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Apple's Secret Cloud Strategy And Why Lala Is Critical


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Read this yesterday and sounds interesting. I'm already using Simplify Media's app to do some of the same stuff (in regards to music) but the idea of them backing up entire catalogs to cloud storage (the billion $$ server farm in NC) is a benefit in and of itself.

 

It would be nice to give .Mac/MobileMe users that option as part of their annual subscription.

 

Bill

 

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Mac Mini->Roon + Tidal->KEF LS50W

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yes, very interesting.

 

"An upcoming major revision of iTunes will copy each user's catalog to the net making it available from any browser or net connected ipod/touch/tablet. The Lala upload technology will be bundled into a future iTunes upgrade which will automatically be installed for the 100+ million itunes users with a simple ?An upgrade is available¿? notification dialog box. After installation iTunes will push in the background their entire media library to their personal mobile iTunes area. Once loaded, users will be able to navigate and play their music, videos and playlists from their personal URL using a browser based iTunes experience."

 

Apple might not need to make money on this, given their current financial position, and if so, this new service could prevent anyone else from making money on cloud music services either. :)

 

Hopefully yours,

clay

 

 

 

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I can't think of one single useful purpose for it!

 

Useless in the home - that's where your music is already stored.

Useless out of the home unless you have wireless or 3G internet access.

 

So, a really good idea if you don't mind not being able to access the service for most of your waking life! TV on your mobile phone anyone?

 

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"Useless out of the home unless you have wireless or 3G internet access."

 

My iPhone has wireless and 3G, so does iPod Touch, and so will my new Apple Tablet when it comes out, as does my Macbook Air, which is what I take it with me when traveling, along with a Verizon Mifi2200.

 

 

as for "Useless in the home - that's where your music is already stored", perhaps this will be as good as use of a NAS?

 

clay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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And provided you don't stray from an adequate signal then the service should work. As it should for all similarly equipped devices. If this covers you then you will number amongst the few fortunates. But if you still need storage based solutions to cover you for when the signals are inadequate - in other words you don't reside in, or stray from, a large city - then you gain nothing from the service.

 

As you pointed out, Apple will be able to make the market difficult, if not impossible, for any competing services to gain a foothold and that is the likely reason for the move.

 

Obviously, I'm not familiar with the state of the US wireless and mobile networks but here in the UK, 'TV on your mobile' was a huge banner ad pushed by all of the mobile companies here not so long ago. The painful truth is that the quality of service required to make it a reality is all but non-existant! That very same quality of service is also the bit that, (at the moment), Apple has absolutely no control over!

 

It'll be fun to watch them pushing a service - 'that will make your life just brilliant' - that only a tiny minority of their customers will actually be able to access!

 

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If it's free and bundled with iTunes I'd appreciate the backup Apple puts in the Cloud as an off-site insurance plan for my music if nothing else. After all, we all need some form of data redundancy.

 

Bill

 

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Mac Mini->Roon + Tidal->KEF LS50W

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I think it is very unlikely (IMHO) that it will work by uploading your gigantic libraries filled with music apple does not know if you paid for. For me, this is only about music being sold through the itunes store (it's already on their servers!) that you will be able to play anywhere you have a browser...

 

And yes, for 'normal' people for who 192k mp3 is as good as it gets, as long as there is cheap acess to a lot of bandwith, what's the point of 'carrying' your library? It's all in the cloud :)

 

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"That very same quality of service is also the bit that, (at the moment), Apple has absolutely no control over!"

 

agreed, but that didn't stop them from releasing the iPhone before AT&T was ready. Indeed, their doing so put more pressure on AT&T to improve.

 

OTOH, to your point, it's not yet clear whether (apple's) cloud servers can "stream" uncompressed RBCD files (or even if they'll allow storage of uncompressed files) fast enough to accommodate audiophile needs, never mind high res.

 

I can easily imagine PV version 4.x, or Amarra version 2.x, loading files into memory that were pulled down from the cloud, perhaps requiring lossless decompression.

 

 

"It'll be fun to watch them pushing a service - 'that will make your life just brilliant' - that only a tiny minority of their customers will actually be able to access!"

 

If it only affected a tiny minority of their customers, I doubt they'd be jumping into the game so smartly.

 

I do appreciate your comments, and esp. as it relates to the state of the British market. I doubt that the US market is that far ahead, if at all.

 

cheers,

clay

 

 

 

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"I think it is very unlikely (IMHO) that it will work by uploading your gigantic libraries filled with music apple does not know if you paid for. For me, this is only about music being sold through the itunes store (it's already on their servers!) that you will be able to play anywhere you have a browser..."

 

That's a very good point, neovibe.

 

Instead of having to 'house' gigantic files, they'd only need a 'pointer' to which of their files you should have access to.

 

clay

 

 

 

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the fact that they are doing this makes me think that they really most want this bad to be willing to store individual copies of everthing people have just to be able to share it on the web. It would not be good enough to say well we have one copy of x and we don't need another. If 10k copies of x exist then you have to store 20k copies of the same junk just as a copy of the copy for back up. Not very efficient! Thanks, but no thanks! Besides I can already access my content for playack on the web on my home network:)

 

Regards

 

Jesus R

www.sonore.us

 

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My incredulity, and the big 'What on earth for?', arrived when I tried to do the maths!

 

If the reported 100,000,000+ users is correct then, all I can say is that, the average user must be nowhere near the sort of storage numbers most folks around here can muster! Even if the average per user is only 100mb, that's still 1000 petabytes of storage, if my maths is any good!

 

But the very idea of 'Mr Cloud' looking after my data fills me with dread! I know it's the latest craze, out there in LaLa land, but I can't help thinking that the whole idea is a big non-starter for anything other than thoroughly non-critical backup. Who owns the data? What are the uptime guarantees? What happens to the data in the event of a buy-out or bankruptcy? What country will the data reside in? Who's laws govern the use of the data? Who does the data belong to in the event of a users death? Can the data be permanently retrieved, i.e. no copy left behind? Can the data be 'mined' and used for profiling/advertising? I know we're only talking about a few tunes here, but the principles governing 'cloud' storage of data are nowhere near being even a tiny bit clear. Microsoft and Google are both guilty of wrapping the answers to all of these questions up in 'legalese' mumbo-jumbo that always leaves the user non the wiser. I doubt Apple will be any clearer prior to the magic upgrade!

 

If there's no '(Bugger) Off' button then I, for one, shall be hitting the uninstall routine! Mind you, maybe they won't miss me - too much!

 

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I read in Fortune that a guy was working on being able to play video games in real time over an internet browser with all the heavy lifting being done by the server in THE CLOUD. Sorry couldn't help screaming THE CLOUD:) PS I don't play video games...my last one was Astroids on the Atari 1200. But I could see video games with nothing special to buy being pretty cool and from anywhere wow.

 

Regards

 

Jesus R

www.sonore.us

 

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None of us will know the purpose/strategy until it's officially announced but it seems as if they've got the four majors interested in the idea of streaming purchased content via an internet connection along with hi-res files for, of course, a higher price.

 

It seems as if it's more about convenience and a value-added feature for those that no longer buy physical media.

 

Bill

 

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Mac Mini->Roon + Tidal->KEF LS50W

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doubt I will be using it. What format are these cloud files going to be in? I doubt that they will even be Apple Lossless, more likley mp3 of some variety. I live in rural area (but only about 25 miles form Denver!) and there is still no real high speed internet here, and forget about cell service (0G LOL). Mostly I am happy about this, 'cause it means less RF pollution to muck up my audio systems performance-but it is a pain when attempting to use the internet from home. I download high res, and do my ripping at friends places, or work.

I doubt Apple can allow for a few terrabytes of storage for everybody with I-tunes! Could be good for travelling though, especially if a Apple tablet will interface with a Proton.

 

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