“Apple has given users a way to sync their purchased music, apps, and books wirelessly. With iCloud, whatever you download on one device–your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or computer–can be set to automatically download on all other devices,” Sharon Vaknin reports for CNET.
“For example, when you purchase a song from iTunes using your computer, it’ll immediately be downloaded onto your iPad also. Or, if you purchase a book on your iPhone, it’ll be downloaded to your computer and your iPad as well,” Vaknin reports. “More iCloud features, including calendar syncing and Photo Stream, will launch in the fall. Until then, you can use the iCloud beta for free to sync your music, apps, and books.”
More info and video the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: We’ve been trying out the betas since they became available to developers (iOS users, you’re going to love Notifications Center! Our MDN app’s push notifications are working very nicely with iOS 5) and the set up for what can be used now boils down to:
1. Enable “automatic downloading” on your iOS devices (Settings > Store)
2. On your Mac, choose the content to share (iTunes > Preferences > Store)
3. Manage and download past purchases and view your iCloud items:
– Mac: iTunes Store > Purchased (in the left sidebar)
– iOS devices:
Music: iTunes > Purchased
iBooks: iBooks > Store > Purchased
Apps: App Store > Purchased (located in Updates on iPhone and iPod touch)
This is going to be a seismic change in the landscape of personal computing and communications. I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it. I’m about to lose control and I just can’t fight it.
I know what you mean quiviran…….i get all mushy inside when I think about my Apple devices…..I’m a little nerdy, but I don’t care. I told my husband that if my iPad or iPhone could hug and kiss….he’d be out of a job.
i agree, my wife said “just point ‘er in the right direction.”
Does anyone know yet about purchased videos? If they can’t be auto-synced presumably due to the file sizes, can we at least re-download episodes individually/manually as much as we want to, meaning I can delete some of the huge complete seasons from my hard drive?
I was also wondering about video. There was a conspicuous absence of any reference to that in the iCloud presentation. Does it get the same iCloud treatment as other media and files? As you say, file sizes make video a difficult proposition. But maybe that could be overcome by setting a size limit (presumably based on duration and file-type restrictions) for each file. Or could videos be stored in the 5 gig space allocated to each user in the cloud?
I love Apple. There are songs and apps that I lost when my computer and iPad got destroyed in a fire. Even though they allowed me to download most of them again. ALL of them are listed on the purchased…..even the songs that I had lost….(even the ones that I ripped)…I know what people say about Big Brother, but in this case it was a true gift to me. Thanks Steve Jobs for your genius and vision. Thanks Mac Daily News for keeping me informed.
Glad you are ok Ruth. Pain in the butt, but iDevices can be replaced…
I think the demise of the PC is being predicted too soon. While mobile devices are getting more powerful and full-featured by the day, they are still far from robust or user-friendly enough to do the really heavy lifting, even in the consumer space. For instance, serious editing of videos and photos, and even intricate document work is still going to need the heavy horsepower and ease of use the venerable desktop/laptop provides.
Most people don’t do serious video or photo editing. They do some light word processing, email and web surfing. For those people, these post PC devices will be more then enough. For the rest of us, the minority, there will still be desktops/laptops. The PC will no longer be dominate, it will be used by a small minority for specialized tasks. Even Steve didn’t say the PC was dying, just that it was being relegated to a specialized niche, like a truck vs a car.
How will it handle space limitations? If my iPad only has 16 gigs of storage but I have more content than that, or I don’t want to max it out just with music, what happens? It’s not a music streaming service as many people had suspected, so the files have to reside on the device itself.
In that situation playlists will limit your songs. Just really like you do now with sync.
The iCloud is a little old place
where we can get together
iCloud baby, iCloud bay-bee.
Love baby, that’s where it’s at,
Ooo love baby, that’s where it’s at
The notification center, which I can’t wait to get.
MANY are speculating that it is lockinfo. Cause it looks exactly like it, and apple has contacted some cydia app makers.
If it is lockinfo, those that have never tried it will love it. It was my last hold out for my reason to jailbreak. Apple has needed this for a long time.
And the android fanbois that whine the notification center is a copy of what they have… It’s not. Lockinfo was around prior to android.
I have seen many jailbreak sites are saying it looks just like lockinfo, and the guy is not responding to questions from them now.
Could be true, or nothing. But it looks exactly what it was for me.
Who the fuck gives a shit what the Android fanboys whine about. If Apple copied Google so what? Big fucking deal. Karma’s a bitch and it’s about time iOS ripped off a large chunk of Android IP.
The bottom line, which is what I care about, is that the new notification system will allow me to see at a glance what upcoming appointments I have for the day/week and other stuff that I missed like calls & SMS. That to me increases the utility of the iPhone which brings greater pleasure which could in the long run convert some of those Android fanboys to the Apple camp.
All in all a good thing. Pissing off the Fandroids is just a feather in the cap.
Oh I’m not siding with them…
They were crying about it Monday, made me laugh.
I know they copied others.
When I watched the keynote the other day, I was happy about all the new stuff. When they showed the notification center I actually stood up and said thank you apple. Loud enough to scare my sleeping dog 😉
Can’t wait till it’s released.
As others have said, I may have to buy into being a developer just to get a legit copy sooner 🙂
I just saw a video interview on tipb of David ashman, the guy that made lockinfo.
The notification center is not lockinfo, but it has almost every feature that lockinfo has. Same drop down shade, 3 fingers instead of lockinfo’s 1 from the clock.
For those that have iOS 5 running, can you turn things like the stock ticker and weather off?
And I assume you can pick which apps notifications show up on the screen?
MDN, thanks, I had turned on the pref in iTunes, but didn’t know where the settings were on my iPhone, I kept looking at iPod!
These settings you mention are on iOS 5 correct?
Cause on 4.3.3 you go to general/store and flip the sliders to on for all 3.
It’s already working for me for apps anyway, once you turn them on.
I picked up a free game on my iPad yesterday, showed up on my iPhone right afterwards.
With apologies to Boublil and Schönberg
There is a castle on icloud,
I like to go there in my sleep,
Aren’t any virus for me to sweep,
Not in my castle on icloud.
There is a room that’s full of toys,
There are a hundred macs and ipads,
Nobody shouts or talks too loud,
Not in my castle on icloud.
I know a place where no one’s lost,
I know a place where no one cries,
Crying at all is not allowed,
Not in my castle on icloud.
I had some old protected 128 kbps songs downloaded from iTunes before the switch to 256 kbps.
When I view my past purchases in iTunes Cloud on my iPhone, I see that some of the songs are available for download, BUT they come down STILL as 128 kbps.
Wasn’t the Cloud meant to provide 256 kbps AAC files?
Maybe it’s not set up just yet?
They’re still respecting the iTunes Plus upgrade terms?
Yeesh.
I doubt that everything is setup yet.
I wouldn’t begin to worry until the fall when lion, iOS 5, and icloud are all officially released.
dmbream – I had the same experience. I had an album that I redownloaded and it was STILL 128 kbps protected. I checked and the album was available in 256 kbps- but offered by TWO different labels. The album in question is Blue Obsession by Michael McDonald. Enough is enough. I went to Amazon and found a cheap used copy. THAT just works.
MDN: you said, “on your Mac, choose the content to share” — does this mean you selectively choose what songs/groups/playlists you want up in the iCloud? So you wouldn’t have to open it up to everything, just the stuff you want up there?
Is there a way to deselect an iOS app that you do not want to have automatically updated? I have an app I like as-is. The app was changed in subsequent versions. I would love automatic app updates, but not for this app. Is deselecting apps possible?
anyone know how icloud handles issues of different storage sizes? I’ve got from 2 to 6 tb of storage on desktops, and 32 gb on one ipad and 16 on the other. So obviously the ipads are only going to have very small subsets of what is on the desktops.
You won’t be enabling automatic downloading, then. You’ll manually pull down the items you want onto you iOS by navigating to a list of purchased items and downloading the ones you want.
——RM
Okay, I nearly went nuts. The order of MDN’s list doesn’t work if you’re using iTunes 10.3.1 and iOS 4.3.3.
First, choose the content to share on your Mac. (This is their step #2.) The automatic download option on your iOS device won’t show up until you do this. Next, if you’re using an iPod touch, make sure Wi-Fi is on (duh). The sliders should appear then, under Settings -> Store.
——RM