[bcarruth62]

Have a question for you smart people reading this. I have been experimenting with putting all my music into a cloud based service (Amazon, Google and Dropbox, these because they were free to use) while Amazon was best of those 3 but they've recently changed their music storage and it went from 5gb free to only 250 songs for free. I like using the cloud services so I can free up space on both my iPhone and my computer.
Before I spend $25 for a years subscription I would like some feedback from anyone that has used a cloud based service and the corresponding app for the phone that went with it. Which one was easiest to upload songs to, easiest to sync, best playback?? If there are any other suggestions to my music dilemma I am all ears (or eyes in this case)..
Thanks
Bob

[sikmentality]

I use iTunes Match. It works perfectly. It matched a majority of my songs with iTunes songs and then upgraded them to 256. The rest were uploaded and made available in the cloud. So far I have my iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV all connected to iTunes Match and each device works great. On the iPhone I can download songs on 3G and play them on the works. Since I have Sprint it takes a little longer than it would if I had a faster connection but each song sounds like CD quality. When I no longer want the song on my phone I delete it. If I want to listen to that song at a later time I re download. No issues.

I also tired out Google Music but every song needs to be uploaded. This can take a few days depending on upload speeds and amount of songs you have. A plus it is streams the songs but to do this you use the web browser.

I personally like iTunes Match because of the intergration with the stock music app. Its easy to use and when a Song is added to your library it is updated for every device. In my opinion it's worth the $25 a year. Up to 25,000 songs and songs that you purchase from iTunes do not count against this limit.

As for Amazon music I tried this for a few days but did not like it at all. It's a pain to upload and manage songs. The app is nice but could be better. It works the same at iTunes Match. It will match your songs and upload the rest. The price is the same as well.

Like I said since you already have an iPhone and most likely utilize iTunes, why not use iTunes Match for the simplicity and integration with all Apple devices. I can guarantee you will be happy with that decision.

[WreakingHavoc]

Well, it's great for what you described but try listening to your tunes while camping where you have no connection, it gets frustrating real quick. Not to mention it ate my playlists and "synced" to all my devices to make sure they were really gone.

[bcarruth62]

I use iTunes Match. It works perfectly. It matched a majority of my songs with iTunes songs and then upgraded them to 256. The rest were uploaded and made available in the cloud. So far I have my iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV all connected to iTunes Match and each device works great. On the iPhone I can download songs on 3G and play them on the works. Since I have Sprint it takes a little longer than it would if I had a faster connection but each song sounds like CD quality. When I no longer want the song on my phone I delete it. If I want to listen to that song at a later time I re download. No issues.

I also tired out Google Music but every song needs to be uploaded. This can take a few days depending on upload speeds and amount of songs you have. A plus it is streams the songs but to do this you use the web browser.

I personally like iTunes Match because of the intergration with the stock music app. Its easy to use and when a Song is added to your library it is updated for every device. In my opinion it's worth the $25 a year. Up to 25,000 songs and songs that you purchase from iTunes do not count against this limit.

As for Amazon music I tried this for a few days but did not like it at all. It's a pain to upload and manage songs. The app is nice but could be better. It works the same at iTunes Match. It will match your songs and upload the rest. The price is the same as well.

Like I said since you already have an iPhone and most likely utilize iTunes, why not use iTunes Match for the simplicity and integration with all Apple devices. I can guarantee you will be happy with that decision.

The only way to use the iTunes Match is to pay the $25 subscription, correct?

[sikmentality]

Yes $25 a year

[mustangboy88]

I uploaded all my music to Google Music. I use Melodies for my Google Music player. I have the paid version for the extra features, but you may not need em. There is also gMusic that is iPad and iPhone ready. Hope that helps.

[zerog46]

I use iTunes match also. Works great for me. If I know I'm not gonna have a connection then I load up prior to leaving. Really not to much of an issue with the 64 gig model.


iPhone.

[bcarruth62]

I uploaded all my music to Google Music. I use Melodies for my Google Music player. I have the paid version for the extra features, but you may not need em. There is also gMusic that is iPad and iPhone ready. Hope that helps.

thanks for the input, trying Melodies today will update with experience after a few days.

[sikmentality]

I use iTunes match also. Works great for me. If I know I'm not gonna have a connection then I load up prior to leaving. Really not to much of an issue with the 64 gig model.


iPhone.

I do the same. If I know I'm not going to have a signal I download prior. With Google Music I don't think you can. Google music is streaming only.

[bcarruth62]

I've been using the paid version of Melodies and I must say it is pretty good. The sync is fast enough for me (not much lag), and the sound quality seems to be better then the stock music app, that could be me though. I like the 20,000 song capabilities and best of all it's Free!!!