What benefits do I get from syncing and backing up on itunes?

[raptorstv]

Just got my iphone... Eerything is backed up to icloud... Whats the extra benefit with syncing it to my MBA?

 

[jekyoo]

Faster restores since iCloud replies on Wifi.

If you take a lot of photos and put a chunk of music on your iPhone, I would do an iTunes back up. I found that the standard 5gb of storage isn't enough to back up my photos.

 

[KylePowers]

Ugh. I got so tired of maxing out my 5GB of iCloud storage. So I started backing up my iPhone 5 and iPad 3rd gen to my iMac. Got it setup for Wi-Fi syncing, so it's not too shabby.

 

[ChakaChaka]

Just got my iphone... Eerything is backed up to icloud... Whats the extra benefit with syncing it to my MBA?

Apps that are no longer available in the App Store will not restore from iCloud. I have the itether app and keep a backed up copy to my laptop.

If you have apps such as vlc player, handylight, and itether I strongly suggest you keep a backup file on iTunes

 

[Stark123]

Can we play songs via icloud?

 

[takeshi74]

IIRC only with iTunes Match. Info is on Apple's site:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/itunes-match/

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Whats the extra benefit with syncing it to my MBA?

Consider the pros and cons on both sides. Local backups are faster to restore and aren't limited. iCloud offers 5GB by default but you can pay for more. You have to physically connect for local backups whereas iCloud backups are wireless (and backups are only good if you regularly perform backups).

 

[ideal.dreams]

IIRC only with iTunes Match. Info is on Apple's site:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/itunes-match/

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Consider the pros and cons on both sides. Local backups are faster to restore and aren't limited. iCloud offers 5GB by default but you can pay for more. You have to physically connect for local backups whereas iCloud backups are wireless (and backups are only good if you regularly perform backups).

You don't have to connect to a computer for local backups. Wifi sync performs a backup just as plugging it in does. It takes quite a while longer but you don't have to plug it in.