But but - streaming, at least over 3g is prohibitively expensive so it makes no sense. Pay 50 bucks less for a device and hundreds more for data packages.
I can see how this works in theory but it seems to be adding a lot of management just for music play back. Streaming music you own yourself just doesn't make any sense to me whatever way I look at it and I can't see it as an Apple move.
On the other hand, if there is some kind of subscription model there may be a point to the exercise. I am dead curious, though.
That's why I also mentioned Sync. In the case of sync, you only pay for the 3G data once for one iDevice or computer.
Typical case would be, downloaded some awesome tracks at home. Go to work, bummer of a day. During lunch in the park, whip out your iPhone, and go, damn, wish I had that song! Oh wait, I do! Go to iCloud, select a few songs, hit Sync. Done. Never have to "stream" it again for that device.
I have to think the primary goal of iCloud and iOS5 is to free iDevices from the computer. Okay, not so much free as in dumping your computer*, but to have all the data and media that matters to you wirelessly, seamlessly in sync or at least have it available from any place to everywhere else.
*Though they have to have iOS5 fully untethered from iTunes, it's a real crutch for some people, especially with the iPad.
But but - streaming, at least over 3g is prohibitively expensive so it makes no sense. Pay 50 bucks less for a device and hundreds more for data packages.
I can see how this works in theory but it seems to be adding a lot of management just for music play back. Streaming music you own yourself just doesn't make any sense to me whatever way I look at it and I can't see it as an Apple move.
On the other hand, if there is some kind of subscription model there may be a point to the exercise. I am dead curious, though.
My music library far exceeds the hard drive capacity of any of my mobile devices, as well as my macbook pro for that matter. What if I could store my music in the cloud and then download into my mobile devices whatever I wanted to hear that day? People seem to think it is either streaming from the cloud or storing on your device. I want to store music, videos and documents in the cloud, and then download only what I want immediate access to. Streaming would be a bonus as an option.
Spliff... don't be so quick to judge... just sayin for me it makes little sense to stream audio, but does make some sense to do so for vid... I think we all get it that it is optional, can be restricted to certain playlists etc...
My point is, majority of my listening is in 3G territory, and I chose to go metered data use when it was added as an option. So, for me, buying a larger local storage option makes more sense...particularly if it is going to cost me to buy MobileMe for cloud storage on top of adding to my data plan.
However, for content I would tend to consume while at home or otherwise on WiFi, this makes total sense. Given video takes a lot of space, this would make infinitely more sense for video content that audio.
The concept is quite clever and no doubt useful to many... given so many video options these days with all the cable/sat providers offering iOS apps etc, not sure how much purchasing of video is in the future cards... And with Pandora/Last.fm etc, can get quite a bit of audio content for free as well these days... so, having trouble seeing the business case unless APPL has a few other tricks up their sleeves.
there's something i don't really understand... are they really expecting us to rely only on a streaming service to listen to our music? what happens when i'm on the plane? or on the train in the middle of switzerland? i dunno about the US, but here the network (be it because of the provider or the phone or some interferences) is definitely not reliable enough, even if you have bits of a song stored on your device you'd still need to light a few candles and get down on your knees if you really want to seamlessly listen to your library up in the clouds...
please someone explain that to me!
Watch the Google I/O 2011 Keynote on YouTube, or this one:
Google's approach is to "Pin" ie. locally store stuff you want to save for later.
I imagine Apple's approach is to "Sync" whatever you want to save for later, because that's what you want anyway so you don't have to re-pin or re-stream it.
Google's approach is to "Pin" ie. locally store stuff you want to save for later.
I imagine Apple's approach is to "Sync" whatever you want to save for later, because that's what you want anyway so you don't have to re-pin or re-stream it.
I really hate that they use System Preferences for their app.
The one think I do like about Google’s service is the way that small Playlist data is synced back and send to the rest of your devices instantly, much like calendar and contracts are. That is something many of use wish Apple had done years ago.
PS: Also, I wish they had an option for Classical music in iTunes for it’s distinct organization. I also wish there was a (+) next to an artist’s name, composer, grouping, genre, etc. under Get Info » Info so that I could have a song/album organized within multiple circles, all seamlessly connected invisible to the user.
My music library far exceeds the hard drive capacity of any of my mobile devices, as well as my macbook pro for that matter. What if I could store my music in the cloud and then download into my mobile devices whatever I wanted to hear that day? People seem to think it is either streaming from the cloud or storing on your device. I want to store music, videos and documents in the cloud, and then download only what I want immediate access to.
Yes, I get that, and I am not dissing it. But you are in a minority with so much music. Your media management must be complex and I don't really see how streaming will help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nvidia2008
That's why I also mentioned Sync. In the case of sync, you only pay for the 3G data once for one iDevice or computer.
Typical case would be, downloaded some awesome tracks at home. Go to work, bummer of a day. During lunch in the park, whip out your iPhone, and go, damn, wish I had that song! Oh wait, I do! Go to iCloud, select a few songs, hit Sync. Done. Never have to "stream" it again for that device.
I have to think the primary goal of iCloud and iOS5 is to free iDevices from the computer. Okay, not so much free as in dumping your computer*, but to have all the data and media that matters to you wirelessly, seamlessly in sync or at least have it available from any place to everywhere else.
*Though they have to have iOS5 fully untethered from iTunes, it's a real crutch for some people, especially with the iPad.
Yes, again - I see how it works but while you were at home and downloaded those awesome tracks why didn't you download the whole songs. It would have taken all of 1 minute. I really don't think Apple is doing whatever they are doing to save us the inconvenience of having to wait one minute.
There is something more clever going on. For me, managing my devices ON my devices, over wifi, or 3g would be huge. In other words, un-tethering the devices, but I suspect we will see something much more involved and brilliant than just that.
My music library far exceeds the hard drive capacity of any of my mobile devices, as well as my macbook pro for that matter. What if I could store my music in the cloud and then download into my mobile devices whatever I wanted to hear that day? People seem to think it is either streaming from the cloud or storing on your device. I want to store music, videos and documents in the cloud, and then download only what I want immediate access to. Streaming would be a bonus as an option.
Exactly. I think iCloud will be Sync or Stream. Remember, the streaming part will still be cool (or you might hate it) because it will be on-the-fly adaptive bitrate adjusted depending on your connection.
Yes, again - I see how it works but while you were at home and downloaded those awesome tracks why didn't you download the whole songs. It would have taken all of 1 minute. I really don't think Apple is doing whatever they are doing to save us the inconvenience of having to wait one minute.
There is something more clever going on. For me, managing my devices ON my devices, over wifi, or 3g would be huge. In other words, un-tethering the devices, but I suspect we will see something much more involved and brilliant than just that.
No, I don't mean that when you were home you didn't download the whole track. That's why the snippet thing is a cool idea but I think it's just a patent for now.
The scenario I describe is you're at your home computer, and you download these new songs, of course in its entirety. But hooking up your iPhone, going through iTunes, choosing what to sync, yada yada, is a pain (or humanity is getting lazier, or both). But you've set your home computer to automatically throw anything you put on your computer to iCloud.
Therefore, whenever you are out and about, you are untethered now in the sense any iDevice or other computer can Sync or Stream anything from the cloud. Of course, the tricky bit I think you're hinting at is to make any iDevice also bump stuff UP to the cloud.
So my theory on iCloud is not this snippet stuff, but covers three areas: Cloudify, Sync or Stream.
Cloudify is basically "tagging" any data or media on PC or Mac (probably not iDevices initially) to go up to the cloud, in its entirety.
Sync is as I mentioned, pulling stuff down from the cloud in its entirety so that it now resides on your computer or iDevice permanently, or at least until you have to erase it to Sync more stuff.
Stream is the icing on the cake, whereby on-the-fly adaptive bitrate streaming delivers your media wherever you are without you worrying about space or syncing, you create your playlist, or use an existing playlist, or choose an iGenius, and then it just comes through, as smooth as possible because of adaptive bitrate streaming. No way ATT and Verizon would have OK'ed iCloud to do ONLY 256kbps streaming over 3G. In any case, as the end user, most would be willing to trade some quality for the smoothness of the streaming experience.
Now if iCloud does the above Cloudify, Sync and Stream and make it available globally, on top of untethering iDevices from iTunes in iOS5, this is a massive achievement. And we haven't even touched on iCloud's MobileMe functions. For example, Cloudify, Sync or Stream would initially start with music only but would expand to cover any kind of file. That would be killer. The more I think about it this has to be close to Apple's grand vision of how it is going to deliver cloud services through 2015.
Of course, I await iCloud's "One More Thing". Which could be Streaming of any music, not just what you own, with of course a one-tap purchase of said song.
Would be nice if I could backup/sync my large iTunes library to the cloud instead of using an external portable hard drive and access it anywhere via the internet if I needed to. I'm not that bothered about streaming.
What this does is allow you the option of syncing just part of a song to your device, and then play the rest from the cloud. This means you could put a huge iTunes library on a device with less room. Of course, this is optional and you can always put the full song on the device.
Clever but 99.9% of my collection of 4000+ songs was purchased on CD and ripped to iTunes. So I'm guessing I will be out of luck. I refuse to buy lesser quality tracks online. Maybe some day the iTunes store will offer lossless tracks.
I'm with you (20,000 CD-ripped lossless songs, many of which aren't even available on iTunes). I'd rather just use my iPod Classic - even better would ba a higher capacity one.
there's something i don't really understand... are they really expecting us to rely only on a streaming service to listen to our music? what happens when i'm on the plane? or on the train in the middle of switzerland? i dunno about the US, but here the network (be it because of the provider or the phone or some interferences) is definitely not reliable enough, even if you have bits of a song stored on your device you'd still need to light a few candles and get down on your knees if you really want to seamlessly listen to your library up in the clouds...
please someone explain that to me!
I don't get it either. And i don't want to waste my data minutes on. Music that i can store locally.
Just a thought here, is it possible that having pieces of the song on the device is used as an authenication key proving ownership of the song to appease the labels? Makes more sense...?
Comments
But but - streaming, at least over 3g is prohibitively expensive so it makes no sense. Pay 50 bucks less for a device and hundreds more for data packages.
I can see how this works in theory but it seems to be adding a lot of management just for music play back. Streaming music you own yourself just doesn't make any sense to me whatever way I look at it and I can't see it as an Apple move.
On the other hand, if there is some kind of subscription model there may be a point to the exercise. I am dead curious, though.
That's why I also mentioned Sync. In the case of sync, you only pay for the 3G data once for one iDevice or computer.
Typical case would be, downloaded some awesome tracks at home. Go to work, bummer of a day. During lunch in the park, whip out your iPhone, and go, damn, wish I had that song! Oh wait, I do! Go to iCloud, select a few songs, hit Sync. Done. Never have to "stream" it again for that device.
I have to think the primary goal of iCloud and iOS5 is to free iDevices from the computer. Okay, not so much free as in dumping your computer*, but to have all the data and media that matters to you wirelessly, seamlessly in sync or at least have it available from any place to everywhere else.
*Though they have to have iOS5 fully untethered from iTunes, it's a real crutch for some people, especially with the iPad.
But but - streaming, at least over 3g is prohibitively expensive so it makes no sense. Pay 50 bucks less for a device and hundreds more for data packages.
I can see how this works in theory but it seems to be adding a lot of management just for music play back. Streaming music you own yourself just doesn't make any sense to me whatever way I look at it and I can't see it as an Apple move.
On the other hand, if there is some kind of subscription model there may be a point to the exercise. I am dead curious, though.
My music library far exceeds the hard drive capacity of any of my mobile devices, as well as my macbook pro for that matter. What if I could store my music in the cloud and then download into my mobile devices whatever I wanted to hear that day? People seem to think it is either streaming from the cloud or storing on your device. I want to store music, videos and documents in the cloud, and then download only what I want immediate access to. Streaming would be a bonus as an option.
Guys.
Spliff... don't be so quick to judge... just sayin for me it makes little sense to stream audio, but does make some sense to do so for vid... I think we all get it that it is optional, can be restricted to certain playlists etc...
My point is, majority of my listening is in 3G territory, and I chose to go metered data use when it was added as an option. So, for me, buying a larger local storage option makes more sense...particularly if it is going to cost me to buy MobileMe for cloud storage on top of adding to my data plan.
However, for content I would tend to consume while at home or otherwise on WiFi, this makes total sense. Given video takes a lot of space, this would make infinitely more sense for video content that audio.
The concept is quite clever and no doubt useful to many... given so many video options these days with all the cable/sat providers offering iOS apps etc, not sure how much purchasing of video is in the future cards... And with Pandora/Last.fm etc, can get quite a bit of audio content for free as well these days... so, having trouble seeing the business case unless APPL has a few other tricks up their sleeves.
there's something i don't really understand... are they really expecting us to rely only on a streaming service to listen to our music? what happens when i'm on the plane? or on the train in the middle of switzerland? i dunno about the US, but here the network (be it because of the provider or the phone or some interferences) is definitely not reliable enough, even if you have bits of a song stored on your device you'd still need to light a few candles and get down on your knees if you really want to seamlessly listen to your library up in the clouds...
please someone explain that to me!
Watch the Google I/O 2011 Keynote on YouTube, or this one:
http://mashable.com/2011/05/10/google-music-video/
Google's approach is to "Pin" ie. locally store stuff you want to save for later.
I imagine Apple's approach is to "Sync" whatever you want to save for later, because that's what you want anyway so you don't have to re-pin or re-stream it.
Watch the Google I/O 2011 Keynote on YouTube, or this one:
http://mashable.com/2011/05/10/google-music-video/
Google's approach is to "Pin" ie. locally store stuff you want to save for later.
I imagine Apple's approach is to "Sync" whatever you want to save for later, because that's what you want anyway so you don't have to re-pin or re-stream it.
I really hate that they use System Preferences for their app.
The one think I do like about Google’s service is the way that small Playlist data is synced back and send to the rest of your devices instantly, much like calendar and contracts are. That is something many of use wish Apple had done years ago.
PS: Also, I wish they had an option for Classical music in iTunes for it’s distinct organization. I also wish there was a (+) next to an artist’s name, composer, grouping, genre, etc. under Get Info » Info so that I could have a song/album organized within multiple circles, all seamlessly connected invisible to the user.
My music library far exceeds the hard drive capacity of any of my mobile devices, as well as my macbook pro for that matter. What if I could store my music in the cloud and then download into my mobile devices whatever I wanted to hear that day? People seem to think it is either streaming from the cloud or storing on your device. I want to store music, videos and documents in the cloud, and then download only what I want immediate access to.
Yes, I get that, and I am not dissing it. But you are in a minority with so much music. Your media management must be complex and I don't really see how streaming will help.
That's why I also mentioned Sync. In the case of sync, you only pay for the 3G data once for one iDevice or computer.
Typical case would be, downloaded some awesome tracks at home. Go to work, bummer of a day. During lunch in the park, whip out your iPhone, and go, damn, wish I had that song! Oh wait, I do! Go to iCloud, select a few songs, hit Sync. Done. Never have to "stream" it again for that device.
I have to think the primary goal of iCloud and iOS5 is to free iDevices from the computer. Okay, not so much free as in dumping your computer*, but to have all the data and media that matters to you wirelessly, seamlessly in sync or at least have it available from any place to everywhere else.
*Though they have to have iOS5 fully untethered from iTunes, it's a real crutch for some people, especially with the iPad.
Yes, again - I see how it works but while you were at home and downloaded those awesome tracks why didn't you download the whole songs. It would have taken all of 1 minute. I really don't think Apple is doing whatever they are doing to save us the inconvenience of having to wait one minute.
There is something more clever going on. For me, managing my devices ON my devices, over wifi, or 3g would be huge. In other words, un-tethering the devices, but I suspect we will see something much more involved and brilliant than just that.
My music library far exceeds the hard drive capacity of any of my mobile devices, as well as my macbook pro for that matter. What if I could store my music in the cloud and then download into my mobile devices whatever I wanted to hear that day? People seem to think it is either streaming from the cloud or storing on your device. I want to store music, videos and documents in the cloud, and then download only what I want immediate access to. Streaming would be a bonus as an option.
Exactly. I think iCloud will be Sync or Stream. Remember, the streaming part will still be cool (or you might hate it) because it will be on-the-fly adaptive bitrate adjusted depending on your connection.
Yes, again - I see how it works but while you were at home and downloaded those awesome tracks why didn't you download the whole songs. It would have taken all of 1 minute. I really don't think Apple is doing whatever they are doing to save us the inconvenience of having to wait one minute.
There is something more clever going on. For me, managing my devices ON my devices, over wifi, or 3g would be huge. In other words, un-tethering the devices, but I suspect we will see something much more involved and brilliant than just that.
No, I don't mean that when you were home you didn't download the whole track. That's why the snippet thing is a cool idea but I think it's just a patent for now.
The scenario I describe is you're at your home computer, and you download these new songs, of course in its entirety. But hooking up your iPhone, going through iTunes, choosing what to sync, yada yada, is a pain (or humanity is getting lazier, or both). But you've set your home computer to automatically throw anything you put on your computer to iCloud.
Therefore, whenever you are out and about, you are untethered now in the sense any iDevice or other computer can Sync or Stream anything from the cloud. Of course, the tricky bit I think you're hinting at is to make any iDevice also bump stuff UP to the cloud.
So my theory on iCloud is not this snippet stuff, but covers three areas: Cloudify, Sync or Stream.
Cloudify is basically "tagging" any data or media on PC or Mac (probably not iDevices initially) to go up to the cloud, in its entirety.
Sync is as I mentioned, pulling stuff down from the cloud in its entirety so that it now resides on your computer or iDevice permanently, or at least until you have to erase it to Sync more stuff.
Stream is the icing on the cake, whereby on-the-fly adaptive bitrate streaming delivers your media wherever you are without you worrying about space or syncing, you create your playlist, or use an existing playlist, or choose an iGenius, and then it just comes through, as smooth as possible because of adaptive bitrate streaming. No way ATT and Verizon would have OK'ed iCloud to do ONLY 256kbps streaming over 3G. In any case, as the end user, most would be willing to trade some quality for the smoothness of the streaming experience.
Now if iCloud does the above Cloudify, Sync and Stream and make it available globally, on top of untethering iDevices from iTunes in iOS5, this is a massive achievement. And we haven't even touched on iCloud's MobileMe functions. For example, Cloudify, Sync or Stream would initially start with music only but would expand to cover any kind of file. That would be killer. The more I think about it this has to be close to Apple's grand vision of how it is going to deliver cloud services through 2015.
Of course, I await iCloud's "One More Thing". Which could be Streaming of any music, not just what you own, with of course a one-tap purchase of said song.
Clever but 99.9% of my collection of 4000+ songs was purchased on CD and ripped to iTunes. So I'm guessing I will be out of luck. I refuse to buy lesser quality tracks online. Maybe some day the iTunes store will offer lossless tracks.
I'm with you (20,000 CD-ripped lossless songs, many of which aren't even available on iTunes). I'd rather just use my iPod Classic - even better would ba a higher capacity one.
there's something i don't really understand... are they really expecting us to rely only on a streaming service to listen to our music? what happens when i'm on the plane? or on the train in the middle of switzerland? i dunno about the US, but here the network (be it because of the provider or the phone or some interferences) is definitely not reliable enough, even if you have bits of a song stored on your device you'd still need to light a few candles and get down on your knees if you really want to seamlessly listen to your library up in the clouds...
please someone explain that to me!
I don't get it either. And i don't want to waste my data minutes on. Music that i can store locally.
It is a valuable piece