[pnw72]

Hi.

I've never used iCloud as the free 5GB on offer is woefully inadequate.

I also don't use iTunes for my music or photos.

How does the subscription work?

If I get the 200GB subscription & I download all my photos & music to iTunes, will I always be able to access them from my iPhone/iPad, if I have an Internet connection, or is it purely a backup & inaccessible?

Thank you

[Stig]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pnw72

Hi.

I've never used iCloud as the free 5GB on offer is woefully inadequate.

I also don't use iTunes for my music or photos.

How does the subscription work?

If I get the 200GB subscription & I download all my photos & music to iTunes, will I always be able to access them from my iPhone/iPad, if I have an Internet connection, or is it purely a backup & inaccessible?

Thank you

Yes, certainly for music, you can access any songs stored in iCloud over an internet connection.

You say the 5GB is "woefully inadequate" but it is free and you could just try it first before uploading all your content.

[DevonBloke]

iTunes is essentially separate to iCloud.
Music books and apps don't need to be uploaded to iCloud.

They are simply available to download when you log into that particular account on any iOS device. In fact with music you don't even need to actually have it physically on the device any more as the tracks will now stream as long as you have a connection (not appropriate for all situations I realise).
Apple keeps a record of everything you've downloaded/purchased since the beginning of time so it doesn't need to be backed up.

The only thing that needs backing up is pictures, videos, phone settings and app contents.
For phone settings and app contents the 5GB is normally plenty. it's the pictures and vids that are the problem.

I actually use a different service (with 512GB cloud storage) to back up my pics and vids. In that way the 5GB of free iCloud is great for backing up the rest.
But with 200GB you should be fine for everything.

Accessing them can be a bit more tricky on another device.
The photo stream automatically syncs some of them but not the whole photo gallery.
For this you could use iCloud Drive. In your case a bit like having a 200GB dropbox!

[IslandNiles]

^

You can use iCloud Photo Library now, which uploads every photo and video you take so that they're available on all your devices and on iCloud.com.

[pnw72]

So is there a way of just downloading music & pics to iCloud, without using iTunes at all?

I've actually downloaded very little from iTunes. Most of it is ripped.

Thank you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DevonBloke

iTunes is essentially separate to iCloud.
Music books and apps don't need to be uploaded to iCloud.

They are simply available to download when you log into that particular account on any iOS device. In fact with music you don't even need to actually have it physically on the device any more as the tracks will now stream as long as you have a connection (not appropriate for all situations I realise).
Apple keeps a record of everything you've downloaded/purchased since the beginning of time so it doesn't need to be backed up.

The only thing that needs backing up is pictures, videos, phone settings and app contents.
For phone settings and app contents the 5GB is normally plenty. it's the pictures and vids that are the problem.

I actually use a different service (with 512GB cloud storage) to back up my pics and vids. In that way the 5GB of free iCloud is great for backing up the rest.
But with 200GB you should be fine for everything.

Accessing them can be a bit more tricky on another device.
The photo stream automatically syncs some of them but not the whole photo gallery.
For this you could use iCloud Drive. In your case a bit like having a 200GB dropbox!

[grumpyoldbat]

You could just upload all your music to Google Play Music and then use the Google Play app on iOS to stream music on your device. The only thing is I don't think you can download from it on iOS.

[ConnorL9382]

If you want your ripped music in your iCloud account, you can pay for iTunes Match, allows you to upload/match 25,000 songs, they are then available to download or stream from your iOS devices or anything with iTunes installed on (PC/Laptop...)

iTunes Match : https://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/itunes-match/

£21.99 a year