Jump to content

Icloud- please explain to a dummy


Recommended Posts

Did a quick search and didn't see anything on this so thought I would inquire.  I am posting with a preface that there are no dumb questions, though I suppose there are only dumb people, yada yada yada.

Ok, so here's what I want to do;  I have a rather large CD collection I want to burn to a computer and ultimately get to my Itunes account. Can I then send those songs to the Icloud for storage?  I bought the 50GB Apple Icloud plan for .99/mo and feel like that will store all of my music.  After hours trying to save music to the Icloud, I cannot figure out how to store any music to Icloud, though photos are there no problem.  I don't even have the ability pull up Icloud music library on my phone.  The music shows up in itunes, but I really don't want to pay Apple for Itunes Match if I don't have to .  I also don't want to store all the music on my laptop as i believe that will eat up memory, I'd rather store the music on the "cloud".  Am I on the right track, can this even be done?

Once  I get the music stored to the cloud, I'm assuming I can pull up itunes on my phone or any device and be able to recall the entire library, independent of where I burn them (my laptop).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know as much about iTunes and iCloud, but Google Play Music has the feature you're seeking (upload your own music, listen anywhere). Might look into that. Although supposedly they're going to roll it into YouTube eventually and no one knows how that's going to work yet.

You could also roll your own solution to this problem with a NAS and something like Subsonic or (I think) Plex.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the issue here is that you are treating icloud as if it is a separate "service" like Google Drive or Dropbox.  Icloud is the all encompassing Apple cloud storage.  It is accessed, in most cases, via a native mac/ios app like contacts, notes, etc., or in this case, itunes.

I think once you import a song into itunes, then it is stored in icloud and accessed via itunes for streaming on all devices.  There is no separate way to "store it in icloud" as you might upload documents or files to dropbox or google drive.  Despite owning a couple of Macbooks as daily drivers, I loathe itunes.  First thing I do is uninstall it from macos.  I'm not even sure you need to pay for extra storage space to hold music imported into itunes.

Also, I think, as referenced above in connection with "match," that once a song, even a ripped one, is loaded into itunes and backed up into the cloud, Apple is no longer actually storing your mp3/aac/flac file, but playing it from itunes as if you purchased it there.  In other words, it cross-references your uploaded music to songs already available for purchase in itunes and only stores (discretely), the ones that have no match in itunes.  Except when you are offline.

Edited by TwiceHorn
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think your problem is that iCloud isn’t a general purpose file storage option. It’s for Mac and iOS devices to store, backup, and share documents and for housing backup/restore copies of said devices. It’s not built to feed music to iTunes apps.

iTunes Match is what you’re looking for, of you could go off platform and use something like Google Drive.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the issue here is that you are treating icloud as if it is a separate "service" like Google Drive or Dropbox.  Icloud is the all encompassing Apple cloud storage.  It is accessed, in most cases, via a native mac/ios app like contacts, notes, etc., or in this case, itunes.
I think once you import a song into itunes, then it is stored in icloud and accessed via itunes for streaming on all devices.  There is no separate way to "store it in icloud" as you might upload documents or files to dropbox or google drive.  Despite owning a couple of Macbooks as daily drivers, I loathe itunes.  First thing I do is uninstall it from macos.  I'm not even sure you need to pay for extra storage space to hold music imported into itunes.
Also, I think, as referenced above in connection with "match," that once a song, even a ripped one, is loaded into itunes and backed up into the cloud, Apple is no longer actually storing your mp3/aac/flac file, but playing it from itunes as if you purchased it there.  In other words, it cross-references your uploaded music to songs already available for purchase in itunes and only stores (discretely), the ones that have no match in itunes.  Except when you are offline.


I have been ripping cd’s into iTunes for years and I have never seen a way to stream or download those cd’s to my Apple devices. I don’t think you can do this.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

 


I have been ripping cd’s into iTunes for years and I have never seen a way to stream or download those cd’s to my Apple devices. I don’t think you can do this.

You do need a subscription to itunes match (or apple music, or both?).  It's doable.  I may be misstating the ins/outs/whathaveyous, but it allows you to "put in" or "upload" your own music and then stream it from itunes to any of your devices.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I think your best bet to backup/stream your music for free is Google Play Music.  It holds up to 100k songs.  Amazon used to allow you to upload.  No longer I believe.

You're on the right path.  I remember ripping all my cd's 20 years ago and downloading tons of stuff off of Napster, and losing some.  After all that "work" you don't want to lose it.  You may think about getting a usb drive to save a copy of all of that also, I can't remember how it works if you want to download your music back to your pc if you lose it with G P Music if that is possible.  USB thumb drives are so cheap now.  Crazy you can hold 256gb plus on your keychain.

Edited by BNB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, it has been awhile with Itunes, as I don't have an Iphone anymore, but it used to default to ripping CD's apples .aac format instead of .mp3 or flac.  You need to change that to another format like mp3 or use another program for ripping the cd's. https://www.lifewire.com/best-free-cd-rippers-2438494

 

 

Edited by BNB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...