Icloud- please explain to a dummy

[jdhorn92 1558]

Did a quick search and didn't see anything on this so thought I would inquire.  I am posting with a preface that there are no dumb questions, though I suppose there are only dumb people, yada yada yada.

Ok, so here's what I want to do;  I have a rather large CD collection I want to burn to a computer and ultimately get to my Itunes account. Can I then send those songs to the Icloud for storage?  I bought the 50GB Apple Icloud plan for .99/mo and feel like that will store all of my music.  After hours trying to save music to the Icloud, I cannot figure out how to store any music to Icloud, though photos are there no problem.  I don't even have the ability pull up Icloud music library on my phone.  The music shows up in itunes, but I really don't want to pay Apple for Itunes Match if I don't have to .  I also don't want to store all the music on my laptop as i believe that will eat up memory, I'd rather store the music on the "cloud".  Am I on the right track, can this even be done?

Once  I get the music stored to the cloud, I'm assuming I can pull up itunes on my phone or any device and be able to recall the entire library, independent of where I burn them (my laptop).

[Jkwellborn 6741]

Do you have grandkids over the age of 8? Have them show you.

[jdhorn92 1558]

Just now, Jkwellborn said:

Do you have grandkids over the age of 8? Have them show you.

ha! I do, but they don't even know what a cd is.

[tokamak 6441]

I don't know as much about iTunes and iCloud, but Google Play Music has the feature you're seeking (upload your own music, listen anywhere). Might look into that. Although supposedly they're going to roll it into YouTube eventually and no one knows how that's going to work yet.

You could also roll your own solution to this problem with a NAS and something like Subsonic or (I think) Plex.

[Jkwellborn 6741]

It’s not hard to transfer the music to iTunes. It’s been a while since I’ve done that, but I think after you open iTunes with a disc in the player, there’s an option to rip it.

[jdhorn92 1558]

I am burning no problem, I just want to store them on the cloud vs my laptop.  I would prefer to send them to the cloud once they are in Itunes, and not keep the file on the computer or an external drive.

[George 493]

See if iTunes Match is what you want. If that’s still a thing. 

[Jkwellborn 6741]

If you can get them to iTunes, you can make it back up to the cloud.

[TwiceHorn 31536]

I think the issue here is that you are treating icloud as if it is a separate "service" like Google Drive or Dropbox.  Icloud is the all encompassing Apple cloud storage.  It is accessed, in most cases, via a native mac/ios app like contacts, notes, etc., or in this case, itunes.

I think once you import a song into itunes, then it is stored in icloud and accessed via itunes for streaming on all devices.  There is no separate way to "store it in icloud" as you might upload documents or files to dropbox or google drive.  Despite owning a couple of Macbooks as daily drivers, I loathe itunes.  First thing I do is uninstall it from macos.  I'm not even sure you need to pay for extra storage space to hold music imported into itunes.

Also, I think, as referenced above in connection with "match," that once a song, even a ripped one, is loaded into itunes and backed up into the cloud, Apple is no longer actually storing your mp3/aac/flac file, but playing it from itunes as if you purchased it there.  In other words, it cross-references your uploaded music to songs already available for purchase in itunes and only stores (discretely), the ones that have no match in itunes.  Except when you are offline.

Edited August 28, 2018 by TwiceHorn

[VolenteHawk 495]

I think your problem is that iCloud isn’t a general purpose file storage option. It’s for Mac and iOS devices to store, backup, and share documents and for housing backup/restore copies of said devices. It’s not built to feed music to iTunes apps.

iTunes Match is what you’re looking for, of you could go off platform and use something like Google Drive.

 

[Dbeasy 15092]

I think the issue here is that you are treating icloud as if it is a separate "service" like Google Drive or Dropbox.  Icloud is the all encompassing Apple cloud storage.  It is accessed, in most cases, via a native mac/ios app like contacts, notes, etc., or in this case, itunes.
I think once you import a song into itunes, then it is stored in icloud and accessed via itunes for streaming on all devices.  There is no separate way to "store it in icloud" as you might upload documents or files to dropbox or google drive.  Despite owning a couple of Macbooks as daily drivers, I loathe itunes.  First thing I do is uninstall it from macos.  I'm not even sure you need to pay for extra storage space to hold music imported into itunes.
Also, I think, as referenced above in connection with "match," that once a song, even a ripped one, is loaded into itunes and backed up into the cloud, Apple is no longer actually storing your mp3/aac/flac file, but playing it from itunes as if you purchased it there.  In other words, it cross-references your uploaded music to songs already available for purchase in itunes and only stores (discretely), the ones that have no match in itunes.  Except when you are offline.

I have been ripping cd’s into iTunes for years and I have never seen a way to stream or download those cd’s to my Apple devices. I don’t think you can do this.

[jdhorn92 1558]

Thanks all!  I think I was assuming cloud would do something it’s not intedend to do. Sounds like I don’t need the 50gb , i simply need to burn to iTunes , then log in to iTunes to stream to speakers, sound bar etc.. 

[TwiceHorn 31536]

59 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

 

I have been ripping cd’s into iTunes for years and I have never seen a way to stream or download those cd’s to my Apple devices. I don’t think you can do this.

You do need a subscription to itunes match (or apple music, or both?).  It's doable.  I may be misstating the ins/outs/whathaveyous, but it allows you to "put in" or "upload" your own music and then stream it from itunes to any of your devices.

[Dbeasy 15092]

Ah got it. You’re right. I never knew about iTunes Match and didn’t want Apple Music because I already have Spotify. Good to know. Spotify doesn’t allow for uploading your own library.

[52-80 19246]

Google Music.  upload your shit.  access it on the web from anywhere on any device.  

[Jkwellborn 6741]

Does amazon have something like that with prime?

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

18 minutes ago, Jkwellborn said:

Does amazon have something like that with prime?

Amazon music, can't upload your own music, and a smaller library, but still pretty good. I prefer Apple Music though. 

[BNB 100]

Yeah, I think your best bet to backup/stream your music for free is Google Play Music.  It holds up to 100k songs.  Amazon used to allow you to upload.  No longer I believe.

You're on the right path.  I remember ripping all my cd's 20 years ago and downloading tons of stuff off of Napster, and losing some.  After all that "work" you don't want to lose it.  You may think about getting a usb drive to save a copy of all of that also, I can't remember how it works if you want to download your music back to your pc if you lose it with G P Music if that is possible.  USB thumb drives are so cheap now.  Crazy you can hold 256gb plus on your keychain.

Edited August 28, 2018 by BNB

[BNB 100]

damn edit timer.   

 

There are various sync programs you can download for your pc to sync you music dir and other stuff to your usb drive regularly.  

[BNB 100]

Also, it has been awhile with Itunes, as I don't have an Iphone anymore, but it used to default to ripping CD's apples .aac format instead of .mp3 or flac.  You need to change that to another format like mp3 or use another program for ripping the cd's. https://www.lifewire.com/best-free-cd-rippers-2438494

 

 

Edited August 28, 2018 by BNB

[Dbeasy 15092]

I actually rip my cd’s to wav format to maintain full integrity of the file. It’s definitely over the top but it makes me feel better.

[Elvis 3374]

I tried Google Music today at the gym and the workout stations were really good.  I can probably drop Pandora$.