crapple whycloud

[bryantm3]

i think the apple service is, of course, a rip off, because you have to pay $20 a year to listen to music you've already bought.

but here's the whole point of the cloud:

-for the most part, everyone has basically the same versions of tracks on their iTunes... if they have "Underworld — Kittens — Beaucoup Fish (1998)", you've got like a million different mp3 copies of the same track floating around out there. hard drive space is limited. so the cloud was developed so you can have one copy of the song in a hard drive somewhere and everyone can access it, freeing up hard drive space for everyone and not having to worry about the file being lost or corrupted if you transfer the disc wrong, lose the CD, your computer gets dropped in a pitcher of beer, etc. in addition, when higher internet speeds become available, they'll switch to a lossless version of the track, and nobody will have to download anything— it'll just automatically be in your library.

the same thing goes for all cloud computing in general— all applications, etc. will be hosted on remote servers, and you'll never have to download another update, because they'll just update the application on that one server and everyone automatically gets it. the only thing that stays on your computer are the personal files you make with the applications.

the reason this is just coming out now is because we actually have internet speeds high enough to pull it off. they've been thinking about it since the internet got going in the mid 90s.

the only downsides are this: first, if your internet goes out you're screwed. second, privacy rights. you don't have any choice in whether to update or not, so using an older version is out, and also and you're kind of at the whims of the cloud when it comes to whether they want to copy down those files you're making with those applications, your keystrokes, etc. the privacy issue is kind of scary and i'm curious to see how and if they're going to pull this off without taking everyone's privacy and tossing it out the window.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i think the apple service is, of course, a rip off, because you have to pay $20 a year to listen to music you've already bought.

No, you don't have to pay anything to listen to music. What you pay for is the service of iTunes matching the songs you have ripped or downloaded (legally or otherwise) and matching it in 256AAC, so you can access it with any of your Apple devices. If you have purchased songs in iTunes, then they are matched for free.

Originally Posted by bryantm3

the privacy issue is kind of scary and i'm curious to see how and if they're going to pull this off without taking everyone's privacy and tossing it out the window.

Eh? If you want to remain private, stay off the internet. I guess that's another topic, along with "Facebook keeps showing people my pictures of me that i post in the public domain".

[bas_I_am]

You dont need to explain to me what the cloud is.

The point is, if you need a cloud to stream your entire music library to yourself, you are too stupid to own a computer.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

the only downsides are this: first, if your internet goes out you're screwed. second, privacy rights. you don't have any choice in whether to update or not, so using an older version is out, and also and you're kind of at the whims of the cloud when it comes to whether they want to copy down those files you're making with those applications, your keystrokes, etc. the privacy issue is kind of scary and i'm curious to see how and if they're going to pull this off without taking everyone's privacy and tossing it out the window.

Yeah, it's the privacy side of it that has me absolutely uninterested in utilizing this service. I want my stuff on my computer - not sitting on the hard drive of some mega-corporation. That's a huge deal in my opinion.

[Deckard]

Yeah I'm inclined to agree with that. Obviously I see the benefits of cloud computing in general. But relying on an internet connection is quite a mental leap from knowing I can access XYZ, regardless of whether I'm online or offline - not just music, but docs, images, videos, applications, whatever. I saw a demo of Google's chromebook yesterday and the same thing struck me then. With no internet.......

But I'm willing to bet we're on the wrong side of history on this one. People may eventually just assume the internet is always available to them, and attitudes to privacy appear to be changing too with a clear generational gap opening up.

I wonder if the idea of local file storage will one day become a distant memory?

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Deckard

I wonder if the idea of local file storage will one day become a distant memory?

My guess is no, it won't. Take where I work for example. We make animated films, which means security is a huge concern. That security is fundamentally achieved through storing everything on our massive, internal servers. I can't imagine any internet-based storage system that would be as hack-proof as a simple offline storage system, and no studio I know of will be willing to switch until they are. And as long as businesses need secure offline storage, there will likely be a personal market for it as well. But really, who the hell knows what the future holds?

[Strangelet]

my take is the cloud as a personal storage solution won't be viable until one is comfortable to upload dirty pictures of their gf/wife/husband/bf. Until that happens its merely a cleaner solution to megaupload.com

[Deckard]

Introducing the Apple iCandy®.

Cumming this fall.