Image by Getty Images via @daylifeSo Apple finally unleashed the iCloud today, and as many had feared, unlike similar offerings from Amazon and Google, their whiz-bang service ONLY works with Apple devices. So those of us rocking an Android phone or (heaven forbid) a Windows phone or PC are out of luck.Check out this graphic from the Apple iCloud site.
There’s iCloud. And then there’s everything else.
If music is your thing and you have the collection to prove it, iCloud with iTunes Match is the easiest, most affordable way to store and access all your music.
| Apple | Amazon | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Library in the cloud | Scan and Match3 (minutes) | Upload4 (weeks) | Upload4 (weeks) |
| Music app for Mac and PC | iTunes | Web | Web |
| Upgrade to 256-Kbps AAC5 |  | ||
| Annual price for 5,000 songs | $24.99 | $50.00 | $??? |
| Annual price for 20,000 songs | $24.99 | $200.00 | $??? |
FULL DISCLOSURE; I am a paying customer for the Amazon Cloud Drive and am beta testing the Google Music beta. I'm not getting compensated for either. But I'm also not an iOS user, with my only Apple device being an iPod Nano. That means I can't use iCloud or iOS5.
I think Amazon's pricing is fair. I do wonder what Google will charge for their service, but since I carry an Android phone by HTC (no compensation) I'm probably going tostart paying for Google Music when it's time. Mainly because it will probably work best with my phone, although right now I prefer the Amazon Cloud Player because it has a decent equalizer.
So if you're Google, what are you thinking about the pricing of your music service now? Apple is putting theirs out free, with the handy iTunes Match service (which I would pay for if I had a compatible device) for $25 a year. Does Google undercut Apple and make their service cheaper or somehow better, like linked to Spotify? I'm guessing they're thinking hard in Mountain View right now.
This is going to get interesting, and it proves that the future is in the cloud.
