i'm more of a mobile user and don't like desktops or big setups. The less stuff I own the better.
Until this speculation is confirmed and Apple reveal what their plans really are, I'll reserve judgement on whether this is value for money or not. But it wouldn't surprise me if they do charge something. To not charge would mean adverts, I'd rather pay a small premium, much like a do with Mobile Me than have adverts. Each to their own though.
I don't have a dedicated server, just my normal home PC that I have iTunes on that I already sync my iPhone to. I put it in SLEEP mode - it consumes almost no power unless it's gets "woken up" by the streaming app, after which it puts itself back to sleep. It doesn't run 24 hours a day - only when I stream or am actually using it. Maybe 4 hours. I never have an issue.
All the rest of the stuff (dealing with power outages, internet outages, maintenance, restarts, software updates, etc.) is nonsense. It's what I do normally or would only very remotely occur.
Tony
I'm confused. Everyone is arguing whether $20/yr for "this" is too expensive.
Anyone care to explain what "this" actually is?
Is it for music purchased through iTunes, or is it for *all* of your music (ripped, downloaded, emailed, created, legal, illegal, whatever)?
Is it only for music that happens to be sold by the 4 major labels that Apple apparently made agreements with?
If it's anything less than "a music locker for everything, with no exceptions", then count me out. I have tons of ripped music and I have no idea which labels they are from. I don't have any interest in having "some fraction" of my library in the cloud either. Oh, and I've never purchased music from iTunes.
Anyone care to explain what "this" actually is?
Is it for music purchased through iTunes, or is it for *all* of your music (ripped, downloaded, emailed, created, legal, illegal, whatever)?
Is it only for music that happens to be sold by the 4 major labels that Apple apparently made agreements with?
If it's anything less than "a music locker for everything, with no exceptions", then count me out. I have tons of ripped music and I have no idea which labels they are from. I don't have any interest in having "some fraction" of my library in the cloud either. Oh, and I've never purchased music from iTunes.
MacBook Air=MBA
A lot of people nowadays only have laptops. I could understand if you have a desktop that you want to come on all the time or is on 24/7.
Gasu E.
macrumors 603
I'm sure Apple will be heartbroken that you won't be gobbling resources without paying.
If it's worth anything, it's worth $20/year.
I guess a laptop WOULD be different in that you take it with you when you leave the house, so what you are saying makes sense. I didn't think of that.
But again, the desktop is not really "on" 24/7 - mostly it's in sleep mode, or completely off when I'm in sleep mode. 😀
Tony
louis Fashion
macrumors 6502a
one bridge to far
Originally Posted by Darlo770
Should have bloody known >
Originally Posted by louis Fashion
Well they won't be charging me.
You wouldn't consider paying $20 per YEAR?
No, I pay Verizon, I pay COMCAST, I have my music on my iPods/iPad/Imacs another monthly fee is just one bridge too far. If you need it/want it bless you. I have to draw the line somewhere
Originally Posted by Darlo770
Should have bloody known >
Originally Posted by louis Fashion
Well they won't be charging me.
You wouldn't consider paying $20 per YEAR?
No, I pay Verizon, I pay COMCAST, I have my music on my iPods/iPad/Imacs another monthly fee is just one bridge too far. If you need it/want it bless you. I have to draw the line somewhere
louis Fashion
macrumors 6502a
I can gobble music on my iPod/iPad/iMacs all day long, thank you, as of today all my music files were present. AND if you need cloud service you are welcome to it. (without any bitching on my part)
Friscohoya
macrumors 6502a
Now I undertand that building this sort of infrastructure costs money and thus it is logical to assume that they would want to recoup some if not all of that investment. However, why would I want to stream music to my phone when I already have music on my phone?
I could see this work if there was a cheaper iPhone with less memory. It would allow Apple to build its market share amongst people who kust want a phone while allowing them to opt in at anytime if they want to add multimedia files.
Otherwise I just dont see the value. Now if this were some kind of hardrive that allowed access to all kinds of files in real time ala dropbox than we might have something. For that $20 would be a bargain assuming the amount of storage was reasonable.
I could see this work if there was a cheaper iPhone with less memory. It would allow Apple to build its market share amongst people who kust want a phone while allowing them to opt in at anytime if they want to add multimedia files.
Otherwise I just dont see the value. Now if this were some kind of hardrive that allowed access to all kinds of files in real time ala dropbox than we might have something. For that $20 would be a bargain assuming the amount of storage was reasonable.
You wouldn't work for your boss for zero salary so why would you expect Apple to invest millions in their data centers and give this away for free?
iRobby
macrumors 6502a
Once I get my iMac will get the free basic MobileMe and purchase the very reasonable 20.00/year for music.
It's cheaper than DropBox which charges 200.00 /year 100GB and 100.00 /year 50 GB Even if I didn't get the music I'd be getting the 200.00 and 100.00 pkgs from Dropbox for free.
It's cheaper than DropBox which charges 200.00 /year 100GB and 100.00 /year 50 GB Even if I didn't get the music I'd be getting the 200.00 and 100.00 pkgs from Dropbox for free.
notjustjay
macrumors 603
I didn't say it was a BIG deal, just that it may be a factor to consider. Granted, I did lump in "basically anything that could cause your server to not be available when you need it".
I actually do keep all my music on a NAS in my basement so I can access it anywhere. It generally works well. However, sometimes my home internet connection is down and I can't connect. And one problem with my NAS (D-Link DNS-323) is that after a power failure, it doesn't automatically start up again when the power comes back. That has been the cause of many "Grr, why isn't it connecting?" moments for me. It's not a big problem, I just have to remember to go downstairs and turn it on again. And lately I've noticed that instead of spinning up the drive to give me my files, it times out and doesn't let me connect at all. Maybe a firmware upgrade needed?
All I'm saying is, I can see paying $20/year to not have to deal with these kinds of issues.
Yeah, a free period or small amount free would be nice in order to find out if it's something you'll continue to use after the first few weeks. Most of the apps I download only keep their flavor about 5 days. I agree that Dropbox is the bomb though. It's iDisk done right - and free to boot!
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darbus69
macrumors regular
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thank you, someone who truly understands! I for one appreciate apple is a company which pours it's profits into MASSIVE R & D expenditures or makes fiscally responsible decisions with it's cash so that we all benefit with superior products, services and support, I am one extremely satisfied customer. anyone who whines should take their baby talk elsewhere, geez...
D 5 said:
thank you, someone who truly understands! I for one appreciate apple is a company which pours it's profits into MASSIVE R & D expenditures or makes fiscally responsible decisions with it's cash so that we all benefit with superior products, services and support, I am one extremely satisfied customer. anyone who whines should take their baby talk elsewhere, geez...
kas23
macrumors 603
This isn't about streaming? So, if I'm driving down I-95 with no music stored locally on my iPhone, how do you expect my iPhone to play my music? Magic, like what the iPad runs on?
mdelvecchio
macrumors 68040
mdelvecchio
macrumors 68040
hmm the leading mp3 player, ipods, are pretty cheap. the leading tablet came out at $500 instead of predictions of $800-1000 based on MS' legacy tablets, so that seems pretty cheap to me, too.