Apple’s ‘iCloud’ music service gets detailed

By on May 27, 2011 at 4:29 PM
General May 27, 2011

Apple is expected to finally unveil its cloud-based music service next month at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco. Unlike similar products recently introduced by Google and Amazon that feature limited utility, Apple is thought to have deals in place with major record labels that will allow it to offer a paid service and a simplified library building process. The service has been rumored to be in development for years, and now Bloomberg Businessweek has supposedly spilled the beans, detailing exactly how the offering will work. Citing anonymous sources who were briefed on Apple’s talks with record labels, Apple’s cloud music service will constantly scan a user’s iTunes library and mirror the songs on Apple servers. The user will then be able to stream the music to any PC, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and some day, even to a car. While the appeal of such a service might be questionable due to the ever-increasing storage capacity of Apple’s portable iOS devices, it is believed that Apple plans to charge a monthly fee for the service.

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GP2WYAHXS6CRUREISWBGPUSUGE Michael

    I can see JobCorp doing things a little differently then Google, which to me sounds better. I bet they are going to scan your libray for the songs setting on your computers hard drive and give you access to the songs via their already preloaded iTunes library. Base on what you have.

    Not trying to sound google > apple or apple < google. Either way i'll have a cloud player on my Android phone/Nook Color and on my iPod touch.

    • Bennbr24

      Do you realize that is exactly what the article said?

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GP2WYAHXS6CRUREISWBGPUSUGE Michael

        2 hours for someone to pick that out…. proud of you….

    • AKG

      I like how your inequality says the exact same thing twice…

      • http://www.facebook.com/cameronlee.ya Cameron Lee

        Well obviously that’s the Universe telling us that google > apple. Either that or “apple or apple” google.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GP2WYAHXS6CRUREISWBGPUSUGE Michael

        almost one whole day for someone to catch that as well. I guess we see how many people actually read the replies.

  • Anonymous

    I can definitely understand the necessity of charging a fee for something like this. I expect Google Music to charge a fee for the people who want to be able to store the most amount of music, albeit with a grandfather clause for people in the beta test.

    Apple’s ability to sell anything with an “i” in front of it notwithstanding, I don’t know that this is going to be a rampaging success. Considering the omnipresence of iPod docking in radios, and the amount of different tools available to stream your music from your computer to anything with an internet connection and a browser, I’m kind of hard-pressed to figure out who’s supposed to want to pay for this.

    I’m in the Google Music beta right now; if I don’t get grandfathered in as free, I’ll be canceling the account and going back to Audiogalaxy. Between iPods and iPhones, I don’t understand who’s supposed to want to pay for this.

    • http://www.facebook.com/applelover Tim Meesseman

      Google has stated more than once that GMusic will only be free during the beta period. Even the beta testers will have to pay when the service launches.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GP2WYAHXS6CRUREISWBGPUSUGE Michael

        reports are 25$ – 30$ per year, i’ll gladly pay $2.08 – $2.50 per month for this service .

      • Anonymous

        That’s reasonable. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the price go higher for the people storing thousands of songs out there, though.

      • Anonymous

        That makes me a little sad, but it makes sense. It’s going to use obscene amounts of storage space once they roll it out to the general public.

    • Steve Hillshire

      Streaming is great, but as unlimited data plans come to an end, who is going to embrace this AND pay for it?  That will last until the first time you go over and get raped by the carrier in overage fees…

  • Sprezzatura

    90% of my iTunes library are tracks I’ve ripped from my own CDs, the rest are primarily MP3s bought from Amazon. If this new iTunes service doesn’t support them, it’s useless to me.

    • http://www.facebook.com/applelover Tim Meesseman

      Agreed, but I get the impression it’ll support them. There are plenty of people who own a CD and rip them legally, so iCloud be a major turn-off if it wasn’t supported.

      Plus, there would be no need to “scan” your Library. Any music bought through iTunes is on your account information, so it would just use that info if it only supported iTunes Music.

      • serpentor

        This is the RIAA we’re talking about. I think they have a different opinion than you about the legality of ripping your own CDs.

        Also, even though iTunes music is nonDRM, doesn’t it still have some kind of identifier embedded in the tracks?

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=57902506 Jason Brian Chapa

      Totally agreed, Sprezzatura.  I refuse to give Apple any of my money.

    • Paul

      My understanding from what I’ve read is this is kind of a way to recoup money from pirated songs. Instead of suing each individual pirater, the labels earn a monthly fee for allowing them to stream them anywhere. If this is the case I see no reason why cd ripped songs wouldn’t be supported then. On top of that, poorer quality songs will automatically be upgraded when you stream them apparently. 

      • serpentor

        “poorer quality songs will automatically be upgraded when you stream them apparently”

        First I’ve heard of this feature.  Source?

      • djr

        I also heard about this. The songs would actually be played from apples servers so you would get the quality stored from the iTunes store. Its been reported on engadget and tipb a few times. But until this is official, its all speculation

      • Anonymous

        Do you have a source for this understanding?

  • http://www.callboxlive.com Stan Winstone

    And how does this cloud service square with the data caps imposed by all cell providers in the U.S? I certainly don’t plan to pay data overages just to stream music I’ve already purchased and am now cloud subscribing for as well. That’s a triple dip!

  • Scott

    Streaming in the brave new world of tiered pricing for cellular networks just isn’t going to fly, especially if you have to pay for it (the service *and* the overages).  Really, what’s the point if you have a personal collection that works – I just don’t see the benefit.

    • Anonymous

      Dude we are talking about Apple here. They will have a special deal with the carriers to allow this to happen of course you will pay a monthly fee for it… 

      • http://www.callboxlive.com Stan Winstone

        Interesting point. No one has speculated that yet, but Apple almost would have to create a special data plan that gives you unlimited streaming from AT&T/Verizon as separate from regular data. That plus deals with record labels = much stronger offering than Amazon and Google’s cloud lockers which basically do nothing special for you…

  • Anonymous

    Can’t wait!

  • Cer

    Monthly fee to be able to stream the songs you buy for 99 cents each, when you can pay $9.99 a month and stream 10+ million tracks with Rhapsody, Napster, Rdio, etc. etc.? Is this just a symptom of “people will pay too much for Apple products simply because they’re Apple”?

    If the whole “cloud” thing doesn’t equate to subscription services finally taking off, then something is going wrong.

  • Anonymous

    No thanks…

    • Anonymous

      You’re not invited anyways. Now go play with your lagdroid.

      • Steve Hillshire

        Wow, you must be one loved person.  Anyone with that much animosity must have been kicked to the curb by everyone and forced to a life of trying to make others feel worse than themselves by anonymously demeaning them in forums.  I guess that’s why you love your iPhone so much.  It has just that right vibration app to make it all better…

  • http://www.twitter.com/wixostrix WixosTrix

    Aka, pretty much the same thing Lala did except it was free.  At least this would have a much huger backing. iTunes music store is insane!

  • http://twitter.com/perderedeus Tim Gulics

    So Apple has a deal inked with a few major record labels. What about indie labels? There are more than 8 or so record labels out there. Will anything outside of Sony, UMG, Virgin and other biggies be unavailable for streaming on iCloud?

    • serpentor

      Not just indie. I have ripped music from major artists who don’t sell mp3s so they would be missing too.

      The iCloud method can never fully mirror your collection.

  • Ericdano

    Seems stupid. I would much rather have an integrated Apple DropBox/FileLocker/CrashPlan/Time Machine cloud service. But just for music?

    No thanks.

  • Anonymous

    Why do we need this? I have a two terrabyte disk drive, and I have all my songs and videos posted on my own web server… why should I have to pay Apple, or anyone else to stream the music I already paid for?

    • Jcman7690

      This is obvioulsly not for you then.. It’s for my mom who just wants to play her 500 songs or so at work without using headphones on her phone. Get a grip on life. Every product ever made isn’t going to be tailored towards you.

      • Anonymous

        Jcman7690, It’s not for your mom either, if she’s only got 500 songs, they’d fit on any device she’d already own…

        This will be a failure, just like MobileMe service

      • WileEConsumer

         I hope she’s not stealing from her employers internet bandwidth by streaming media all day.

  • Anonymous

    I am not claiming whether it’s right or wrong, but people are gonna have a lot less music streaming threw this once they realize they can’t use pirated music. 

    • Anonymous

      I know.  Whereas our god, Google, doesn’t really care.  Because that’s how they roll!  For me, all I want is Google Music!

  • Alexander530

    I still don’t get how this cloud serfice can be beneficial for me. I have my songs on my phone and ipad. Two devices that are with me at all times, meaning I can play my music collection any time as well. I can also stream my music collection to my car’s audio using BT. Now why would I pay an extra monthly fee for a service that I pretty much already have?

    • WileEConsumer

      Harddrives and iPod/iPad/iPhone/MacBook batteries expire and once they do makes it inconvenient for the owners/users to retrieve their paid content unless they religiously do backups. So this providing a backup service for your paid content for when your iApple device expires.

    • Steve Hillshire

      I’ve been saying this all along.  Add to that the cost of data once unlimited plans go bye bye and what good is this going to be?  And since Apple is so about the “post-PC” era, you know this isn’t targeted to anything but mobile devices.  So everyone is going to just get raped by the carriers for data overages from Johnny streaming all day *and* pay Apple for the pleasure of dishing out those overages?  If this takes off then there is a lot more iWashed people than expected.  Physiologists get ready for a new field of your career!!!

  • http://twitter.com/ShawnBuckle Shawn Buckle

    What bothers me most is that it’s still a closed ecosystem. I want my music to work across my device and computer regardless what they may be. I understand Apple is trying to provide stickiness, but I can get streaming/downloading music services that work on any device.

  • Booboolala2000

    How Revolutionary? Only to PC or iOS devices? Total fail. Paid Service? LOL. If you have an iOS device or PC, your library is already with you. This has to be a joke.

  • Ricky Cash

    Sorry won’t be putting Itunes on anything.

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