iCloud vs. Spotify

As I understand it, and this could be wrong, iCloud is a SYNC service, not a STREAM service. All (some?) of the content gets synced to each of your devices while connected to WiFi. You are actually playing local copies, not streaming from the iCloud.

Spotify Streams, but with their paid plans you can also get local copies for off-line playing.

iCloud with Match is going to limit you to the music that you have acquired and have in your iTunes Library. Spotify will stream you al of their 1.5 million song library and will allow you to copy files locally (depending on the plan you pay for). I'm not sure how those two services would interact.

I just got my invite for Spotify Free yesterday, so haven't had much time to play with it. I like the idea of not having to keep (and especially back-up) all of my media, but I'm not willing to pay for the service just to see if it works, especially the off-line listening part.

 

They're two completely different services for different things. iCloud is a hub-like service that will route your files to your different devices. The only thing that will stay on the iCloud servers (I think) are your iOS backups and items necessary for a restore/reset of iOS devices. In other words, iCloud keeps stuff on it that belongs to YOU, the end-user.

Spotify, though, will stream just about anything to your computer (and your devices), and you can also cache files for off-line listening and for putting on your iOS devices. Unless you buy the files, though, the music still belongs to THEM, and you're getting access to those files by your subscription.

It's difficult to compare the two since they really are so different in their purpose and offering.

In the end, I think iTunes and Spotify can be complements to each other, especially since Spotify will play your local iTunes library and playlists (but I don't know if it will sync them with iTunes).

 

For iCloud to work, you need to be on a network. Part of the point is to keep your files synced across your iDevices. It doesn't sync anything over 3G - it waits for your device to connect to a WiFi netowrk and does the syncing, then when you are not connected, that files are available locally. If you have your computer connected to a wired network, that will work too.

I think they are complementary, but Spotify really seems to want to be an iTunes replacement. I think you would have to buy into the highest priced service ($25/month) for that to work.

 

I think many people don't get it, so I will try to explain:

you CANNOT upload your own music to the service. The "sync" function in Spotify simply >>shows<< the music you have in iTunes / Windows Media Player / Windows Media Library / Downloads. It will NOT upload any own music, as it is a streaming service.

So johndoejohndoes, everything you have written makes not much sense:

- The point of having iTunes AND Spotify is that you can show iTunes content in Spotify. So you have all your music in one interface and you can e.g. create playlists in which local and streaming music is combined.

- iCloud is ONLY a sync service. It will only sync what you have on your computer (and upgrade it to better quality if available in the iTunes music store). Yes, the files are synced to your mobile devices.

Concerning streaming devices, the advantage of one service can be the disadvantage of the other:

STREAMING: you have 13.000.000 songs available, but your mobile data plan will be used.

SYNCING: you only have a limited number of songs locally available, but there is no data plan being used.

 

Have had spotify for quite a while now but not really used it much

After I have told spotify to show my itunes content, If I play a song that is in itunes, from the spotify app, does it play the local file or stream it from their servers

 

To stream your personal music library to your iOS device (or computer with a web browser I believe), just download the free app Audiogalaxy.

 

I see your problem, I'm in the same boat really. I dont want to keep 60gb of photos and 60gb of music on my laptop. I'd like it to be available online to access from any device I own.

To answer some of your questions:
- iTunes match has offline access, so does spotify. iTunes match DOES NOT have "online access" in the sense that it doesn't offer streaming.
- spotify on your iMac will let you access songs in your iTunes library. However if you're away from your iMac and you want to access the songs in your spotify library, it won't let you stream songs that aren't available in the spotify catalogue if you're on your iPhone or air. (fairly sure about this, will try it in a second
- to use spotify on your iPhone you'll have to get the premium offer for $10/month. The unlimited offer doesn't allow you to use it on your iPhone.

Hope this helps, wil, post back about the second point.

Edit: I was right, it won't let you stream stuff that's not already in the spotify catalogue.

 

Yep, this works quite well, just tried it out. Downside is that you always have to have the computer running… I wish I had a low power media server that I could leave on all the time. Kind of like a TimeCapsule running an iTunes server and also allowing other software like AudioGalaxy to run!