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Cloud-based iTunes will be "modest in scope"

by Mike Schramm Aug 3rd 2010 at 4:30PM

We've heard a lot of rumors about a cloud-based iTunes service, and apparently Apple is working on exactly that, but the company has reportedly told a few music label executives that any service that debuts will be only "modest in scope." CNET says that Apple's strategy isn't exactly clear -- apparently Apple doesn't have the agreements it needs with music companies to actually distribute music from the cloud, but Apple has instead put streaming service Lala (which it acquired late last year) to work on video streaming, not music. Of course, this is all second- and third-hand, and Apple has yet to officially comment on the matter, but it sounds like Apple is working on something more like YouTube or Hulu than a music streaming service. The cloud-based deal would consist of "digital shelves," where users could store videos or other media, rather than a full music library.

Interesting. There's no question that a cloud-based music database would be extremely popular, and indeed Google is already working on just that, supposedly. Engadget notes that the iPhone 4 launched with the same memory capacities as the 3GS -- perhaps memory isn't such an issue when you can store your movies in the cloud? It seems like Apple's past relationships with the record companies are making the road a little bumpy, so the first official word we see of the iTunes cloud may have nothing to do with distributed music whatsoever.

[via TheMacObserver]

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We've heard a lot of rumors about a cloud-based iTunes service, and apparently Apple is working on exactly that, but the company has...
 

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Brett

I don't really care for this... if I've got media on the cloud, I'm going to want access to it whenever I get the urge. With 2GB caps on AT&T, I'll be limited to wifi only use of an iCloud.

August 04 2010 at 5:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Justin Kohler

Personally, I think a cloud based video service would be much better than a cloud based music serivice. Video files don't take up that much space, unless you have a lot of them. Let's say you want a collection of movies akin to your collection of DVD's. Or you want the entire first second and third seasons of The Office. That's a lot of space that could be saved by moving the files to the cloud instead of your hard drive.

August 04 2010 at 11:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Justin Kohler's comment
Charli

i think you meant to say that music doesn't take up a lot of space. Not video. And you are correct. Plus a lot of folks don't really care about having the movies etc. just access to them. Which is why places like Hulu and Netflix work. So a streaming video system could fit the bill, if the price is right

August 04 2010 at 12:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Christopher Hollomon

All I really want, and ever wanted was my music stored in the cloud, so I don't have to buy external harddrives on my computer to keep up with my collection,, then it would be nice to sync some music to my player, but be able to change up my playlist over wifi if I wanted,, that way I could still listen without having to be on line all the time. and I think the need to do the same with photos and video, I Think apple needs to team up with smugmug and get some of their service like direct video to cloud and photo to cloud gallerias going. All the while only syncing back what i want.

August 03 2010 at 11:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dan Woods

This may result in reduced piracy and more Copy-Controlled content.
iTunes is my preferred music store simply because the content supports "Transfer Purchases" from my iDevices.
This may be the equivalent feature to drive iTunes Store sales of Video Content; Stream anywhere!

You can fit an awful lot of Music on a 32GB iDevice. You can fit only a handful of Videos.

August 03 2010 at 9:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jason

Storage/Disk Space. Not memory.

Big difference.

August 03 2010 at 9:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
teegee

The use of "memory" in this article is pretty confusing. The iPhone 4 has more memory (ram), but the same amount of storage space. A lot of people either have the terms mixed up or don't know any better, but memory =/= hard drive space.

August 03 2010 at 8:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to teegee's comment
Jason

If I could delete my comment, I would. Thanks for elaborating better than I could :).

To expand on this, the 4 shipped with MORE memory than the 3GS, same /storage/ (or) /disk/ capacity.

August 03 2010 at 9:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
alisha.bell

Nice picture! It looks so familiar. What website did you get it from?

August 03 2010 at 4:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jadam

It would be pretty interesting if they finally dropped the CD from the iTunes logo and replaced it with a cloud. For that matter, they need to come up with a new name for the app, since iTunes does a lot more than manage music these days (movies, TV shows, audiobooks, eBooks, PDFs, iOS apps, ringtones, etc.)

What would you call it if not iTunes? iStuff perhaps?

August 03 2010 at 4:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to jadam's comment
Charli

iMedia sounds about right to me.

As for the rest, I suspect they are working on both music and video. Something that would allow for streaming via their own library.

Possibles
a lala.com like system but only with what you bought via itunes and perhaps a 'streaming only' cheaper buy like lala.com. with lala's genius like features, social media type 'following' and one full preview play with 'mix it up' perhaps all added as ways to promote buys

movie rentals no longer download but stream. perhaps even allowing for longer playtimes within the rental period. such as a system that allows you to have 10 movies queued at a time but you can play them as much as you want within the period. Or unlimited titles queued (or at least a higher limit) but rental is unlimited playback for one week from time of rental

tv show rentals, also streaming, perhaps on a monthly plan. Many folks are not happy that this hulu plus has ads, they would rather pay twice as much to drop them. Apple could snag that group easy with a $10, $15 or $20 a month system. Perhaps even put limits on how many titles you can have at a time, scaled for how much you want to pay.

and so on

August 04 2010 at 12:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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