Mastered for iTunes / Apple Music

[dalethorn]

Are these libraries on the Cloud?

[dalethorn]

2 hours ago, LCC0256 said:

Yes sir all libraries are in their respective children's iTunes/iCloud account

 

My understanding of how Apple iCloud works is, they have only one real copy of each tune (or versions of each), and if 50 thousand people purchased that tune, they will have pointers from that tune to the 50k people who purchased it.  That can present difficulties for people who suddenly decide to re-download those tunes to their local computer.  My brother for example lost about 3000 of his tunes through some Apple error.

 

Upgrading is tricky though.  Apple can't automatically replace one version with another if they sound different, otherwise, they'd have millions of angry customers, some of whom would love the newer version, and others who would hate it.  If someone loads a tune to the cloud that didn't come from Apple, I suppose they could replace it with an Apple version, but again, someone has to know that it's the same exact recording.

 

My big issues with the Cloud are simple:

 

1) I'm not willing to pay for bandwidth to play a song that should be on my computer.

2) I'm not willing to wait to listen when the Internet connection has a problem.

3) Many of my songs are unique and irreplaceable, and Apple cannot guarantee to preserve those songs forever at all costs.  They can only offer "insurance".

4) I select songs to play at random (i.e., I select, the music player doesn't select), and almost never from a playlist, and trying to do that on the cloud would be a nightmare.

[dalethorn]

12 hours ago, kirkmc said:

They do replace with later versions, and there have been complaints about this. If an older mastering, for example, is no longer available in Apple's database, then they match to the newer version. Or they upload if there's enough difference that the two cannot be matched. 

 

1) Do you pay for bandwidth to your computer? I know this is an issue for mobile devices, but generally not for desktops. 

2) You can download some or all of the music. In fact, when you match your library, it doesn't remove your tracks; you only download/stream when you don't have local copies. 

3) They're not guaranteeing anything. It's up to you to not delete your originals, and even back them up. 

4) Huh? If you use iTunes, it looks exactly the same when music is in the cloud as it does when it's local. 

 

Thank you for the detailed reply, noting that they may auto-replace irreplaceable songs (example: Jimmy Buffet's Door No.3 single version, not available anymore), and they don't guarantee anything.

 

Edit: BTW, everyone pays for bandwidth, one way or another.  Nothing is free.

[dalethorn]

5 hours ago, kirkmc said:

I have unlimited bandwidth for my home internet; I have a limit on my mobile internet. I don't consider that I pay for bandwidth at  home; I consider I pay for access, and can upload and download as much as I want. 

 

So the unlimited bandwidth at home is free?  Not from what I read in the tech press.  Ever hear of throttling?  AT&T does it, Comcast (or whoever they morphed into) does it, etc.  The notion that it's really unlimited is absurd, which anyone can find out by looking at how many bytes are actually flowing through their _____ data rate pipe.  We never get anywhere near the stated rate - well, maybe at 3 am for 10 minutes.

[dalethorn]

On 2/1/2018 at 1:57 PM, kirkmc said:

No throttling where I live; no limits on bandwidth. I get the maximum that my line is rated for, which isn't very much (15 Mbps). 

 

Don't confuse bandwidth consumption with speed. You may not get the maximum speed that you may be able to get, but it's still not charging you for each megabyte, is it?

 

There are arguments about charges, but in the end nothing is free.  If you're lucky enough to have a reliable service that doesn't make you wait a lot, and the price is reasonable, then I suppose that's a winner.  I've never had completely satisfactory Internet service, because my only choice in providers are consumer-rated lower than the Post Office, i.e. zero stars out of five.

[dalethorn]

On 2/1/2018 at 1:58 PM, kirkmc said:

Oh, and you're probably using cable internet, which shares bandwidth in an area or neighborhood. You're more likely to see different speeds than if you're on ADSL. 

 

I was on AT&T DSL, but after months of throttling it, they slowed it down to near zero, and forced us onto their "faster" service.  This faster service works most of the time, but they still slow it to a crawl often enough.  The only cable provider here is a scam.