The music that I listen to the most I would keep a local copy of and would only use the streaming option if I wanted to hear a certain song that wasn't already on my phone/computer. Also, it shouldn't be any worse than Pandora or other internet radio apps.
Good point. I just thought I remembered reading that the music iCloud would be streaming would be higher quality audio than your average internet radion station.
That wouldn't surprise me, they could have an option to stream a lower quality version of the song if available. I wonder if you'll be able to download the songs to other computers after uploading them. Moving new music from my home computer to my work computer would be a lot easier if it just got added to the cloud and I could download it wherever I want.
Backing up and restoring from iTunes works pretty well. That being said, my guess would be a similar licensing issue with iCloud as with iTunes. If you buy the music you can store it on 5 different computers.
My new phone upgrade isn't due for another year, but I had already counted the iPhone out because I find widgets so useful on my phone. I'm really interested to see how iOS pulls it off now. I'm still surprised how cowboy_bebop foams at the mouth in every Apple discussion. He's built up this Staypuff Marshmellow Man in his mind to fight against.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/05/ios-5-real-or-fake/ Looks interesting... iOS with notifications like that would be pretty cool.
ha! so apple hires the "mobilenotifier" guy..puts his work into the new notification system...and also copies Android. way to go apple. drag down from the top to see the missed alerts.
Used to love Apple. Now I'm pretty leery of anything from them and what expenses it will entail down the line (nevermind how much more it costs me to begin with). I detest itunes and that alone is probably going to drive me away from the iphone, but what really scares me is that Lion is only available via the appstore, which just reeks of Apple "reclosing" the machine. Not a fan of that at all.
What do you think of iTunes in the cloud? Anything is better than the current debacle they call an app right now.
So basically they stole the best elements of the other OS' (aside from customizable homescreens). I like it. With its app selection, it seems like an OS worth getting. I HATE Apple but I might consider the iPhone 5 if it has LTE. Really depends on what Ice Cream Sandwich brings (HARDWARE ACCELERATION PLEASE).
I'm fine with them using aspects of the notification system that works. They hired these guys for a reason. And it was the area that needed the most attention, IMO. Also, iTunes Match sounds pretty awesome. Scan your existing music, if there is a match on the iTunes store it automatically adds it to your cloud 'library' that you can access from anywhere. If anything, it seems as though a lot of this stuff enables a person to move away from the actual iTunes software.
Apple is going to have to do something about the interface soon. I'm getting to where I really, really do not like the icons.
I agree with this to an extent. It originally was good as it simplified things, and then after the app store etc. the folders in the 4.x whatever it was update helped... but... things evolve. I'd be interested in them looking into a better/more attractive interface at this point, but not to the extent that it ruins the intuitive simplicity.
I had a hell of a time running my itunes library from a gigabit NAS drive (well, gigabit NAS to a wireless LAN). Color me skeptical... That was my largest beef with itunes. It really sucked over the network. The second thing that sucked was that even on a local drive it seemed that around 40gb or so the database had a hell of time keeping up with what I wanted speed wise - importing new music was painful. A lot of that is probably due to bloat - the program has just gotten too bulky; there are how-tos online detailing ways to de-bloat itunes, believe it or not. Bad sign, IMO. I'm a bit more optimistic for google's service as they have a lot of practice with data storage and streaming, but it's hard to say. I moved to foobar2000 for a music player at the moment. I'm still determining the pros/cons, but it definitely faster and way less of a resource hog. You can also make it look very cool with some effort. YMMV.
Typical Apple. They copy things from everyone else already has, make a big press conference and call it innovation and idiots eat it all up.
I'm pretty sure there isn't a streaming option with iTunes Cloud. It's more of a sync and share type service. iTunes Match is interesting, it'll be nice to not have to upload all your music. Though it sounds kinda of a like a laundering service for stolen music.
Google Music beta is nice. They do stream with an option to keep a local copy, so it's like the best of both world. I haven't had any hiccups, really smooth. Plus, the new music player is much better than the default android one. They do have that 20,000 song limit right now and who knows if they'll charge once out of beta. And of course, they don't have a service like iTunes Match or even being able to have purchased music already in the cloud (Amazon MP3/cloud) Having to upload all your songs can be a pain.
