iTunes in the Cloud

 

 On June 6, at the World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC) 2011, at San Francisco, Apple announced their newest, most revamped, most extensive and most anticipated iOS update ever- iOS 5. Along with that, Steve Jobs announced Apple's new cloud-based service for all Macs and iOS devices- iCloud. iOS 5 and iCloud will be launched this Fall. But what's more interesting is that the newest update to iTunes (10.3.1) allows you to use part of the iCloud features on your current iOS device running iOS 4.3.3.

iTunes in the Cloud (Beta)

After learning about this, it goes without saying that I wanted to try this out on my iPhone 3GS. So, I first upgraded from iOS 4.1 to 4.3.3. Then, updated my iTunes on my mac to the latest- 10.3.1. On the iPhone>Settings.app>Store, you can choose how you want iTunes to manage your music, apps and Books. Now the fun starts. If you download/purchase a new app/music/book in iTunes on your mac or iOS device, iCloud automatically sends/syncs the purchase to other devices registered under the same Apple ID. If you have previously downloaded apps on your iTunes (on mac), you can now view them on your iOS device in iTunes.app>Purchases>Not On This iDevice. Clicking on the 'cloud' button next to the app downloads that app to the device.


This has been a major request from iPhone users. If you buy a new iPhone, or restore, or update your iPhone, then you would have to sync with your computer to get all your previous settings (restore from backup). But, now, with iCloud, you also have PC-free over-the-air updates and syncing. This means that you will not need to connect your iOS 5-based device to a computer to restore to previously saved settings, or to download previous apps.

This is just the beginning of the use of iCloud. iTunes on the Cloud is currently beta, and we can hope to see the magic in action sometime this fall (maybe September). And mind you, all this iCloud service comes to you at no cost. Yes, it's completely free. This might make Google unhappy, as we wait to hear about their pricing for their cloud-based-service - Google Music.

All features you need to know about iCloud: here.

What do you think about iCloud, and iTunes on the Cloud?