Amazon's Cloud music storage is here..

Then like the RSD threads why are you posting the same tired argument over and over to the point where the things you are saying are just plain wrong and at best silly.

You get off on arguing with people.

 

On my old 30Gb iPad I could install about 2700 or so tracks. It would take maybe 10 days non-stop to listen to it all. If I sync, random playlist from iTunes, every ten days or so, it works just fine. No need for a cloud for me.

 

Then why are you getting off on arguing with me?

Why are we discussing this at all?

The USA Today review by someone who has actually used this service confirms what I postulated from the beginning - that it doesn't actually work at all times and at all places. Maybe one day we will have universal wireless Internet service via WiMax or some other new technology that will allow this to work at all times and at all places just like pushing "play" on a CD player works right now. I don't think we're quite there yet.

Also, the exclusion of this service from iPads and other Apple devices is just the same attempt to create a closed, monopolised ecosystem to charge you more money for music that Apple regularly engages in with its stunts such as excluding Flash from iPhones and iPads and the like. None of these companies are trying to "move us to the cloud" out of the goodness of their hearts. Whenever someone gives you something for free on the Internet, you're paying some kind of price for it.

Sorry I can't join in the techno-utopia self-congratulation on this one.

 

Beautiful property Metralla!

 

Cheers. Thanks for checking it out.

 

No one has said that it does. That's no reason to dislike the service and the progression of technology though.

 

That's the key words here "progression of technology". It's not going away, get use to it.

 

This is a part of the problem. Exactly what is the Big Benefit here? Some kind of look-at-me lifestyle dreamt up by tech developers, shilled to investors looking for quick returns? What portion of the population can afford to Travel In Style so routinely, and how crucial is it really to Have The World At Their Fingertips while they do so? Seems the only people poised to take advantage of this are the aforementioned tech developers and investors.

Let's assume I'm off the mark and that we're all doing great! Traveling frequently! And most everybody has agreed that they want to Access The World and make themselves heard on the Social Network while en route. Now's a good time to Look At Me.

OK, so my objections are laughed away, and a Cloud is proposed and launched. Problem is, the Developer and Investor will necessarily employ the standard Computer Business Model, ie, rush it to market way before the bugs are worked out, oversell it to The Rubes Who Desire The Lifestyle marketed to them, and worry about fixing any bugs later.

It's a security breach just waiting to happen.

But that's OK because the Developer and Investor will make big profits upfront. They'll be off to the Next Big Lifestyle Makeover.

Not directly related, but look at that porn-actors-medical-records-database-security-breach thread elsewhere. It's naive to think nobody is thinking of ways to crack access to places where people are gathered with their assets. And a rushed-to-market service – one whose real benefits are arguable to start with – is a good place to lurk.

(Disclosure: not a Luddite. I like tech advances. When they're of some discernible benefit.)

 

As I noted above, when I travel, I want to get away from my normal routines and do things other than listen to music.

This really is a solution in search of a problem. Someone above noted that this is great for people who don't want to carry a 2TB hard drive with them everywhere they go. So, in order to avoid carrying that 2TB hard drive around, I'll pay Amazon $2,000 a year to host my 2TB "digital media library."

I haven't done the math, but I'm guessing that if did nothing but listen to music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 365 days, I wouldn't finish listening to a 2TB digital media library. There's not enough time in a year to listen to that much music. I'll never get to leave home and go on that trip to Europe, because I'll be too busy listening to my 2TB of music. Never mind the time I'll spend uploading it to Amazon's servers. Ed Baig's review of the service in USA Today noted that it can take hours or days to upload a normal music library to the cloud at normal consumer upload speeds. And that's supposed to be easier for the mythical average consumer than managing their library on their phone? I wonder how long it would take to upload that 2TB digital media library?

For $2,000 a year, I'd rather just install a T1 line in my own home and turn on iTunes file sharing so I can listen to my "digital media library" wherever I am in the wold.

 

Interesting question. Given that you can only get about 1.7TB of data on a 2TB drive, let's say you used FLAC, and each song averaged around 20MB. Rough math works out to something like 85,000 songs (give or take). Assuming each CD has about 20 songs, that's about 4000 CDs. 4000 CDs represent at least 166 days of listening, if you did it without sleeping.

So yeah, you could listen to it all if you never slept, had power, and a roof over your head. Realistically, if you listened a solid 8 hours a day, it'd take you 400 days to listen to it all. (And let's not even talk about how long it'd take to rip the CDs, tweak all the metadata, and get all the files organized and backed up.)

Last time I checked, a T1 like cost about $300 a month, so it'd be a bit more than that. The problem with your idea is that you assume you can broadband anywhere in the world; we're not quite there yet.

I agree with you that Amazon's Cloud isn't practical or economical right now. The idea is there, and eventually they'll get it right.

 

Folks, if you don't like it, don't use it. Simple.

I'm uploading 3 GB of MP3s as we speak. Just to try it out.

You know what it's costing me? NOTHING.

If after I kick the tires on it, I don't like it, I'll stop using it.

 

I was being sarcastic. But you've hit the nail on the head: one of the problems with Amazon's Cloud service is that it assumes that you can get broadband anywhere in the world, and we're not quite there yet.

Even if it cost me $20 a year to store 2TB of digital media on Amazon's servers, there's still the problem, as you noted, that it would take me over a year to listen to all of that digital media. I read some techno-futurist article recently that postulated that we have moved from a manufacturing economy to an information economy, and are now on the verge of moving to an attention economy, meaning that there's not enough time in the day to consume our 500 TV channels, Netflix DVDs, on-demand video, digital media library, music, books, magazines, etc. So what we will be valuable in the future is whatever we actually make the time to pay attention to. I don't need to store 2TB of media in the cloud, I already have more digital media on my phone than I have time to listen to.

 

Having a large music library is about choice, not how long it will take to listen to at once.

Having said that, I don't think I'll be needing 2 TB on the cloud anytime soon.

 

All amazon's virtual machines and storage is .. as far as I know, and I get to use a fair bit of it .. simply password and username (and cookie) accessible. No great problem to break in there. I guess if you want more you have to protect and encrypt it yourself.

This is far from new stuff for Amazon. They're just putting a more friendly interface on it.

 

I'm of similar mind. Maybe just put some CD's on there for free. What's holding me back, though, is that in the terms they mention they can change anything at any time, and use whatever credit card they have on file. I've never bought an MP3 album from them, but that gives you 20GB for free for one year- after which I believe they start charging.

I'm nervous I'm going to miss something, I guess.

 

Wouldn't this be similar to having

"Go to my PC" that is unlimited for $99/year ?

You can access all your files and external harddrives hooked to it right ?

I don't know much about this, but it seems similar.

 

I feel for you, you've obviously never heard music on a good kit. It's emotional....simply glorious.

 

Honestly, it's hard for me to go too long without listening to music. Are you saying you only listen to music on your amazing system at home?

I have music going a lot of the time. I'm able to achieve varying degrees of fidelity depending on where I am.

I even listen to a small, one speaker system in my bedroom on occasion.

 

Yeah me too. You don't need a super duper system to feel the emotion or whatever of music. It can easily be felt. Just depends on how you listen. Some people need that fidelity whereas some can live without.

Eddie

 

I've been using it since it came out. Since I have an Android phone, and WinAmp Android uses the same music database as the Amazon player, I can move music to the 'Droid more quickly. Kind of like what Apple users get when they have iTouch or iPad.
The streaming only works with WiFi, because each song is unique, unlike (say) Pandora.

 

I agree. Thumbs up. +1. Whatever. I like it. Very much like Lala but it wasn't bought by Apple and put out business.

Unfortunately I had to buy a Nickelback album download AND listen to TWICE it to get the 20 GB quota. Happy felicitations of the day.

 

Not quite. Go To My PC lets you literally use, control your PC from a remote place. Thing is, it cost money, and I use a program that lets you do the same thing for free. Obviously, Go To My PC caters to the user who doesn't have such knowledge of these free programs. It's like those who continue to buy their antivirus when there are good free ones that do the same things.

 

Many of us have our computers as part of our main music rigs by wired or wireless means, and some of us have powered speakers or amps that you use with your laptop or via wireless connection. We can stream high-quality sound.

The days of keeping your computer and your music separate are gone. The convergence has already happened. I'd say that if you aren't doing this, you are behind the times. Go online. Go to the store. There are products everywhere, hi-end and mid-fi, that sell ways to stream everything wirelessly.

The world has changed right under your nose. You can stream your lossless, hi-rez sound from your computer or server to your big-rig.

 

I might put some of my favorite music on it to have available to play at locations away from home (a friend's house for example). I do buy a few downloads from Amazon so I won't be paying for it.
For general use I don't see it. Yet....

 

http://corp.orb.com/
its free > install on your music/video server > enjoy your music/videos anywhere.

$1000 to backup 1TB is crazy talk.