How is iCloud supposed to work with iTunes?

[Aluminum]

So you pay $24.99 (or whatever the price is) to upload all your music to the cloud (say 60-70gigs worth). Then does that mean I can access all that music at anytime through my iPhone?

 

[Fausty82]

No... the iCloud is more about synching information (contacts, calendars, music and pictures) rather than storing it for "streaming" usage.

 

[Aluminum]

then what is the "scan and match" thing that Steve Jobs was talking about the keynote?

 

[GibMcFragger]

As far as I know you will be able to store all your music in the iCloud and share it to all your idevices, but it's not implemented yet.


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- Beamed over the interwebz from my iPhone 4 on iOS 5 b5 using Tapatalk.

 

[Fausty82]

then what is the "scan and match" thing that Steve Jobs was talking about the keynote?

Your music will be stored in the cloud, but it will be the "source" for sharing across your device pool. Music will NOT stream from the cloud... in order to play "your" music, it must be on your device. This, obviously, does not include the streaming services (pandora, slacker, iHeartRadio, and the other services).

I say this because of the backlash about the pictures... after 30 days the pictures are deleted from the cloud - they are only "hosted" there for the purpose of synching across your various devices. Contacts and calendar entries may also "live" in the cloud, but won't be "usable" from there, except as a source for synching.

That's how I understand that it will work.

 

[GibMcFragger]

That can't be right. That doesn't even make sense. Why would anyone pay to store music in the iCloud if you cannot stream it? The whole point of the cloud is to store files/music online and be able to access it from anywhere on your devices.

If you must also have the music ON your device as you say to play it, then storing it in the iCloud also is pointless. AFAIK the entire purpose is to be able to access your music on your iPod/iPad/iPhone and not have to store it all on your devices.

It mirrors your music collection yes, but it only has to be in your iTunes library to be allowed sharing from the iCloud, not on your devices. That's how the music match works. It mirrors your music collection on the iCloud (it doesn't upload your actual music, it mirrors with songs from the Apple library, so sometimes you get better quality than the mp3s you already own) and then you can stream them from the iCloud to all your idevices.

That is how I understand it.





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- Beamed over the interwebz from my iPhone 4 on iOS 5 b5 using Tapatalk.

 

[Fausty82]

Here are a couple of articles - the first from Apple's own website...

Apple - iCloud stores your content and pushes it to your devices.
iTunes in the Cloud
Download your music whenever and wherever you want it.

New purchases. Automatically everywhere.
iCloud automatically downloads any new music purchase to all your devices over Wi-Fi ? or over 3G if you choose. Which means you can buy a song from iTunes on your iPad at home, and find it waiting for you on your iPhone during your morning commute. All without having to sync.

Your past purchases. Available on all your devices.
Now you can download music and TV shows you?ve previously purchased to all your devices. When you buy from iTunes, iCloud stores your purchase history. So you can see what you?ve bought ? no matter which device you bought it on. You can access your purchase history from the iTunes Store on your Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. And since you already own the songs, albums, or TV shows in your purchase history, you can tap to download them to any of your devices.


Apple's iCloud Similar To Google's, Amazon's - Peter Kafka - Media - AllThingsD

UPDATE: It?s also important to note that while Amazon and Google let users stream their cloud-based music to their devices, Apple will offer downloads for music it stores via iTunes Match. Meaning once you?ve moved it down from the cloud to your device, you don?t have to worry about having a live Web connection to listen to it again. The flip side of this is that on some devices, users may run into a storage issue, because Apple isn?t offering users the ability to stream the music. On the third hand, if all or most of your stuff is in the cloud, storage shouldn?t matter that much, anyway.

That's what all the commotion was about when it was announced... that there would be NO music streaming...

 

[Fausty82]

As far as I know you will be able to store all your music in the iCloud and share it to all your idevices, but it's not implemented yet.


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- Beamed over the interwebz from my iPhone 4 on iOS 5 b5 using Tapatalk.

Yes, you can SHARE it with all of your devices... but the music is downloaded onto those devices - there is NO streaming of music/video.

 

[GibMcFragger]

Yes, you can SHARE it with all of your devices... but the music is downloaded onto those devices - there is NO streaming of music/video.

Oooooooh that makes sense now. So yes it is available to all your devices, but as downloads not direct streaming. Thats kinda lame lol.


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- Beamed over the interwebz from my iPhone 4 on iOS 5 b5 using Tapatalk.

 

[SnapThrow]

I've got to think that this is the first step towards true streaming... but as Apple is slowly fazing out optical media on their PC devices, there has to be a transition period for true streaming. The last thing Apple will allow to happen is suddenly turn on streaming for everyone via iCloud and the entire server backbone melts instantly. Seems likely to be tied to a true "4G" rollout too for the speed and bandwidth...

 

[Aluminum]

so do I have to pay the 24.99 every year to do this?

 

[Fausty82]

so do I have to pay the 24.99 every year to do this?

Yes... that's the way Jobs presented it...

But the non-music part will be free, as i understand it.

 

[Garz]

That can't be right. That doesn't even make sense. Why would anyone pay to store music in the iCloud if you cannot stream it? The whole point of the cloud is to store files/music online and be able to access it from anywhere on your devices.

If you must also have the music ON your device as you say to play it, then storing it in the iCloud also is pointless. AFAIK the entire purpose is to be able to access your music on your iPod/iPad/iPhone and not have to store it all on your devices.

It mirrors your music collection yes, but it only has to be in your iTunes library to be allowed sharing from the iCloud, not on your devices. That's how the music match works. It mirrors your music collection on the iCloud (it doesn't upload your actual music, it mirrors with songs from the Apple library, so sometimes you get better quality than the mp3s you already own) and then you can stream them from the iCloud to all your idevices.

That is how I understand it.





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- Beamed over the interwebz from my iPhone 4 on iOS 5 b5 using Tapatalk.

If you had to stream your music, then you would need to use data. More data used. You could no longer user it as a iPod when your in a no data zone like a plane. Streaming also kills the battery quicker than playing music right off the device.

So all in all, streaming from the could would be bad idea.

 

[GibMcFragger]

If you had to stream your music, then you would need to use data. More data used. You could no longer user it as a iPod when your in a no data zone like a plane. Streaming also kills the battery quicker than playing music right off the device.

So all in all, streaming from the could would be bad idea.

It would only be useful over wifi, but yea, I see your point.


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- Beamed over the interwebz from my iPhone 4 on iOS 5 b5 using Tapatalk.

 

[Aluminum]

It streams!!!!!

 

[Raptor007]

iTunes Match sounds great, but why not just sign up for Pandora, Slacker or any other streaming music service? Its a good first step but the whole purpose is to cut the need storage space on my iPhone/iPod/iTouch/iPad etc. Perhaps when they can do that I can get rid of my iPod Classic.

 

[cinco312]

I was hoping to stream my music collection through the cloud. We could just use Google's music cloud then. Which I have 2 invites left if anyone wants one.

 

[Theophany]

iTunes Match sounds great, but why not just sign up for Pandora, Slacker or any other streaming music service? Its a good first step but the whole purpose is to cut the need storage space on my iPhone/iPod/iTouch/iPad etc. Perhaps when they can do that I can get rid of my iPod Classic.

The point is that most people that Apple supplies with phones don't have unlimited data. The only people that do are the people that got grandfathered in with the original iPhone.

Streaming music takes a lot of bandwidth. Streaming ALL of your music takes even more. Apple is actually being intelligent in that they're moving to a service where you have a small player but when you're on wifi you can download and delete whatever music you want from your library.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jellotime91]

If all of your music was purchased on iTunes, you don't have to pay anything. However you can pay $24.99 for Apple to give you an iTunes version of each song (that is NOt purchased on iTunes, but IS available on iTunes), and the songs that Apple does not have on the iTunes store will be uploaded to your iCloud storage (they will take up space, unlike the music available on iTunes).

 

[Kdan Mobile]

Good news that we can store and access files through the cloud, but I do wish we can stream music directly through iCloud in the future...