Apple Scaling Back Near-Term Plans for Cloud-Based iTunes?
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Pandora is pretty much the reason why I cannot switch to the 2GB plan. I have to stay unlimited because frankly, Pandora is ALL I listen to. My music library is covered in cobwebs. I listen to it on the way to work and back (2h), and I put it on when I'm outside grilling, or working in the garage, or whatever. I just do not see a point in buying music anymore. Sure, if something catches my ear, I'll buy it. I don't spend any time following what's new out there so Pandora fills that void beautifully by discovering new music for me.
Regards cloud syncing - cool. I'm down for not having to connect the phone to the computer.
GenesisST
macrumors 68000
Well, my iPhone can't hold all my 100+ GB of music (all legal from CDs or iTunes BTW). I would love this ability.
I hate having to choose playlists in the morning and then feel like listening to "Genesis' Selling England By the Pound" and not having it.
I would put my staple albums only on the phone and access music based on whims using such a service.
SimplifyMedia was semi-perfect for this (although really slow to sync with large libraries).
Digitalclips
macrumors 65816
Steve, just buy the damn labels and move on will ya? 
I see your point. I think you would be the no.1 candidate for this service then. This could be resolved by larger storage options on the device, but that's just a short term solution.
Now let me ask you this. Would you be willing to pay a monthly fee to be able to access your music on the go? Say, $99 per year? I have a feeling Apple (if the do this) won't do this for free.
Mattie Num Nums
macrumors 68030
Pandora is amazing! I have 5 stations that never fail!
spazzcat
macrumors 601
Pandora does not use that much bandwidth.
deus_ex_machina
macrumors member
Pandora on avg uses a 100kb stream.
I can't help but notice the diminished quality of the whatever is playing because of this. Metallic highs and distant vocals... Not to forget the "dead zones" when you're in poor service areas (< 3G). Nothing's perfect I guess.
macpro2000
macrumors 65816
Streaming Pandora doesn't take much bandwidth...I see how the whole cloud works in concept. I just don't know how much people are willing to pay for that, unless it's very reasonable. People already complain about $99 annually for MobileMe.
Porco
macrumors 68040
So... Jobs reckons everyone can already stream HD video so we don't need Blu-ray, but apparently it's still too hard, in 2010, to let people download some 256kbps audio files they bought more than once.
Meanwhile alternative download sites have been offering the ability to download your (higher quality) purchases for years.
This is why the only music I buy on iTunes now are exclusives - I have no reason otherwise. Probably what the music companies wanted, which makes me feel a little sick.
Meanwhile alternative download sites have been offering the ability to download your (higher quality) purchases for years.
This is why the only music I buy on iTunes now are exclusives - I have no reason otherwise. Probably what the music companies wanted, which makes me feel a little sick.
ComputersaysNo
macrumors 6502
That serverfarm the've builded gives me the idea that Apple is going to offer cloud-based timecapsule something. No external HD's & ugly cables on your desk, messing up the looks and atmosphere created by you Mac. Backing up over the internet for a small fee, instead of buying more and more hardware-storage.
Maybe something like that already exist, and i've proved once again that i have no knowledge about Apple whatsoever.
Maybe something like that already exist, and i've proved once again that i have no knowledge about Apple whatsoever.
Poll Smoker
macrumors 6502a
spazzcat
macrumors 601
I can't help but notice the diminished quality of the whatever is playing because of this. Metallic highs and distant vocals... Not to forget the "dead zones" when you're in poor service areas (< 3G). Nothing's perfect I guess.
If you use it a lot, I would say get the paid service, the quality is better and I agree nothing is perfect.
jb510
macrumors regular
How much 3G data do you actually use in a month? AT&T (I'm assuming you're on AT&T since o one outside the US would have a work commute like that) has a convient report of your billing page of their web site for data usage going back over six months...
If I did the math right in my head if you streamed pandora 24 hours a day it'd only be 10MB, unless it's on 24hrs all month you'd still be under the 200 MB plan and certainly under the 2GB plan...
Even when I'm occasionally tethering I don't use 2GB of data a month.
I too far prefer Pandora over my own library. It's an old but extensive library of music, but I've always preferred having someone or something else doing the music programming for me.
I'm actually fine with this. When cloud-based iTunes comes out along with FaceTime over 3g (officially), those data plans are going to get a bit tight. Bandwidth? Gone.
I would much rather get a 64gb/128gb iPhone to instantly access my music, anywhere. Do you really want to pay for wifi on a plane flight (assuming its there) just so you can stream a few songs?
No thanks.
I would much rather get a 64gb/128gb iPhone to instantly access my music, anywhere. Do you really want to pay for wifi on a plane flight (assuming its there) just so you can stream a few songs?
No thanks.
Thanks for the heads up.
I have an iPhone sp i won't and It worked great with simplifyMedia , your missing my point .
jb510
macrumors regular
I think the giant data center is more likely to provide services well beyond music. The media is so fixated on the Lala acquisition, but I find remote time machine service as part of mobile me more likely.
One thing to consider is that more and more people, like me, actually operate their own server at home. Some, like me, actually expose those servers to the Internet at large. Regardless it doesn't make a difference to me if I stream content from my own server or from Apple's provided that mine will sync with Apple's automatically (time machine/dropbox style). Obviously however I see no reason to pay Apple for access to content I could access as I don't "need" apples servers to stream from... What I do need is safe and secure off-site back-up.
This is why I see Apples data center to be more like a "consumer friendly Amazon Web Services" than just streaming content.
Further what I wanted 5 years ago was wireless sync'ing on my home network... Still don't have it... And NOW I want wireless sync'ing over the interent... I get the feeling that'll never happen.
Finally there is talk of some amazing new file system level feature in 10.7. My guess is that you'll be able to easily mount web disks hosted by apple maybe using WebDAV maybe using something new.
One thing to consider is that more and more people, like me, actually operate their own server at home. Some, like me, actually expose those servers to the Internet at large. Regardless it doesn't make a difference to me if I stream content from my own server or from Apple's provided that mine will sync with Apple's automatically (time machine/dropbox style). Obviously however I see no reason to pay Apple for access to content I could access as I don't "need" apples servers to stream from... What I do need is safe and secure off-site back-up.
This is why I see Apples data center to be more like a "consumer friendly Amazon Web Services" than just streaming content.
Further what I wanted 5 years ago was wireless sync'ing on my home network... Still don't have it... And NOW I want wireless sync'ing over the interent... I get the feeling that'll never happen.
Finally there is talk of some amazing new file system level feature in 10.7. My guess is that you'll be able to easily mount web disks hosted by apple maybe using WebDAV maybe using something new.
Maybe it depends on the country. Here the data allowances are good and the mobile network speed is blisteringly fast so I think if Apple can explains the benefits to the masses they'd have some success with it.
The problem however with those services is that they're only available in a small amount of the places that Apple sells products too. If Apple can get streaming into a lot more countries and integrate it so people don't need to have subscriptions with all kinds of places they've got something the others don't.
I want them to somehow make both things possible. Put my collection in the cloud by all means, but still allow local caching too. Given Apple doesn't always give users the ability to set many options, I'd be worried that they'd assume that responsibility but I'd want to decide for myself how much and where it is.
Huh?
Says "and not include the kind of functionality that Apple outlined in meetings with the labels, such as storing users' music on its servers".
The record labels need to reset. Apple already stores users music on it's servers.
How many record label executives does it take to understand a simple concept that will grow their business? One wonders.
Says "and not include the kind of functionality that Apple outlined in meetings with the labels, such as storing users' music on its servers".
The record labels need to reset. Apple already stores users music on it's servers.
How many record label executives does it take to understand a simple concept that will grow their business? One wonders.
Spending millions to buy Lala and then shut it down and alienate all its subscribers has to rank up there as one of the most stupid things Apple has ever done.