

Apple’s Secret Cloud Strategy And Why Lala Is Critical - dimas
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/19/apples-secret-cloud-strategy-and-why-lala-is-critical/

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crayz
Would Apple actually store individual copies of each song, or would they use
compression at some level so that if two users uploaded an identical MP3 rip
of a song, it would "compress" down to only one copy on their servers?

Would it even be legal to swap one MP3 rip of a song for another(e.g.
"upgrade" everyone to the 320kbps iTunes rip), assuming the source material
was the same?

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physcab
I assume this strategy works because they would be functioning as a Dropbox-
like service where they just supply the hard-drive space in the cloud. Since
space is pretty cheap (and Apple has a ton of cash anyways), it seems like the
perfect glue that can connect all of Apple's offline products.

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awolf
This goes along with the fact that Apple has released a their own draft
standard for a http-based streaming format:

HTTP Live Streaming: [http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-pantos-http-live-
streaming-...](http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-pantos-http-live-streaming-02)

HTTPLS is currently built into Mobile Safari and Sniw Leopard's Quicktime X.

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grinich
From what I saw at WWDC, it's also pretty good about switching bitrates based
on connection speed.

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franticromantic
Would the cloud version of my iTunes library mean that I was effectively
downloaded data each time I played a song? That'll kill me data cap on my
iPhone plan!

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jsz0
Maybe someday. No wireless carrier could withstand millions of iPhones
exclusively streaming content anytime soon. I think it's more likely streaming
would be used only when you didn't have a local copy available. 32GB+ is
probably enough storage for most people to keep the bulk of their collection
local. For people with bigger collections I imagine a smarter syncing
algorithm could reduce the need for streaming. Sync newly added files, don't
bother syncing stuff I haven't listened to recently, sync my most played
songs, etc.

