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“Facts are great when we can agree on them?” What kind of nonsense is that? Facts would be things that are objectively true whether or not you agree with them, or are even aware of them.

As ‘Think’ (and many others) succinctly and sardonically pointed out, you didn’t even attempt to answer the question vis-a-vis networked resources being inherently less reliable and more resource intensive (time, battery life etc.) than locally-connected or onboard ones and you instead spiralled off into a completely uncalled for holier-than-thou about being thieves and/or switching the device off instead to appreciate the great outdoors? I’m really bemused.

But to directly answer your supposed original question (which really appeared as more of a footnote in your latest comment than properly articulated in your original post):
YES! Of COURSE there’s a need for more storage space.
There’s ALWAYS a need for more storage space.
How long have you been interacting with computers? Unless you’re brand-new, I simply cannot believe that you have no firsthand experience with the maxim “data expands to fill the available space”. Remember when [insertStorageTechnology] only held 1.44/640/4.7/16[insertOrderOfMagnitude]bytes?

These devices come with combo still/video cameras onboard, don’t they?
These devices have microphones and line-in, don’t they?
These two avenues alone (and there are many many others) to creation of user content – CREATION rather than acquisition, which you additionally recklessly characterized as “likely undeserved”, ignoring the existence of a myriad of totally legitimate sources of storage-eating media – mean there is simply no limit to the desire for onboard storage: none!

Furthermore this is just about the first time in computing history (certainly in living memory) that the latest and greatest storage technology is requiring us to make a compromise, rather than being conclusively better in every way.
Solid State is clearly the next step for many excellent reasons, particularly for mobile devices, yet it’s a far more expensive per-byte than more mature competing technologies.
I mean, the spinning-platter-based iPod Classic still has more space and that poor thing has virtually been on death’s door as a product for years.

It will take a few years yet for this situation to stabilize back into true forward growth, but right now we’re still playing catch-up to older tech in this one specific regard and so in the meantime we are all struggling with compromises and less-than-ideal workarounds – just like iCloud’s “sliding window” into a user’s full data set.

It is not the desire but real-world practical realities (You know: those pesky facts which you need us to Kumbaya over first?) that limit what we can actually afford to carry with us in terms of monetary cost, physical size, battery life or reliability, and when these are overcome as has been the case in this new iPad, I have no reason to doubt that the market will snap it up.

And finally: You keep yammering on with your off-point, sickly-sweet tourism-ad copy, *and* have the gall to call *us* marshmallow eaters? And even worse, you’re the one who opened up this line of discussion in the first place. Call me crazy but I suspect this is likely what ‘Think’ was reacting to – however crudely articulated – when informing you of the noxious gases you yourself are expelling. By not being able to even follow a coherent, focused and factual line of reasoning and discussion beyond the length of a single MDN comment box without resorting to moving the goalposts, bizarrely off-topic holier-than-thou missives and sarcastic mock humbleness (which really is starting to sound like the Troll Handbook, Chapter 1), I would say that you, sir, are the marshmallow.

I’m not going to argue that it doesn’t happen, but you are implying that someone having a large collection is evidence of piracy which is pure bunk.

That’s as stupid as saying the existence of bacon proves there are no vegetarians.

On a broader scale, Cloud-based solutions, because of their potential for sporadic availability, just cannot be relied upon for critical applications. Sometimes it’s better to have your data local than have it when you need it. All data is not music tracks.

As for your well-described storage solution, I passed it along to my sister who is very bargain-minded, and unafraid of tech. Thanks.

A single exception would’ve proven your statement wrong, and you were given several. Moving the goalposts by saying “well, people shouldn’t be using their devices in [situation X] anyway!” is admitting defeat.

LTE where I am is about 25 Mbps or 3.1 MB/s. Even dirt-cheap Class 4 SD cards are faster, with a “minimum guaranteed” 4 MB/s read/write speed.

Actual speed will depend on the read/writer of course, but that applies to the wireless antenna, too (don’t forget to include network conditions as an additional variable).

Nice how you didn’t comment on the other locations or how much data all this streaming eats up.

Nice factual reply there.

It is likely that the huge music collection you have was mostly obtained ‘free’ and is not deserved also. Used Napster a lot? How about Pirate Bay?

Extra memory is a terrific advantage for some of us.

Next, let’s watch 3 movies in a row streamed from iCloud, how much data did that just use on your plan?

Summer time, out camping, no wifi, no cell coverage but we might want music or a movie for the evening.

I’ve been in many building that weaken or block cell phone signals. Sorry, we won’t allow that device on our wifi. So now what?

Been to a few houses that have crap cell phone coverage, and no, not everyone has wifi in their house yet.

I dropped off my car this morning.

I like the Beatles, but I don’t listen to them ’cause they(or John Ringo and Oko) don’t want me to do it the way I want–Spotify—so I don’t–so there.

Oh yeah, two excedrine knocked that aneurysm right out. I can’t see outta my left eye now but My head don’t hurt no more.

Go wank in peace.

Only in the Surface world would advertised and usable be an issue.