The Devil Which Could Kill iCloud

As the official announcement of Apple’s iCloud service dies down, attention turns to how much data each of us will actually get and at what price. Unfortunately, answers to these questions aren’t necessarily Apple’s to make. iCloud, Data Storage Limits Apple’s new cloud-based service, which will be unveiled on Monday at WWDC, will allow users to store music on remote servers. Thereafter, these music files will be accessible from a PC/Mac or iDevice. Beyond that, we know little about the service. Specifically, the amount of storage space available. Most likely, iCloud will come with a base package that includes a minimal amount of data storage. Plus, like Amazon’s new Cloud Drive, new iTunes music purchases probably won’t add to our iCloud data storage limits. From there, iCloud will most likely include tiered packages. In other words, the more you pay, the more data storage possible. Streaming Limits Yet, the amount of data storage made available by Apple says nothing about a user’s bandwidth usage. The days of unlimited bandwidth packages are no more. Meaning, even though Apple may charge a reasonable amount for the amount of data one can store on their servers, it could still cost quite a lot to upload and stream those files. 3G Currently, AT&T and Verizon customers have only 2GB of data per month to play with before extra charges kick in. Our friends at Cult of Mac examined the numbers and determined 2GB doesn’t give you much. They reviewed music streaming at Radio, 3G and CD quality and determined the following:

Here’s how many hours of music streaming you can do on a 2GB data plan. 96kbps (Radio Quality) — 45.76 hours of streaming per month 160kbps (3G Quality) — 27.52 hours of streaming per month 320kbps (CD Quality) — 13.79 hours of streaming per month

Their conclusion:

On a standard 2GB plan, you will be able to listen to just over 65 minutes of medium quality music stored in the iCloud each day over 3G before hitting your data cap… and that’s without using any data for anything else!

While 65 minutes per day might be fine for some users, it isn’t exactly a large number. Wi-Fi I know what you are thinking: Most users will stream via a Wi-Fi, and not 3G, connection. Although this is correct, some ISP providers are also adding monthly GB limits on their Wi-Fi plans. For example, many providers are defining peak and non-peak hours, and restricting the amount of data available for use during the most popular times. Go over the limit and the ISP may charge extra or force you to purchase a larger data plan. While ISP limits might have little affect on music streaming, videos would naturally be another story. After all, movie files are huge by comparison. Of course, this assumes iCloud will include a movie and/or TV show service as well, which we don’t know. Summary While iCloud will almost certainly be a great service, the devil will be in the details. Not only will each of us have to weigh the costs of the service itself, but also how much it will cost us to actually stream the music over 3G and/or Wi-Fi. What do you think? Leave your comments below.

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