All iPads Have an iMac, wish to move from desktop to iPad...help!

[MisterBigMack]

Hi there

never had a tablet before but have had an iPhone 4 and currently iPhone 5, and about 14 months ago purchased an iMac, my first non PC Desktop

Now I have recently become a father for the first time a month ago and thinking about the future and also space in my living room, and thinking about if i could manage space better,

Now I use my iMac basically for surfing the web, do a little bit of email, but mainly for music and video, my entire music collection of over 800 albums, plus the podcasts, tv shows and movies are in my iTunes, when i'm surfing safari or whatever i love to have my music playing in the background

Now what are my options? from what i've been looking at, is getting an iPad, mini or retina i'm not too sure yet, but my main concerns are:

1) my music collection, now i think can I subscribe to iTunes match, and I can experience and have my whole collection, 800 albums, podcasts, movies ec on my iPad, streamed from iCloud? is this the best way to go because obviously the iPad will not hold all the content I have in the itunes library

2) When I take my iphone to work or wherever I like to play my music through my iphone in a dock speaker system I just plug it in and drag and drop which songs I would like, because again obviously all the music will not fit on the device.....if i got rid of my imac will all my content on it, how can I keep putting music on my phone to listen to at work?
If iTunes match is activated, could i have my entire collection with me whereve I go? I have no wi fi at work so it would all be through mobile data, would this just use up all my data from my plan?


These are my only real concerns because even though I like my mac and OSX, prepared to replace it, and also I think my daughter will eventually taken advantage of the ipad with games when she is a little bit older


Hope someone can help with the above!

Thanks very much

 

[oldhifi]

Mac Mini, Ipad Mini

I have a Mac Mini, Apple TV (connected to my audio/video receiver), and the Ipad mini.

It works out very well..I use the Mac Mini for business, documents, and to load all my music into iTunes, it sure makes it nice to select/play music from my IPad.. if you get a IPad I suggest you get the 64 to 128GB, ITunes will load it up.

 

[MisterBigMack]

Ok,

say I subscribe to iTunes Match, upload my library to the cloud on my iMac, then when I'm on an iPad turn on iTunes Match and then my whole library which I uploaded will appear wont it?

Of course to play the songs I will play them over wi fi? And if I want to download a song directly to the iPad I can do so can't I?

Obviously won't be able to download all the songs because the libruary is massive

And also say if I do the same with my iPhone, I turn on iTunes Match, all my songs will appear there won't they?

And I could download any to that device I choose.

And if I want to download any new songs or whatever onto whatever device it will go into te cloud, say I download a song on my iPad, ill will also download on my iPhone.


I hope I am making sense and I hope what I am saying is right!

Because seems this is only my problems and if I can do what I said then it should be ok!!

 

[Icaras]

Ok,

say I subscribe to iTunes Match, upload my library to the cloud on my iMac, then when I'm on an iPad turn on iTunes Match and then my whole library which I uploaded will appear wont it?

Yep, all your content will be displayed. iTunes Match is definitely the way to go if you have a huge music library and want to dive into a fully post-PC setup.

Of course to play the songs I will play them over wi fi? And if I want to download a song directly to the iPad I can do so can't I?

If the tracks are not currently on your device, then you'll have to first download them from iCloud to play them , so either a cellular connection, a wifi, either home or mobile hotspot connection, will work fine. But once you download a track or album, then it's locally stored on your iPad so you won't need an internet connection to replay the same track.

Obviously won't be able to download all the songs because the libruary is massive

Exactly why iTunes Match is awesome. I love it because you pick and choose which tracks you want to play at any given time while leaving the rest up on iCloud.

And also say if I do the same with my iPhone, I turn on iTunes Match, all my songs will appear there won't they?

Yep

And I could download any to that device I choose.

Any future Apple device you buy will have access to your iTunes Match content, yes. As long as you keep your subscription going of course.

And if I want to download any new songs or whatever onto whatever device it will go into te cloud, say I download a song on my iPad, ill will also download on my iPhone.

Well as long as we're talking music purchased and downloaded from iTunes, then every new purchase is automatically added to iCloud. You can also set your settings on each device to automatically download new purchases. So say you bought a new album on your iPad, if you turn automatic downloads on your iPhone, that album will automatically be downloaded and ready to play on your iPhone.

I hope I am making sense and I hope what I am saying is right!

Because seems this is only my problems and if I can do what I said then it should be ok!!

Everything you asked made sense and you're on the right track. Just make sure to subscribe to iTunes Match while you still have your iMac, then have it automatically scan and upload your library before you get rid of it.

 

[MisterBigMack]

Yep, all your content will be displayed. iTunes Match is definitely the way to go if you have a huge music library and want to dive into a fully post-PC setup.



If the tracks are not currently on your device, then you'll have to first download them from iCloud to play them , so either a cellular connection, a wifi, either home or mobile hotspot connection, will work fine. But once you download a track or album, then it's locally stored on your iPad so you won't need an internet connection to replay the same track.



Exactly why iTunes Match is awesome. I love it because you pick and choose which tracks you want to play at any given time while leaving the rest up on iCloud.



Yep



Any future Apple device you buy will have access to your iTunes Match content, yes. As long as you keep your subscription going of course.



Well as long as we're talking music purchased and downloaded from iTunes, then every new purchase is automatically added to iCloud. You can also set your settings on each device to automatically download new purchases. So say you bought a new album on your iPad, if you turn automatic downloads on your iPhone, that album will automatically be downloaded and ready to play on your iPhone.



Everything you asked made sense and you're on the right track. Just make sure to subscribe to iTunes Match while you still have your iMac, then have it automatically scan and upload your library before you get rid of it.

mate, thanks very much, that is literally the only thing that I needed to know, like I said all I really use my iMac for is for browsing and have my entire music library in one confident place, obviously everything will always not be on the device but with iCloud it will always be available to stream or download to the device

Thanks again, been a fantastic help

 

[Icaras]

mate, thanks very much, that is literally the only thing that I needed to know, like I said all I really use my iMac for is for browsing and have my entire music library in one confident place, obviously everything will always not be on the device but with iCloud it will always be available to stream or download to the device

Thanks again, been a fantastic help

No problem. iCloud and iTunes Match really seals the deal when moving your entire way of computing over to iOS. I transitioned my mom over a year ago from an iMac/iPhone to entirely iOS with an iPad/iPhone setup and since she only uses Safari and Mail, with a little Pages as well, she has everything she'll ever need.

The only thing that 's keeping the system from being perfect in my opinion, and which I'm waiting for Apple to do is make your music, video, and books library entirely streamable without having to download a local copy to your device. You can do this already with iTunes 11 on Mac/PC and Android's Google Play allows you to steam your books I believe. Hopefully iOS will get these features soon.

Anyway, all you need now is an Airpint capable printer and you're set. Enjoy your new post-PC lifestyle!

 

[charlituna]

Big issue with iPad is space. Even if you get the max storage you are a new father, trust me it won't be enough. And do you really want to trust your memories to the cloud.

The previous suggestion of a Mac mini is a great one. You can tuck it into the TV cabinet and turn it on as needed for backups, when you decide to make that iPhoto book for Mother's Day etc. still use you iPad as your main device for most things

 

[MisterBigMack]

No problem. iCloud and iTunes Match really seals the deal when moving your entire way of computing over to iOS. I transitioned my mom over a year ago from an iMac/iPhone to entirely iOS with an iPad/iPhone setup and since she only uses Safari and Mail, with a little Pages as well, she has everything she'll ever need.

The only thing that 's keeping the system from being perfect in my opinion, and which I'm waiting for Apple to do is make your music, video, and books library entirely streamable without having to download a local copy to your device. You can do this already with iTunes 11 on Mac/PC and Android's Google Play allows you to steam your books I believe. Hopefully iOS will get these features soon.

Anyway, all you need now is an Airpint capable printer and you're set. Enjoy your new post-PC lifestyle!

Oh right I just presumed when you turned on iTunes Match on the device in settings it just appeared in the app, does it take a while for the songs and tv shows and everything to appear?

And to be honest I don't really use it for word processing so a printer wouldn't really use it

But thanks anyways, looking forward to later on in the fall as you say, we say autumn, for the new iPads and see what we get, hopefully a retina mini

 

[MisterBigMack]

Big issue with iPad is space. Even if you get the max storage you are a new father, trust me it won't be enough. And do you really want to trust your memories to the cloud.

The previous suggestion of a Mac mini is a great one. You can tuck it into the TV cabinet and turn it on as needed for backups, when you decide to make that iPhoto book for Mother's Day etc. still use you iPad as your main device for most things

Yeah I was thinking that because I have done a couple books in the past and really really like how they get done, do we think they will implement books into the iOS photo app or create an app like did for cards? If they did that would be great and I'm surprised they haven't done it already

And the size I'm probably going to opt for the 32gb I think which I hope will be enough!!

 

[Icaras]

Oh right I just presumed when you turned on iTunes Match on the device in settings it just appeared in the app, does it take a while for the songs and tv shows and everything to appear?

And to be honest I don't really use it for word processing so a printer wouldn't really use it

But thanks anyways, looking forward to later on in the fall as you say, we say autumn, for the new iPads and see what we get, hopefully a retina mini

The first time you turn on iTunes Match on a device, it may take a few minutes to load up, but once after that, it's always displayed on your music app.

Also, as for the printer, you may find it helpful and useful for printing out anything from Mail or Safari, not just particularly word processing documents.