Apple and icloud

[Milestones]

Who understand how this works?  So far I don't.  After years of Dells and HPs, I have shifted to Apple.  My wife has used Apple for decades; and she has said that when you have Apple, the icloud is as certain as death and taxes--but in general she does not seem to have a firm grasp of it either.

I have been ripping and downloading a great deal of music.  Some music goes to the cloud.  In fact, it seems like a recent Tom Harrell album went half and half--first 6 tracks a regular download, the last 6 in the cloud.  I also get messages about icloud being full or nearly full.

I don't actively work with icloud in any way, and at least it hasn't created any serious havoc in my recorded music.  But it sure is strange.

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

iCloud is like Microsoft's OneDrive. It's just a backup service. You don't have to use it. In fact, I got my first Apple product a few years ago, an iPhone 12 mini, and after about a month of using it, I started getting notices that my iCloud was nearly full and would I like to pay for additional storage. I looked into it and Apple was backing up my phone nightly and backing up stupid stuff like my text messages, including any pictures or videos. I went to my iCloud and deleted all of that stuff and turned off the backup. I've never heard from them since. I'm not worried if I lose some text messages to be honest and I backup my photos on my phone fairly regularly.

FWIW, on my Window PC, I backup my music on multiple external hard drives (currently using 3) and I'm sure that if I ever did try to use a service like OneDrive or iCloud, it would be very expensive for me. I have hundreds of GBs of music.

[jazzbo]

I have used Apple iMacs and MacBook Pros for over 20 years. I've never connected to the iCloud. Never been an issue for me. I don't store music however, I have about 45 tracks on my "Music" application for some reason. 

Kevin's experience makes me glad that I'm "unconnectd."

[rostasi]

Kinda like Lon, I’ve used Macs for nearly a quarter of a century and have never sent anything to their “cloud.” …and 5GB storage is such a pittance. Music in the car comes from over 250GB loaded on a Touch (and I’m thinking that you can do nearly the same on a cell phone with lots of storage?). A favorite thing for me is to download big Spotify playlists (10,000 tunes) and switch between those and about the same number of tunes from my personal library with them cross-fading with nice segues tune to tune. It’s really the ultimate radio station in the car.

[mjzee]

I've own iMacs and Apple-related items for 20+ years.  I use iCloud mainly for photos (because it's great to have them on all my devices) and various documents I might need in a pinch.  I've found that, nonetheless, I've needed to upgrade to 200 GB of storage for $2.99 a month.  You just have to laugh.

I don't use iCloud for music.  Over the years, I've amassed an impressive number of old iPods, usually because their batteries have worn out.  I keep one with 32 GB in my car.  It holds about 1,000 tracks.  Because it's plugged into the car's USB port, I don't have to worry about the shot battery, and every so often I switch out the music.

Here I want to give a plug for the AudioQuest "Jitterbug FMJ USB Data & Power Noise Filter."  I don't know how the thing works, but it truly makes my car stereo sound better.  It plugs into the car's USB port, and the iPod gets plugged into the Jitterbug.  AudioQuest claims it "reduces jitter and package errors."  Whatever, but it does work.

Getting back to iCloud, don't forget that you can also use Dropbox.  It has great integration with MacOS and iOS.

2 hours ago, Milestones said:

I have been ripping and downloading a great deal of music.  Some music goes to the cloud.  In fact, it seems like a recent Tom Harrell album went half and half--first 6 tracks a regular download, the last 6 in the cloud.

Check Apple Music (aka iTunes) as to where your music's being ripped to.  Go to Music/Settings... /Files and see what it says under "Music Media folder location."  Make sure both "Keep Music Media folder organized" and "Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to library" are checked.

[greggery peccary]

10 hours ago, rostasi said:

Kinda like Lon, I’ve used Macs for nearly a quarter of a century and have never sent anything to their “cloud.” …and 5GB storage is such a pittance. Music in the car comes from over 250GB loaded on a Touch (and I’m thinking that you can do nearly the same on a cell phone with lots of storage?). A favorite thing for me is to download big Spotify playlists (10,000 tunes) and switch between those and about the same number of tunes from my personal library with them cross-fading with nice segues tune to tune. It’s really the ultimate radio station in the car.

I have 512 GB on my iPhone 13 Plus. I have over 20,000 songs on it. Granted I did have to downsample (?) them to 256 from ALAC but most of my listening with my phone happens in the car where the diminished fidelity is not an issue. At home I'm an iPod classic guy. I had one hot-rodded to 1TB of memory and another to 768GB for rock and jazz respectively.

I believe that the 14s now have the option to go 1TB.

I succumbed to Apple's insistence and did purchase the 100GB for $2.99 but reading the comments I'm going to rethink that. In checking most of our family backups are text messages. There are three of us and we don't use the cloud for photos or music. Apple does pretty well. I don't think they will miss my $3 a month.

Edited August 19, 2023 by greggery peccary

[rostasi]

Thanks for AudioQuest info. I have no USB ports in my 23 year old car,
but it could come in handy in a rental - or maybe here at home - not sure,
because I tried using their "Dragonfly" for a while and I remember having
some problems with the sound. I might try again. Anyway, thanks again!

On 8/18/2023 at 2:50 PM, greggery peccary said:

I have 512 GB on my iPhone 13 Plus. I have over 20,000 songs on it. Granted I did have to downsample (?) them to 256 from ALAC but most of my listening with my phone happens in the care where the diminished fidelity is not an issue.

Yes! I can relate. My iPod Touch is a 256GB version. I can store 20,000 tunes total
from either my personal iTunes library or set up two 10,000-tune Spotify playlists
(they only allow 10,000 max per playlist) or any other combination up to a full 20,000 tunes at 320kbps (highest quality on Spotify too for Premium members). Not owning a phone, I didn't know what the storage was on those, so it's good to see you having 512GB!

Edited August 20, 2023 by rostasi

[greggery peccary]

22 hours ago, rostasi said:

Thanks for AudioQuest info. I have no USB ports in my 23 year old car,
but it could come in handy in a rental - or maybe here at home - not sure,
because I tried using their "Dragonfly" for a while and I remember having
some problems with the sound. I might try again. Anyway, thanks again!

Yes! I can relate. My iPod Touch is a 256GB version. I can store 20,000 tunes total
from either my personal iTunes library or set up two 10,000-tune Spotify playlists
(they only allow 10,000 max per playlist) or any other combination up to a full 20,000 tunes
at 320kbps (highest quality on Spotify too for Premium members). Not owning a phone,
I didn't know what the storage was on those, so it's good to see you having 512GB!

"Not owning a phone"...So you're that guy. 🙂

On that note my significant other is one of the presumably few people who still has an AOL email address. "She has mail."

[jazzbo]

Ha, my wife has an AOL account still as well.

[Milestones]

On another note, does anyone know why tracks would play only one at a time on the external hard drive?  That is, once a track ends the next track jumps back to music on the computer itself.

[mjzee]

2 hours ago, Milestones said:

On another note, does anyone know why tracks would play only one at a time on the external hard drive?  That is, once a track ends the next track jumps back to music on the computer itself.

Just make a playlist containing all you want to hear from the EHD.  In iTunes/Music, go to File>New>Playlist, and drag whatever you want to hear into the new playlist, then play that playlist.

Edited August 19, 2023 by mjzee

[jlhoots]

On 8/18/2023 at 9:55 AM, jazzbo said:

I have used Apple iMacs and MacBook Pros for over 20 years. I've never connected to the iCloud. Never been an issue for me. I don't store music however, I have about 45 tracks on my "Music" application for some reason. 

Kevin's experience makes me glad that I'm "unconnectd."

👍

[jcam_44]

If you have Apple Music then what you rip that is not on Apple Music will upload and be available in your library via the iCloud. I think the limit is or was 10,000 albums. 

Edited August 22, 2023 by jcam_44

[Eric]

15 minutes ago, jcam_44 said:

If you have Apple Music then what you rip that is not on Apple Music will upload and be available in your library via the iCloud. I think the limit is or was 10,000 albums. 

Yes, great feature.  I have been a Mac guy since 1984 and through some trial and error, have found Apple Music to be a fantastic solution for my digital music listening.

[rostasi]

After 23 years, my 6-disc changer in the car broke today.
Kinda bummed... especially when I found out that it would cost -
with tax - $9,419.83 for Toyota to replace it - and that's if they
can find another one. They used to work with a company called
"Car Toys" if I decide to get a more reasonable replacement.
It makes me feel like they've had some luck changing them out
on these first gen Prius models. Still, I have a Touch that I can plug in
(after I had a special plug-in connection added to the car over a decade ago).

Edited August 26, 2023 by rostasi

[JSngry]

Stream on your phone!!!!!!!! 

[rostasi]

Well, like I said, I’m using my Touch which works fine
(tho the fidelity isn’t as good as the disc player).
If I had a phone - which is more expensive -
I’d have to do the same thing as the Touch,
so why buy an expensive toy to do the same thing?

(Do phones even have an external line out anymore -
like a headphone jack?)

Edited August 26, 2023 by rostasi

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Back when I was in that position, I found several sellers (read: on-line junkyards) on eBay that offered the part. This was a while ago, but I seem to remember that most of the units had some sort of return policy if it didn't work. The one I bought worked perfectly until the car was totaled a few years later.

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, rostasi said:

 

(Do phones even have an external line out anymore -
like a headphone jack?)

They has the blue teeth. 

[rostasi]

4 hours ago, bresna said:

Back when I was in that position, I found several sellers (read: on-line junkyards) on eBay that offered the part. This was a while ago, but I seem to remember that most of the units had some sort of return policy if it didn't work. The one I bought worked perfectly until the car was totaled a few years later.

That was in my thoughts: that Toyota would probably be getting it that way as well 😉

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

They has the blue teeth. 

Yeah well, of course, that isn't gonna be of any use to me.

Anyway, I'll explore possibilities in a couple of weeks.

[JSngry]

Blue teeth give you negotiating leverage at the junk yards.

Trust me on this one. 

[mjzee]

8 hours ago, rostasi said:

Well, like I said, I’m using my Touch which works fine
(tho the fidelity isn’t as good as the disc player).
If I had a phone - which is more expensive -
I’d have to do the same thing as the Touch,
so why buy an expensive toy to do the same thing?

(Do phones even have an external line out anymore -
like a headphone jack?)

The iPhone has a lightning port, so you'd need a lightning-to-audio-port dongle.  The Touch is probably better than a phone, because if you stop a song in the middle, it'll resume where you left off; a phone makes you restart the song at the beginning (at least that's my experience).  Not sure why your Touch would sound worse than a disc - maybe you're ripping at too low a bit-rate.

 

[rostasi]

1 hour ago, mjzee said:

The iPhone has a lightning port, so you'd need a lightning-to-audio-port dongle.  The Touch is probably better than a phone, because if you stop a song in the middle, it'll resume where you left off; a phone makes you restart the song at the beginning (at least that's my experience).  Not sure why your Touch would sound worse than a disc - maybe you're ripping at too low a bit-rate.

Didn't know about that difference when it comes to stopping songs in the middle.
Actually, I get such great battery life, that at the beginning of my day of driving,
I turn it on shuffle and hide it away, so I can leave the car and come back with it still
playing like a radio when I start the car. Hours later, I get home and it's gone from 100%
to about 90%. The sound I get from the Touch is good, but the tunes are at 320 kbps
... plus, I've got a makeshift plug-in system to listen to it on 89.1 FM radio.

[mjzee]

16 minutes ago, rostasi said:

.. plus, I've got a makeshift plug-in system to listen to it on 89.1 FM radio.

That's your problem; those things don't sound very good.  If that's your only current input option, then streaming won't sound better.

You might want to replace that 6-CD player with a single CD player that could also give you a USB-in option.

For instance, Amazon has this for $89.99, though you'd also have to pay for installation:

[rostasi]

The plug-in extension wasn’t the first choice, but no car stereo place would touch a first-gen Prius. They just didn’t know how to do an installation. I think the size of the space in the dash where the 6-disc is installed coupled with the readout screen in the middle of the dash just threw them for a loop. I wasn’t wanting to replace the CD changer (or even the cassette player that still plays), I just wondered if there was a way to play the “new” iPods in my car back then and the closest idea was to do it thru the radio - finding an unused station - and I’ve been happy with that. Yes, it’s FM radio quality, but that just adds to the “freeform” radio aspect of it that doesn’t happen on actual local radio. In rental cars, yes, I just bluetooth it to the car sound system. I think I remember it starting where it stopped, but, again, the idea of it just always running on its own and joining in is more intriguing to me.

Thanks for the CD player suggestion. I’ll stop by this place that was recommended and see what suggestions they have about modernizing a car made in 2001.