there are a couple of ways Apple's cloud iTunes service could work, but this article is way too simplistic.
the big problem now is, in order to stream music/media from your Mac:
- your computer must be turned on
- your must be logged in as user (not someone else)
- either a third party server app (for existing media streaming apps) or iTunes must be running
the simplest approach to avoid all that would be for Apple to store and sync your iTunes library file in the cloud (with your metadata, which your purchase history that Apple already has does not include), and based on that information stream to you from its own existing iTunes store servers any purchased content you already own, anytime and anywhere. iTunes song previews and movie rentals already work this way.
that way there is no license hassle with the media content owners, and no support of piracy. but your other media content would have to be streamed from your own computer, subject to the constraints above, because Apple has no way to verify if you stole it or not. i doubt that Apple can legally include unrestricted unverified streaming ability within iTunes, given its iTunes licensing agreements with all the content owners.
Apple could alternatively enable AppleTV to become a home media server with an iTunes app for it and external drives connected to its USB port (making it a NAS device). that would solve all the above constraints too. but again, the content you could stream would be limited to purchased content. (except for Home Sharing - so this would be a great option for Home Sharing, and i wish Apple would do it.)
this all begs the question of - if limitations to only purchased content can't be avoided - why not just offer a subscription iTunes music/movie/TV streaming service as many others have done? with your computer's iTunes library metadata also accessing/maintaining playlist, ranking, and other info you might add, for anything you have streamed (as long as your subscription continues!). it would be integrated seamlessly into iTunes, even with "add to library" for favorites or history tracking.
subscription services have not been very popular for others simply because iTunes still is so dominant overall. but it could become very popular as part of iTunes.
i think this is the most likely approach Apple will take. we'll see ...
So. Under this new scheme, if I use MobileMe to back up data from my home computer, then I am backing up my hard drive to... my hard drive? I think someone misunderstood something somewhere.
I really don't want my data in the cloud....where anyone with administrative access and proper security controls can view/copy it. Believe me....the people who administer these servers can view your data!
Yes and the receptionist at my doctors office can read my chart... And the CSR at my credit card company can see where I bought that special gift for my g/f... And on and on....
Frankly I trust the security surrounding cloud services much more than that surrounding physical records. For an interesting read up on how Evernote secures data in transit and when stored... Same for DropBox.
As for the actually article. Seems far more likely it'll be a sync service like dropbox then remote access direct to one's home network, but it's comfortable to be an extension of time capsules/air disks. Just because your computer is turned off doesnt mean you can't have NAS live on your network.
the simplest approach to avoid all that would be for Apple to store and sync your iTunes library file in the cloud (with your metadata, which your purchase history that Apple already has does not include), and based on that information stream to you from its own existing iTunes store servers any purchased content you already own, anytime and anywhere. iTunes song previews and movie rentals already work this way.
that way there is no license hassle with the media content owners, and no support of piracy. but your other media content would have to be streamed from your own computer, subject to the constraints above, because Apple has no way to verify if you stole it or not. i doubt that Apple can legally include unrestricted unverified streaming ability within iTunes, given its iTunes licensing agreements with all the content owners.
I think this is right. I would just add that the second paragraph is very important -- Apple needs to still provide some way for users to stream their own, unpurchased content. Not only is that something that users need, but it's also a way for Apple to keep the content owners in check. You see, the reason that Sony will never withhold content from iTunes is that they know the alternative isn't people switching to Amazon -- it's people switching to piracy. The threat of rampant piracy is the biggest bargaining chip Apple has when dealing with the content owners. So, to the greatest extent possible, Apple always needs to keep piracy as a real alternative for people using Macs and iDevices.
If Apple were to offer a cloud service, I don't think there would be a need for a user to upload gigabytes worth of files to their mobile me account. What I think it will be is a digital locker akin to how Apple already does with rentals, but extended towards purchased items from iTunes: When we rent a movie or TV show, it references a master file. Since Apple already has a record of all our purchases, it should be relatively easy for them to implement this change for purchases. This will make purchasing through Apple TV extremely more convenient.
Of course, the question is how will bandwidth will be paid since it's not free for Apple. Or that if streaming through 3G will be limited to only music and photos while movies and shows limited to WiFi. We'll see...
Ok apple just spent billions for us to use our own computers for their new service? WILL NEVER HAPPEN, upstream speeds, router issues, security risks, nat upnp problems, network waking issues. this rumor is insane.
Storage for you and I is now less than $.04 a gig for hard disk space, for apple to give us 100gb would mean a one time cost of about $12 (retail) with triple redundancy and not all would fill that much space with music, plus bandwidth costs. Storage is so cheap no reason to do this rumor.
This is why they bought lala, hopefully they are as kind as lala was, it blew itunes out of the water as far as music listening and music discovery and prices.
Who believes this crap, who thinks this is a good idea?
Making it free would be a believable rumor as cheap as storage is now, if they want to compete with google and kill dropbox, and win over another couple millions users.
The future is a tablet world for 90% of consumers, they don't need computer problems and file managment issues. terras of storage online, time machine online for portables and any content you have or want to buy will be stored in the cloud not on your computer, you wont need a computer. right now you have to have a computer if you have a portable, soon that will change and a lot of people will not own "computers" they will have phones and tablets.
The data center is for "externals for your portables" not your computer - computers (and the issues they come with) will stick around only for those (me) who have to have them "professionals" everyone else will be able to get rid of them, and live off of there tablets, tablets will get plenty of storage soon but will always need more and we hate cords, enter cloud/highspeed connectivity.
That is the future, Apple see a world free of computer problems for consumers, that is why they are making the tablet, our kids will learn on tablets and so will our grandparents, and we will all forget the term file management, it will be a normal function of what the computer will do automatically.
Tablets will far outpace smartphones and they will start doing more but our interaction with them will stay very simple.
I have a hard time believing this story as presented.
Apple didn't build a huge data center in North Carolina so that data could be kept on our own machines.
The only thing that does make sense is that Apple retains records of what you have purchased and then references that from their digital archive when you need to re-download a song or software title.
Personally, I think the flaw being made in these kinds of scenarios is in thinking that this cloud service will include your desktop computer. He says it's ridiculous and a "bit much" to expect that Apple will give us all enough space to do this kind of thing, but if you leave out the desktop computer it all becomes very reasonable.
The cloud as a storage area for Mobile devices means only giving folks the paltry amount of storage that's on your mobile device. If they then add in the idea that anything you *buy* in iTunes is also "in the cloud," it would be rare that anyone would need more than 20 Gigs or so. I think we'll see something like that for free for the iOS devices, and if you want similar for your desktop, you *pay*.
Yes.
There may be another missing piece to the puzzle -- a home server.
The fanout would be something like this:
1) Apple Store (iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store)
a) repository of all A/V and app content
2) Mobile Me (Only New Features Shown)
a) central index of all user content
b) Free storage of tokens (pointers) to all purchased Apple Store content
c) Authorized devices deviceIDs
d) Free or Pay storage for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
e) Pay storage for files, Non-Apple Store purchased media (movies, photos, music, ripped DVDs)
f) Pay storage for TimeMachine Backups
3) Home Server (Like an AppleTV with storage) *
a) central index of all user content
b) local storage for recent purchases, or recently used content FIFO
c) central sync for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
d) central local TimeMachine Backups
e) central local iDevice backups
* The Home Server function can be provided by an app running on a dedicated Mac or a designated client Mac or PC within the home running iTunes.
4) AppleTV
a) transient storage for central content index
b) transient storage for AppleTV Media or Game being played
c) cross-loaded or downloaded from fastest available source
5) Client Mac or PC
a) iTunes as today (shared across several computers if desired)
b) sync for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
c) TimeMachine Backup Source
6) Client iDevices
a) local Apple-supplied content (apps, games, media)
b) local Personal data
Anyway, the concept is that your content may exist at several levels:
-- on an iDevice
-- on a local computer or home server
-- on Mobile me
Everything purchased from Apple, by definition, will be available from the cloud through MobileMe
Everything created locally can be stored and/or backed up to:
-- local computer
-- home server, if available
-- MobileMe (optional, fee)
Any content, anywhere in the system can be (securely) accessed from anywhere else in the system
Content will tend to migrate to local devices based on usage:
MobileMe--->Home Server-->Client Mac/PC-->iDevice
So, if it's near the Christmas Holiday, themed A/V files will tend to be located on local servers and iDevices
Recently played games, photo albums, home movies, etc. will be stored locally.
For someone starting today, with no content
-- everything purchased from Apple will be backed up/accessible (free)
-- whatever content created locally can be backed up/accessible (fee)
Users with existing content could choose to migrate some/all to MobileME for a fee
My computer is on 24/7 anyway and irrationally perhaps, I prefer my data to be stored on my machines. So cloud service without cloud storage works for me. Now, Apple will probably make the service free and if on top of that you want your stuff on their servers then I bet they'll gladly lease you some storage space just like most everyone else does.
1) Apple Store (iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store)
a) repository of all A/V and app content
2) Mobile Me (Only New Features Shown)
a) central index of all user content
b) Free storage of tokens (pointers) to all purchased Apple Store content
c) Authorized devices deviceIDs
d) Free or Pay storage for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
e) Pay storage for files, Non-Apple Store purchased media (movies, photos, music, ripped DVDs)
f) Pay storage for TimeMachine Backups
3) Home Server (Like an AppleTV with storage) *
a) central index of all user content
b) local storage for recent purchases, or recently used content FIFO
c) central sync for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
d) central local TimeMachine Backups
e) central local iDevice backups
* The Home Server function can be provided by an app running on a dedicated Mac or a designated client Mac or PC within the home running iTunes.
4) AppleTV
a) transient storage for central content index
b) transient storage for AppleTV Media or Game being played
c) cross-loaded or downloaded from fastest available source
5) Client Mac or PC
a) iTunes as today (shared across several computers if desired)
b) sync for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
c) TimeMachine Backup Source
6) Client iDevices
a) local Apple-supplied content (apps, games, media)
b) local Personal data
Anyway, the concept is that your content may exist at several levels:
-- on an iDevice
-- on a local computer or home server
-- on Mobile me
Everything purchased from Apple, by definition, will be available from the cloud through MobileMe
Everything created locally can be stored and/or backed up to:
-- local computer
-- home server, if available
-- MobileMe (optional, fee)
Any content, anywhere in the system can be (securely) accessed from anywhere else in the system
Content will tend to migrate to local devices based on usage:
MobileMe--->Home Server-->Client Mac/PC-->iDevice
So, if it's near the Christmas Holiday, themed A/V files will tend to be located on local servers and iDevices
Recently played games, photo albums, home movies, etc. will be stored locally.
For someone starting today, with no content
-- everything purchased from Apple will be backed up/accessible (free)
-- whatever content created locally can be backed up/accessible (fee)
Users with existing content could choose to migrate some/all to MobileME for a fee
apples view of the world is so much simpler than this -- they are not making devices for this kind of person, they want 3 years olds and 90 year olds to be able to run there devices, not 8 layers of devices and storage solutions.
They will make it so that it works for everyone, if you are a techy you, and third party friends will find the way you like it best -- this is not apples goal though, they want an echosystem that just works, and simplicity rules at the end of the day.
So Apple could make it easy for you to do it from an iPhone or an iPad and manage remotely your home files.
No need to duplicate your files. No need to leave your home machine always on. No need to give up your privacy. But have access to your data from anywhere. How does it sound?
Look at it this way, if you only owned a iPad or iPhone, what kind of services would you need to survive? Cloud services, storage, backup, and wireless communication for printing and scanning. You dont need a bunch of data local and cloud, soon we will all trust the cloud and stop buying externals. Maybe not now but soon.
Apple dosn't expect all of their customers to own 1 of everything, and for those things to all overlap, they are trying to simplify the world, if they are trying to do that, there end goal is not for you to have 10 devices.
this all begs the question of - if limitations to only purchased content can't be avoided - why not just offer a subscription iTunes music/movie/TV streaming service as many others have done? with your computer's iTunes library metadata also accessing/maintaining playlist, ranking, and other info you might add, for anything you have streamed (as long as your subscription continues!). it would be integrated seamlessly into iTunes, even with "add to library" for favorites or history tracking.
subscription services have not been very popular for others simply because iTunes still is so dominant overall. but it could become very popular as part of iTunes.
i think this is the most likely approach Apple will take. we'll see ...
Now, there's the idea... we have a winner!
I have a dedicated Mini with 2 2TB external drives (1 backup)as a media server 10,000 songs, 800 movies plus home movies, photos, podcasts TV shows, etc.
Most of the content is Ripped DVDs and CDs, with about 5-10% purchased from iTunes.
If there were a way I could replace this with a subscription service, at say, $10-$20 month, I'd be all over it.
But I hope it would include capability for home movies, photos and other locally-generated content.
So Apple could make it easy for you to do it from an iPhone or an iPad and manage remotely your home files.
No need to duplicate your files. No need to leave your home machine always on. No need to give up your privacy. But have access to your data from anywhere. How does it sound?
Logging into you home computer via the net is a bigger security risk than the cloud I believe, the cloud will have the ability to encrypt private data, how many people have encrypted personal data, encrypted communication on their home computers or top notch security on their home computers. Not saying either is perfect, but dont know anyone who really knows whats going on in there router, were prefer to have professionals monitoring it as well.
Makes sense. We already have our content stored on our machines at home. Why should apple duplicate it?
If apple makes streaming from one's PC simple with zero configuration, just leave on your PC when you leave home and have access to your whole library.
It's a bad idea for many reasons, some of which have already been listed:
1. My computer is turned off.
2. My computer is a laptop, I have my laptop on a plane, but my spouse wants to access my shared data.
3. My computer is processing a very intensive database or compressing video, etc, and is slow to respond to file requests.
4. My computer breaks down (one of the advantage of the cloud is my data is safely in the cloud if my computer breaks, fires, theft, etc).
5. Most people's ISP upload speeds are pretty slow.
6. Can't easily access your computer remotely through your ISPs router. Back to My Mac works great if you have all Apple network equipment, it's a bit dicey if you use another vendor's.
7. Most people would then be in violation of their ISPs service agreements which forbid operating a server on a personal account. (I know, it's not really enforced now.)
Personal servers are the way of the future. Why pay somebody else to host your content when you can do it yourself cheaply? There's no syncing, no limits, no background tasks, and no monthly dues. It's your stuff anywhere you want it. I've been doing it since 1996.
Many consumer network storage devices can run custom Linux software. The Apple TV just needs a disk port. The Mac Mini Server was already built for this. All of these are small, quiet, and consume very little power even if they're loaded up with several TB of disk space.
The only problem is that US ISPs have so little market competition that they often don't offer full Internet services. A personal server could be blocked, jammed, throttled, inaccessible, or cause for termination. Jamming is the worst because it would look like Apple's fault.
Logging into you home computer via the net is a bigger security risk than the cloud I believe, the cloud will have the ability to encrypt private data, how many people have encrypted personal data, encrypted communication on their home computers or top notch security on their home computers. Not saying either is perfect, but dont know anyone who really knows whats going on in there router, were prefer to have professionals monitoring it as well.
What if the only gateway to log to your home computer is through Apple Cloud that will provide all the security you mentionned? Also, Apple could make it happen in a way we wouldn't know what's going on in our router. Apple Cloud Gateway (for instance) installed on all your devices would take care of everything.
Ok apple just spent billions for us to use our own computers for their new service? WILL NEVER HAPPEN, upstream speeds, router issues, security risks, nat upnp problems, network waking issues. this rumor is insane.
Storage for you and I is now less than $.04 a gig for hard disk space, for apple to give us 100gb would mean a one time cost of about $12 (retail) with triple redundancy and not all would fill that much space with music, plus bandwidth costs. Storage is so cheap no reason to do this rumor.
This is why they bought lala, hopefully they are as kind as lala was, it blew itunes out of the water as far as music listening and music discovery and prices.
Who believes this crap, who thinks this is a good idea?
Making it free would be a believable rumor as cheap as storage is now, if they want to compete with google and kill dropbox, and win over another couple millions users.
The future is a tablet world for 90% of consumers, they don't need computer problems and file managment issues. terras of storage online, time machine online for portables and any content you have or want to buy will be stored in the cloud not on your computer, you wont need a computer. right now you have to have a computer if you have a portable, soon that will change and a lot of people will not own "computers" they will have phones and tablets.
The data center is for "externals for your portables" not your computer - computers (and the issues they come with) will stick around only for those (me) who have to have them "professionals" everyone else will be able to get rid of them, and live off of there tablets, tablets will get plenty of storage soon but will always need more and we hate cords, enter cloud/highspeed connectivity.
That is the future, Apple see a world free of computer problems for consumers, that is why they are making the tablet, our kids will learn on tablets and so will our grandparents, and we will all forget the term file management, it will be a normal function of what the computer will do automatically.
Tablets will far outpace smartphones and they will start doing more but our interaction with them will stay very simple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joshreeder
apples view of the world is so much simpler than this -- they are not making devices for this kind of person, they want 3 years olds and 90 year olds to be able to run there devices, not 8 layers of devices and storage solutions.
They will make it so that it works for everyone, if you are a techy you, and third party friends will find the way you like it best -- this is not apples goal though, they want an echosystem that just works, and simplicity rules at the end of the day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joshreeder
Look at it this way, if you only owned a iPad or iPhone, what kind of services would you need to survive? Cloud services, storage, backup, and wireless communication for printing and scanning. You dont need a bunch of data local and cloud, soon we will all trust the cloud and stop buying externals. Maybe not now but soon.
Apple dosn't expect all of their customers to own 1 of everything, and for those things to all overlap, they are trying to simplify the world, if they are trying to do that, there end goal is not for you to have 10 devices.
I quoted all your posts, because I think you are spot on!
I was making the solution too complex!
This feature is mainly targeted to the future -- a future where most homes and users will have iDevices only -- no traditional computers as we know/use them today.
Most content will be purchased/rented/subscribed from the cloud.
Some content will be created on the iDevices (photos, movies, documents, drawings, presos, etc.)
All of this will be backed up/stored on the cloud.
There may be an AppleTV/AirportExtreme box that simplifies and aggregates the cloud connection in homes with multiple iDevices.
Comments
the big problem now is, in order to stream music/media from your Mac:
- your computer must be turned on
- your must be logged in as user (not someone else)
- either a third party server app (for existing media streaming apps) or iTunes must be running
the simplest approach to avoid all that would be for Apple to store and sync your iTunes library file in the cloud (with your metadata, which your purchase history that Apple already has does not include), and based on that information stream to you from its own existing iTunes store servers any purchased content you already own, anytime and anywhere. iTunes song previews and movie rentals already work this way.
that way there is no license hassle with the media content owners, and no support of piracy. but your other media content would have to be streamed from your own computer, subject to the constraints above, because Apple has no way to verify if you stole it or not. i doubt that Apple can legally include unrestricted unverified streaming ability within iTunes, given its iTunes licensing agreements with all the content owners.
Apple could alternatively enable AppleTV to become a home media server with an iTunes app for it and external drives connected to its USB port (making it a NAS device). that would solve all the above constraints too. but again, the content you could stream would be limited to purchased content. (except for Home Sharing - so this would be a great option for Home Sharing, and i wish Apple would do it.)
this all begs the question of - if limitations to only purchased content can't be avoided - why not just offer a subscription iTunes music/movie/TV streaming service as many others have done? with your computer's iTunes library metadata also accessing/maintaining playlist, ranking, and other info you might add, for anything you have streamed (as long as your subscription continues!). it would be integrated seamlessly into iTunes, even with "add to library" for favorites or history tracking.
subscription services have not been very popular for others simply because iTunes still is so dominant overall. but it could become very popular as part of iTunes.
i think this is the most likely approach Apple will take. we'll see ...
"No CLOUD for You!"
I really don't want my data in the cloud....where anyone with administrative access and proper security controls can view/copy it. Believe me....the people who administer these servers can view your data!
Yes and the receptionist at my doctors office can read my chart... And the CSR at my credit card company can see where I bought that special gift for my g/f... And on and on....
Frankly I trust the security surrounding cloud services much more than that surrounding physical records. For an interesting read up on how Evernote secures data in transit and when stored... Same for DropBox.
As for the actually article. Seems far more likely it'll be a sync service like dropbox then remote access direct to one's home network, but it's comfortable to be an extension of time capsules/air disks. Just because your computer is turned off doesnt mean you can't have NAS live on your network.
the simplest approach to avoid all that would be for Apple to store and sync your iTunes library file in the cloud (with your metadata, which your purchase history that Apple already has does not include), and based on that information stream to you from its own existing iTunes store servers any purchased content you already own, anytime and anywhere. iTunes song previews and movie rentals already work this way.
that way there is no license hassle with the media content owners, and no support of piracy. but your other media content would have to be streamed from your own computer, subject to the constraints above, because Apple has no way to verify if you stole it or not. i doubt that Apple can legally include unrestricted unverified streaming ability within iTunes, given its iTunes licensing agreements with all the content owners.
I think this is right. I would just add that the second paragraph is very important -- Apple needs to still provide some way for users to stream their own, unpurchased content. Not only is that something that users need, but it's also a way for Apple to keep the content owners in check. You see, the reason that Sony will never withhold content from iTunes is that they know the alternative isn't people switching to Amazon -- it's people switching to piracy. The threat of rampant piracy is the biggest bargaining chip Apple has when dealing with the content owners. So, to the greatest extent possible, Apple always needs to keep piracy as a real alternative for people using Macs and iDevices.
Of course, the question is how will bandwidth will be paid since it's not free for Apple. Or that if streaming through 3G will be limited to only music and photos while movies and shows limited to WiFi. We'll see...
Storage for you and I is now less than $.04 a gig for hard disk space, for apple to give us 100gb would mean a one time cost of about $12 (retail) with triple redundancy and not all would fill that much space with music, plus bandwidth costs. Storage is so cheap no reason to do this rumor.
This is why they bought lala, hopefully they are as kind as lala was, it blew itunes out of the water as far as music listening and music discovery and prices.
Who believes this crap, who thinks this is a good idea?
Making it free would be a believable rumor as cheap as storage is now, if they want to compete with google and kill dropbox, and win over another couple millions users.
The future is a tablet world for 90% of consumers, they don't need computer problems and file managment issues. terras of storage online, time machine online for portables and any content you have or want to buy will be stored in the cloud not on your computer, you wont need a computer. right now you have to have a computer if you have a portable, soon that will change and a lot of people will not own "computers" they will have phones and tablets.
The data center is for "externals for your portables" not your computer - computers (and the issues they come with) will stick around only for those (me) who have to have them "professionals" everyone else will be able to get rid of them, and live off of there tablets, tablets will get plenty of storage soon but will always need more and we hate cords, enter cloud/highspeed connectivity.
That is the future, Apple see a world free of computer problems for consumers, that is why they are making the tablet, our kids will learn on tablets and so will our grandparents, and we will all forget the term file management, it will be a normal function of what the computer will do automatically.
Tablets will far outpace smartphones and they will start doing more but our interaction with them will stay very simple.
Apple didn't build a huge data center in North Carolina so that data could be kept on our own machines.
The only thing that does make sense is that Apple retains records of what you have purchased and then references that from their digital archive when you need to re-download a song or software title.
This is just dumbass speculation.
Personally, I think the flaw being made in these kinds of scenarios is in thinking that this cloud service will include your desktop computer. He says it's ridiculous and a "bit much" to expect that Apple will give us all enough space to do this kind of thing, but if you leave out the desktop computer it all becomes very reasonable.
The cloud as a storage area for Mobile devices means only giving folks the paltry amount of storage that's on your mobile device. If they then add in the idea that anything you *buy* in iTunes is also "in the cloud," it would be rare that anyone would need more than 20 Gigs or so. I think we'll see something like that for free for the iOS devices, and if you want similar for your desktop, you *pay*.
Yes.
There may be another missing piece to the puzzle -- a home server.
The fanout would be something like this:
1) Apple Store (iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store)
a) repository of all A/V and app content
2) Mobile Me (Only New Features Shown)
a) central index of all user content
b) Free storage of tokens (pointers) to all purchased Apple Store content
c) Authorized devices deviceIDs
d) Free or Pay storage for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
e) Pay storage for files, Non-Apple Store purchased media (movies, photos, music, ripped DVDs)
f) Pay storage for TimeMachine Backups
3) Home Server (Like an AppleTV with storage) *
a) central index of all user content
b) local storage for recent purchases, or recently used content FIFO
c) central sync for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
d) central local TimeMachine Backups
e) central local iDevice backups
* The Home Server function can be provided by an app running on a dedicated Mac or a designated client Mac or PC within the home running iTunes.
4) AppleTV
a) transient storage for central content index
b) transient storage for AppleTV Media or Game being played
c) cross-loaded or downloaded from fastest available source
5) Client Mac or PC
a) iTunes as today (shared across several computers if desired)
b) sync for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
c) TimeMachine Backup Source
6) Client iDevices
a) local Apple-supplied content (apps, games, media)
b) local Personal data
Anyway, the concept is that your content may exist at several levels:
-- on an iDevice
-- on a local computer or home server
-- on Mobile me
Everything purchased from Apple, by definition, will be available from the cloud through MobileMe
Everything created locally can be stored and/or backed up to:
-- local computer
-- home server, if available
-- MobileMe (optional, fee)
Any content, anywhere in the system can be (securely) accessed from anywhere else in the system
Content will tend to migrate to local devices based on usage:
MobileMe--->Home Server-->Client Mac/PC-->iDevice
So, if it's near the Christmas Holiday, themed A/V files will tend to be located on local servers and iDevices
Recently played games, photo albums, home movies, etc. will be stored locally.
For someone starting today, with no content
-- everything purchased from Apple will be backed up/accessible (free)
-- whatever content created locally can be backed up/accessible (fee)
Users with existing content could choose to migrate some/all to MobileME for a fee
.
1) Apple Store (iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store)
a) repository of all A/V and app content
2) Mobile Me (Only New Features Shown)
a) central index of all user content
b) Free storage of tokens (pointers) to all purchased Apple Store content
c) Authorized devices deviceIDs
d) Free or Pay storage for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
e) Pay storage for files, Non-Apple Store purchased media (movies, photos, music, ripped DVDs)
f) Pay storage for TimeMachine Backups
3) Home Server (Like an AppleTV with storage) *
a) central index of all user content
b) local storage for recent purchases, or recently used content FIFO
c) central sync for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
d) central local TimeMachine Backups
e) central local iDevice backups
* The Home Server function can be provided by an app running on a dedicated Mac or a designated client Mac or PC within the home running iTunes.
4) AppleTV
a) transient storage for central content index
b) transient storage for AppleTV Media or Game being played
c) cross-loaded or downloaded from fastest available source
5) Client Mac or PC
a) iTunes as today (shared across several computers if desired)
b) sync for Contacts, Calendars, etc.
c) TimeMachine Backup Source
6) Client iDevices
a) local Apple-supplied content (apps, games, media)
b) local Personal data
Anyway, the concept is that your content may exist at several levels:
-- on an iDevice
-- on a local computer or home server
-- on Mobile me
Everything purchased from Apple, by definition, will be available from the cloud through MobileMe
Everything created locally can be stored and/or backed up to:
-- local computer
-- home server, if available
-- MobileMe (optional, fee)
Any content, anywhere in the system can be (securely) accessed from anywhere else in the system
Content will tend to migrate to local devices based on usage:
MobileMe--->Home Server-->Client Mac/PC-->iDevice
So, if it's near the Christmas Holiday, themed A/V files will tend to be located on local servers and iDevices
Recently played games, photo albums, home movies, etc. will be stored locally.
For someone starting today, with no content
-- everything purchased from Apple will be backed up/accessible (free)
-- whatever content created locally can be backed up/accessible (fee)
Users with existing content could choose to migrate some/all to MobileME for a fee
apples view of the world is so much simpler than this -- they are not making devices for this kind of person, they want 3 years olds and 90 year olds to be able to run there devices, not 8 layers of devices and storage solutions.
They will make it so that it works for everyone, if you are a techy you, and third party friends will find the way you like it best -- this is not apples goal though, they want an echosystem that just works, and simplicity rules at the end of the day.
There is already a way to actually power on your home computer remotely. Check it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN.
So Apple could make it easy for you to do it from an iPhone or an iPad and manage remotely your home files.
No need to duplicate your files. No need to leave your home machine always on. No need to give up your privacy. But have access to your data from anywhere. How does it sound?
Apple dosn't expect all of their customers to own 1 of everything, and for those things to all overlap, they are trying to simplify the world, if they are trying to do that, there end goal is not for you to have 10 devices.
this all begs the question of - if limitations to only purchased content can't be avoided - why not just offer a subscription iTunes music/movie/TV streaming service as many others have done? with your computer's iTunes library metadata also accessing/maintaining playlist, ranking, and other info you might add, for anything you have streamed (as long as your subscription continues!). it would be integrated seamlessly into iTunes, even with "add to library" for favorites or history tracking.
subscription services have not been very popular for others simply because iTunes still is so dominant overall. but it could become very popular as part of iTunes.
i think this is the most likely approach Apple will take. we'll see ...
Now, there's the idea... we have a winner!
I have a dedicated Mini with 2 2TB external drives (1 backup)as a media server 10,000 songs, 800 movies plus home movies, photos, podcasts TV shows, etc.
Most of the content is Ripped DVDs and CDs, with about 5-10% purchased from iTunes.
If there were a way I could replace this with a subscription service, at say, $10-$20 month, I'd be all over it.
But I hope it would include capability for home movies, photos and other locally-generated content.
For those of you thinking this all idea is stupid since you wouldn't want to leave on your home computer, well... You wouldn't have to:
There is already a way to actually power on your home computer remotely. Check it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN.
So Apple could make it easy for you to do it from an iPhone or an iPad and manage remotely your home files.
No need to duplicate your files. No need to leave your home machine always on. No need to give up your privacy. But have access to your data from anywhere. How does it sound?
Logging into you home computer via the net is a bigger security risk than the cloud I believe, the cloud will have the ability to encrypt private data, how many people have encrypted personal data, encrypted communication on their home computers or top notch security on their home computers. Not saying either is perfect, but dont know anyone who really knows whats going on in there router, were prefer to have professionals monitoring it as well.
Makes sense. We already have our content stored on our machines at home. Why should apple duplicate it?
If apple makes streaming from one's PC simple with zero configuration, just leave on your PC when you leave home and have access to your whole library.
It's a bad idea for many reasons, some of which have already been listed:
1. My computer is turned off.
2. My computer is a laptop, I have my laptop on a plane, but my spouse wants to access my shared data.
3. My computer is processing a very intensive database or compressing video, etc, and is slow to respond to file requests.
4. My computer breaks down (one of the advantage of the cloud is my data is safely in the cloud if my computer breaks, fires, theft, etc).
5. Most people's ISP upload speeds are pretty slow.
6. Can't easily access your computer remotely through your ISPs router. Back to My Mac works great if you have all Apple network equipment, it's a bit dicey if you use another vendor's.
7. Most people would then be in violation of their ISPs service agreements which forbid operating a server on a personal account. (I know, it's not really enforced now.)
Many consumer network storage devices can run custom Linux software. The Apple TV just needs a disk port. The Mac Mini Server was already built for this. All of these are small, quiet, and consume very little power even if they're loaded up with several TB of disk space.
The only problem is that US ISPs have so little market competition that they often don't offer full Internet services. A personal server could be blocked, jammed, throttled, inaccessible, or cause for termination. Jamming is the worst because it would look like Apple's fault.
Logging into you home computer via the net is a bigger security risk than the cloud I believe, the cloud will have the ability to encrypt private data, how many people have encrypted personal data, encrypted communication on their home computers or top notch security on their home computers. Not saying either is perfect, but dont know anyone who really knows whats going on in there router, were prefer to have professionals monitoring it as well.
What if the only gateway to log to your home computer is through Apple Cloud that will provide all the security you mentionned? Also, Apple could make it happen in a way we wouldn't know what's going on in our router. Apple Cloud Gateway (for instance) installed on all your devices would take care of everything.
Ok apple just spent billions for us to use our own computers for their new service? WILL NEVER HAPPEN, upstream speeds, router issues, security risks, nat upnp problems, network waking issues. this rumor is insane.
Storage for you and I is now less than $.04 a gig for hard disk space, for apple to give us 100gb would mean a one time cost of about $12 (retail) with triple redundancy and not all would fill that much space with music, plus bandwidth costs. Storage is so cheap no reason to do this rumor.
This is why they bought lala, hopefully they are as kind as lala was, it blew itunes out of the water as far as music listening and music discovery and prices.
Who believes this crap, who thinks this is a good idea?
Making it free would be a believable rumor as cheap as storage is now, if they want to compete with google and kill dropbox, and win over another couple millions users.
The future is a tablet world for 90% of consumers, they don't need computer problems and file managment issues. terras of storage online, time machine online for portables and any content you have or want to buy will be stored in the cloud not on your computer, you wont need a computer. right now you have to have a computer if you have a portable, soon that will change and a lot of people will not own "computers" they will have phones and tablets.
The data center is for "externals for your portables" not your computer - computers (and the issues they come with) will stick around only for those (me) who have to have them "professionals" everyone else will be able to get rid of them, and live off of there tablets, tablets will get plenty of storage soon but will always need more and we hate cords, enter cloud/highspeed connectivity.
That is the future, Apple see a world free of computer problems for consumers, that is why they are making the tablet, our kids will learn on tablets and so will our grandparents, and we will all forget the term file management, it will be a normal function of what the computer will do automatically.
Tablets will far outpace smartphones and they will start doing more but our interaction with them will stay very simple.
apples view of the world is so much simpler than this -- they are not making devices for this kind of person, they want 3 years olds and 90 year olds to be able to run there devices, not 8 layers of devices and storage solutions.
They will make it so that it works for everyone, if you are a techy you, and third party friends will find the way you like it best -- this is not apples goal though, they want an echosystem that just works, and simplicity rules at the end of the day.
Look at it this way, if you only owned a iPad or iPhone, what kind of services would you need to survive? Cloud services, storage, backup, and wireless communication for printing and scanning. You dont need a bunch of data local and cloud, soon we will all trust the cloud and stop buying externals. Maybe not now but soon.
Apple dosn't expect all of their customers to own 1 of everything, and for those things to all overlap, they are trying to simplify the world, if they are trying to do that, there end goal is not for you to have 10 devices.
I quoted all your posts, because I think you are spot on!
I was making the solution too complex!
This feature is mainly targeted to the future -- a future where most homes and users will have iDevices only -- no traditional computers as we know/use them today.
Most content will be purchased/rented/subscribed from the cloud.
Some content will be created on the iDevices (photos, movies, documents, drawings, presos, etc.)
All of this will be backed up/stored on the cloud.
There may be an AppleTV/AirportExtreme box that simplifies and aggregates the cloud connection in homes with multiple iDevices.