A new type of cloud is hanging over San Francisco. We’re talking about the iCloud, the latest rollout from tech giant Apple. It is a new service that will allow iTunes users to store their music collection online and then have easy access to it from their iPhones, iPods, iPads and computers.
iCloud may be Apple’s new service but the idea of uploading music into a “cloud” (more on that word in a moment) is not new. Google and Amazon have a similar service – and another program called Dropbox is based on the same idea of uploading and accessing documents online.
It is an important tech story to talk about since more “cloud” providers are popping up.
Where and what is the cloud?
Think about the “cloud” as the internet or more specifically, a section of the internet universe. It is a place where all of the files we upload to the net live. The idea is we send our music, pictures, videos and documents to a cloud provider – they host the storage space where your files are stored – and when we need to get them, we can do it from any internet connected computer or with some devices. It is kind of like an online flash drive.
When you think about it, the idea makes sense. Storing music files on one computer does no good when you need them somewhere else. It does me no good having all of my music files on my desktop in the United States when I’m here in South Korea. Had I placed all of these files into the cloud, I could easily re-download them to another computer or device when I got here.
Of course there are things like flash drives, external hard drives and other physical devices we can carry. But sometimes those things can get lost, break or not always work in another computer. The idea behind a cloud is all of the files are safely stored online, ready when you need them – and can be accessed from mobile devices.
iCloud: above the rest of the clouds
iCloud, set to launch this fall, will work like this: music, video and picture files – as well e-mails and calendar appointments on iPods, iPhones and iPads will regularly be backed up to the cloud. Automatically. After which, that same content will be downloaded and pushed to other Apple devices and the computer you use.
Everyone will get 5GB of free space in the cloud. Books, songs and apps you buy in iTunes will not count against this space. And it will even hold the latest 1,000 pictures taken with Apple device.
iMatch: the big bonus
Finally, here’s something cool that will roll out this fall with iCloud: a new service called iTunes Match. It will take the songs you already have in your music collection and crosscheck it with the iTunes Music Store. Then, it will make the matching songs available in the store, accessible your devices. The good deal is you won’t have to take the time to upload all of your songs to a cloud – just the ones not available in the iTunes store. The sound quality is also pretty superior too. The service won’t be free but at $25 a year, it is a pretty good deal.
Room for other players, too
Apple isn’t the only one in the cloud storage business. Amazon offers 5GB of free music storage as well as paid options for more space. Files are managed through the internet or via Amazon’s special program . You will then be able to download the application on other computers, sign into the library and listen to music that way. You can also get in from a web browser. For mobile access, they point to their Android application but no mention of one on the Apple platform.
And Google may have something in the works – but for now it’s pretty plain and simple. Music Beta is a by invitation only service right now. Wired’s review of the service points out some interesting features, including the storage space, which is about 100GB. That’s room for 20,000 songs and is about 20x larger than Amazon. No word yet though on whether that’s free. Wired points out it’s easy to sync with iTunes as well. There is Android app available too but it is not packed full of features. It looks like Music Beta is after all, a beta program. We refer to “beta” as something that is in testing.
And there is plenty of time to work on it, remember iCloud doesn’t roll out until the fall. We’ve requested an invitation and hope to get a closer look at in the near future.
And finally, there is Dropbox. This is my favorite so far and the service is up and active. This cloud storage will allow you to upload and access files of all varities. You can use cloud manager on their website, download the computer program or manage files on a mobile device. It works on Blackberry, Android and Apple.
I like it because it’s very easy to upload and download files from all platforms. Their computer programs set up a Dropbox drive on your computer, so it is like having a flash drive with your cloud files always available. The look is clean and it’s easy to use.
Signing up will get you 2 free gigs of space – not a whole lot – but you can earn more by completing their training and referring friends. If you want a lot more, there is a 50GB plan for $10 a month and 100 GBfor $20. Frankly, it is great for storing low size music files, documents and camera phone pics. If you use it for those purposes, you can probably get by just fine on the free plan.
Finally, we want to know if you are into cloud storage. Do you store your files online and access them from multiple devices? Let us know in the poll.