More Details on Apple's Cloud-based Music Locker

[Tones2]

Man, stop it with the cloud service already. You can't rely on the internet availability for listening to music. It's unreliable. Plus, the streaming will probably be low resolution, drain battery life, eat into data caps, not display lyrics, and generally be a crappy experience. If I wanted to stream, I can do it from my home computer where my music already resides with one of the 100 apps already available and not have to fight through all the bandwidth issues that are probably gonna result from Apple's side. What's the point? I can do this now.

Of course what we really need if more friggin' flash memory on our devices! Apple's been stuck on 32 GB on the iPhone for almost 3 years!

Tony

 

[SBacklin]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

The best thing about listening to music on my iPod is I can listen to it wherever I am, such as in the car. Can't get wifi in the car, and no way am I tethering to my phone just to listen to music.

There is the thing about having to carry around multiple devices when one (assuming you have an iPhone) will do it all just as well.

 

[SBacklin]

Man, stop it with the cloud service already. You can't rely on the internet availability for listening to music. It's unreliable. Plus, the streaming will probably be low resolution, drain battery life, eat into data caps, not display lyrics, and generally be a crappy experience. If I wanted to stream, I can do it from my home computer where my music already resides with one of the 100 apps already available and not have to fight through all the bandwidth issues that are probably gonna result from Apple's side. What's the point? I can do this now.

Of course what we really need if more friggin' flash memory on our devices! Apple's been stuck on 32 GB on the iPhone for almost 3 years!

Tony

Good points made. Like I complained about, cellular data connectivity when out and about isn't very reliable and then there is data caps.

 

[MacManTexas56]

Ummm, what is so hard to grasp about using stuff when NOT AT HOME???? Why is being at home the focal point for you? Why do you assume that people and myself are only going to listen to music when at home? People do it away from home too. Also, I do use WiFi at home. I still have all my music and such stored locally. I have three running copies for one reason....HDD failure. Now, HDDs are inside the space available inside my PC tower so its like they're not even there. So you're right, this wouldn't be for me. Why should I have to pay AT&T more money just because Apple may potentially shake it all up. Nah uh....no way.

people are complaining about data usage....how much time do you spend at home vs. on the go? i have unlimited so doesn't matter to me. I also, don't own cd's/dvds/blu rays and don't even own a dvd player. physical media is slowing dying. I've been waiting for something like this forever. For someone like you, you are eventually going to have to adopt or live in old age technology.

 

[bbeagle]

it not be too long until all music is purchased in digital format and only accessible via a cloud service. this means thats actually having a copy of a song (to share) will be a thing of the past. You pay your $9.99 for an album and happily listen to it for a couple of years, then the labels decided that album is more valuable than the original price and ask you for another $2 if you wish to access it again from the cloud.

I actually expect it to be worse than that.

Imagine if you 'buy' a cloud-only song for 99 cents, The fine-print will say that this 'rental' is only good for 90 days or 1 year. You'll then have to 'buy it again' to keep listening to the song. Or there might be a limit of 100 times to listen to the song. And in 10 years, we'll think of this as the 'norm'.

There are so many ingenious ways to make money when you don't own the actual physical media, and I'm sure the record labels are devising these schemes as we speak.

 

[puma1552]

when you are at home turn on your WIFI...

And the other 14-16 hours of the day where I'm not at home, but at work, traveling, at coffee shops, walking, relaxing, jogging, etc.?

You do realize iPods are portable music players right? Meaning they likely get most use outside of the home.

 

[Pravius]

Man, stop it with the cloud service already. You can't rely on the internet availability for listening to music. It's unreliable. Plus, the streaming will probably be low resolution, drain battery life, eat into data caps, not display lyrics, and generally be a crappy experience. If I wanted to stream, I can do it from my home computer where my music already resides with one of the 100 apps already available and not have to fight through all the bandwidth issues that are probably gonna result from Apple's side. What's the point? I can do this now.

Of course what we really need if more friggin' flash memory on our devices! Apple's been stuck on 32 GB on the iPhone for almost 3 years!

Tony

I don't think anyone here is arguing the fact that they are going to use the cloud service as a replacement for streaming from home, however having an option is nice.

For me personally and I think that most people here are on the same page.

1. It's a great way to backup your music library knowing it will never get erased, expire, etc.

2. When we are on the move and do not have the option to turn on our computers to listen to music we have the option of going to the cloud.

3. Saves hard drive space and also does not require me to fill my iPhone full of music and nothing else. At this point my iTunes library is nearly 30 gigs. That is twice the size of my iPhone storage.

For me it will not be a replacement (yet). I have been using the Amazon clous service and it has been very reliable. Sure it takes awhile to upload but once you have everything uploaded then you are good to go. I have been streaming since it went live and have not yet had one issue, and yes I am using the computer and my iPhone (iCab and change the browser type to something other than Safari (iPhone).

 

[MacManTexas56]

And the other 14-16 hours of the day where I'm not at home, but at work, traveling, at coffee shops, walking, relaxing, jogging, etc.?

You do realize iPods are portable music players right? Meaning they likely get most use outside of the home.

you won't have access to it like pandora so you wont' have to worrry.....

again, if you are unlimited or bigger data cap it won't matter.

plus my work has wifi...i'm sure a lot of other people have the same.

 

[SBacklin]

people are complaining about data usage....how much time do you spend at home vs. on the go? i have unlimited so doesn't matter to me. I also, don't own cd's/dvds/blu rays and don't even own a dvd player. physical media is slowing dying. I've been waiting for something like this forever. For someone like you, you are eventually going to have to adopt or live in old age technology.

Key things said in your statement. First, believe it or not, people do spend a lot of time out, people have lives. I'm not saying you don't necessarily but, not everyone sits at home. When the time comes when its obvious physical media is actually dead, internet connectivity sure will be more reliable at that point. Its hard to say what data charges and such will be like at that point. Also, not everyone has or is able to get unlimited data so quit acting basing your arguments on that people do. Also, I'm assuming you have AT&T. In case you didn't know AT&T is already sending out messages to people with abnormally high data usage...even to people on unlimited plans saying stop it or we will change your plan to one our current higher end plans....i.e. 4GB. So until, cellular data is stable, reliable and the carriers do NOT want to gouge the customer on data....I want my local storage. One more point, physical media is one thing and local storage in terms of what we're discussing is not exactly the same thing. You're talking about CDs, blu rays and such. I'm talking about digital storage of .mp3/.aac/.mp4 and such. Not exactly the same.

 

[Pravius]

Key things said in your statement. First, believe it or not, people do spend a lot of time out, people have lives. I'm not saying you don't necessarily but, not everyone sits at home. When the time comes when its obvious physical media is actually dead, internet connectivity sure will be more reliable at that point. Its hard to say what data charges and such will be like at that point. Also, not everyone has or is able to get unlimited data so quit acting basing your arguments on that people do. Also, I'm assuming you have AT&T. In case you didn't know AT&T is already sending out messages to people with abnormally high data usage...even to people on unlimited plans saying stop it or we will change your plan to one our current higher end plans....i.e. 4GB. So until, cellular data is stable, reliable and the carriers do NOT want to gouge the customer on data....I want my local storage. One more point, physical media is one thing and local storage in terms of what we're discussing is not exactly the same thing. You're talking about CDs, blu rays and such. I'm talking about digital storage of .mp3/.aac/.mp4 and such. Not exactly the same.

Dump AT&T and get something that offers unlimited data without threats. If they change your plan I believe that is a breech in contract and you are free to look for another carrier.

Capitalism rules in our society, money in this case speaks louder than words to AT&T. Finally we have another option, Verizon.

 

[SBacklin]

It is true, its all hearsay until Apple dishes out details. Without knowing the details the potential paths that this can take is what is causing people to be concerned. Personally, I believe that it will be some kind of backup locker to what you have. Like you can pick and choose what songs you want in the cloud and any iTunes purchases will have a copy there automatically. However, I'm just concerned that it might be the idea of replacing local storage. Simply put, its not time yet for that. Too many things will hamper happy adoption of such ideas.

 

[SBacklin]

Dump AT&T and get something that offers unlimited data without threats. If they change your plan I believe that is a breech in contract and you are free to look for another carrier.

Capitalism rules in our society, money in this case speaks louder than words to AT&T. Finally we have another option, Verizon.

LMAO...are you serious? You find another carrier in the US that has unlimited data and has the iPhone?. Don't say Verizon because Verizon has already stated the unlimited plans were TEMP and only to draw in new customers at the launch of their iPhone. They made clear, those plans will be going away.

 

[Pravius]

It is true, its all hearsay until Apple dishes out details. Without knowing the details the potential paths that this can take is what is causing people to be concerned. Personally, I believe that it will be some kind of backup locker to what you have. Like you can pick and choose what songs you want in the cloud and any iTunes purchases will have a copy there automatically. However, I'm just concerned that it might be the idea of replacing local storage. Simply put, its not time yet for that. Too many things will hamper happy adoption of such ideas.

I agree with this, it's not time to dump local storage but it is the direction we are moving for sure. Embrace it and enjoy the ride. It will happen maybe not completely but these things are just the building blocks (steps if you will) in the right direction.

 

[Pravius]

LMAO...are you serious? You find another carrier in the US that has unlimited data and has the iPhone?. Don't say Verizon because Verizon has already stated the unlimited plans were TEMP and only to draw in new customers at the launch of their iPhone. They made clear, those plans will be going away.

That statement is pure speculation and I have not seen that anywhere *official*. Until it actually happens, it hasn't happened.

 

[MacManTexas56]

Key things said in your statement. First, believe it or not, people do spend a lot of time out, people have lives. I'm not saying you don't necessarily but, not everyone sits at home. When the time comes when its obvious physical media is actually dead, internet connectivity sure will be more reliable at that point. Its hard to say what data charges and such will be like at that point. Also, not everyone has or is able to get unlimited data so quit acting basing your arguments on that people do. Also, I'm assuming you have AT&T. In case you didn't know AT&T is already sending out messages to people with abnormally high data usage...even to people on unlimited plans saying stop it or we will change your plan to one our current higher end plans....i.e. 4GB. So until, cellular data is stable, reliable and the carriers do NOT want to gouge the customer on data....I want my local storage. One more point, physical media is one thing and local storage in terms of what we're discussing is not exactly the same thing. You're talking about CDs, blu rays and such. I'm talking about digital storage of .mp3/.aac/.mp4 and such. Not exactly the same.

hence why i have unlimited data....when i am on the go i am not limited. do you know how much data it takes to stream something like pandora? not a lot. you are all acting like ur going to be hitting 50gb data usage by streaming something. I don't have abnormally high data usage at all. It's actually less most months than 2gb's but it's not worth it to me to give up unlimited data to save $5/month.

You still don't get it. Look at where the future is going. Look at the storage on iPads, MBA's etc. There is not a need for massive local storage like there was in the past. Heck i have a 64gb MBA and have over 40gb's free bc nothing is locally stored. I can access everything at anytime from any device. Local storage is not necessary and just makes things more difficult when wanting to get music on multiple devices. Physical media is slowly going away bc it's old technology and there are better ways to do things. Local storage is the same thing man.

 

[SBacklin]

That statement is pure speculation and I have not seen that anywhere *official*. Until it actually happens, it hasn't happened.

It came directly from VZW executives.

Here is an article from Business Week.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...will-end-unlimited-data-plans-for-iphone.html

First two paragraphs.

It will be there for a while. However, everyone knows what Verizon does best and that is being the most expensive and greedy. They will not allow the unlimited data to continue when no other carrier readily makes it available.

 

[SBacklin]

hence why i have unlimited data....when i am on the go i am not limited. do you know how much data it takes to stream something like pandora? not a lot. you are all acting like ur going to be hitting 50gb data usage by streaming something. I don't have abnormally high data usage at all. It's actually less most months than 2gb's but it's not worth it to me to give up unlimited data to save $5/month.

You still don't get it. Look at where the future is going. Look at the storage on iPads, MBA's etc. There is not a need for massive local storage like there was in the past. Heck i have a 64gb MBA and have over 40gb's free bc nothing is locally stored. I can access everything at anytime from any device. Local storage is not necessary and just makes things more difficult when wanting to get music on multiple devices. Physical media is slowly going away bc it's old technology and there are better ways to do things. Local storage is the same thing man.

No no, I do get it. If anything its a very fine line or grey area. Not everyone has unlimited data and not everyone can get unlimited data. You also ignored my statement about AT&T actively going after the heavy data users even on unlimited plans. Also, your issue is that your wanting people to "change" well before its really time do do so. I'm always up for the latest and greatest. Please, don't be wrong on that. I spend a lot of money on tech. However, the key crutch here is cellular data and bandwidth charges. Cellular data is not where it needs to be in terms of stability and coverage. Also, not all WiFi hotspots are all that great. I've seen instances and lot of them where cellular data was faster then the hotspot. Then again, there is bandwidth usage. Until the carriers can come up with a non-gouging pricing model...especially on a not so reliable connectivity, its not time to quickly do away with local storage. or physical media.

 

[cowbellallen]

So, why is this for music only? Why won't it do video?

 

[SBacklin]

So, why is this for music only? Why won't it do video?

We don't know the details for sure yet. All of what you're seeing is just speculation and guessing and people voicing concerns on what the possibilities might be.

 

[j800r]

If the cloud is left as just an option, then i'm all for it. So long as the iTunes store also exists in the format it is today. I have a massive music collection currently sitting at around 140GB and constantly growing. I like owning copies of the music. Not to do anything illegal with, but I like being responsible for the music. I can already take my music collection with my wherever I go. It's called my iPod Classic. I already have my entire iTunes library backed up. It's called Time Machine. I think SYNCHING via the cloud and having it there as just an option is a great idea, for people who want it, but if they made it cloud only, and took away the ability to download then that would only increase the level of piracy in time. Very much like DRM did. Record companies thought this was a great idea to restrict usage and prevent piracy. Turned out more people were turning to pirated music because of the restrictions that had been placed on them.

To sum up. The cloud should be an OPTION, not compulsory.

 

[SBacklin]

If the cloud is left as just an option, then i'm all for it. So long as the iTunes store also exists in the format it is today. I have a massive music collection currently sitting at around 140GB and constantly growing. I like owning copies of the music. Not to do anything illegal with, but I like being responsible for the music. I can already take my music collection with my wherever I go. It's called my iPod Classic. I already have my entire iTunes library backed up. It's called Time Machine. I think SYNCHING via the cloud and having it there as just an option is a great idea, for people who want it, but if they made it cloud only, and took away the ability to download then that would only increase the level of piracy in time. Very much like DRM did. Record companies thought this was a great idea to restrict usage and prevent piracy. Turned out more people were turning to pirated music because of the restrictions that had been placed on them.

To sum up. The cloud should be an OPTION, not compulsory.

Exactly. If its an option and not local storage replacement...then hey to each his own. We will just have to wait and see what Apple does. With that said, I'm off to get ready for the day. TTYL everyone.

 

[MacManTexas56]

No no, I do get it. If anything its a very fine line or grey area. Not everyone has unlimited data and not everyone can get unlimited data. You also ignored my statement about AT&T actively going after the heavy data users even on unlimited plans. Also, your issue is that your wanting people to "change" well before its really time do do so. I'm always up for the latest and greatest. Please, don't be wrong on that. I spend a lot of money on tech. However, the key crutch here is cellular data and bandwidth charges. Cellular data is not where it needs to be in terms of stability and coverage. Also, not all WiFi hotspots are all that great. I've seen instances and lot of them where cellular data was faster then the hotspot. Then again, there is bandwidth usage. Until the carriers can come up with a non-gouging pricing model...especially on not so reliable connectivity, its not time to quickly do away with local storage. or physical media.

i didn't ignore anything. i stream pandora all the time when i'm on the go and while i'm at the house. my work has wifi so i just connect to that and my house wifi while i'm there. I have a buddy here at work that streams netflix and tons of other stuff but refuses to connect to wifi. he uses close to 10gb of data monthly and has still not received any message from AT&T.

My point is there are a lot of people that just don't connect to wifi when they are around it free, they just rely on their cell service instead. The reason i connect is bc when i'm looking online it's quicker internet wise then the 3g.

I'm not wanting anyone to change. but you're arguing that this service isn't great...when in reality it's just not great for you.

I like to live minimally....so having a dvd collection or cd collection of physical media does not interest me. Apparently, others think the same way or the cloud service would not exist. The service is not for you. Go back to ripping cds to your local storage device and making play list after play list and sync all ur music each time u want a variety.

Many people are the same way with books. My MIL has like 1,500 books in her house and just sees no value in a kindle and all that it provides.

I get it, people enjoy their "stuff".

 

[addicted44]

The idea must delight at&t. Data charges will be very high

What about those many places where 3G is not available
....weak reception areas
....no reception areas
....airplanes, subways,...

Use the album that you downloaded, and synced onto your phone/iPod.

There is NO indication that Apple will not be letting you still download your music. This is a service in ADDITION to what you can already do.

Why is this so hard to grasp?

 

[addicted44]

Why do I get the feeling that the people downvoting this are the same who were upvoting Amazon's service, despite Apple's service being "like Amazon's, except licensed from the labels"? Who wants to bet Amazon gets screwed when they go back to renegotiate their deal with the labels?

(Its like the people who were anti-patents, and downvoted news of Apple suing Samsung, but upvoted news of Samsung suing Apple for patents).

 

[bassfingers]

I am so excited about whatever this is. So long as its more successful than game center...