Head in The Clouds

Later today, Apple will announce it's latest entry into the already crowded field of "cloud music" players, by releasing iCloud. 

iCloud, like all "over-the-internet" music services will allow it's user to keep a constantly updated cache of their personal music with them at all times, negating the need to sync devices with your computer or phones or iPods.

While this seems incredibly convenient, especially if you're one who downloads a ton of music all the time across many different devices, there's going to be drawbacks.  Let's discuss the pros and cons:

iCloud Pro: Never sync a device again.

Like I was just mentioning, if you're the type of person who hears a song over the speakers at TJ Maxx and then instantly grab your phone to Shazam-it and the click the "download" button without even thinking about it (your credit card statement literally says "iTunes" every other line), iCloud is definitely for you.  Isn't it a huge pain in the ass to grab your phone or other MP3 player to head out to go run or go to the gym, whatever, and you realized you forgot to sync it with your computer, so half of those new songs you downloaded last night are still sitting on your computer's harddrive.  So you can either go back inside, sync (which takes a while) and then get back to life, or you can go without.  No more with iCloud.  As soon as you download a song, it's ready on your phone, iPad, iPod, whatever, whereever, whenever.

iCloud Pro: No more concerns about storage.

Again, if you're downloading so much music that you're constantly blowing out the space on your device, the cloud will take care of that for you.  No more physical files to bog down your device or making you chose which songs or media are most important to you.  You carry everything with you all the time, no matter where you are.

iCloud Con: iCould only works if you have a signal.

What's great about carrying digital files?  You can listen to them independently from your 3G or wifi signal.  Get on to a subway or live out in the sticks (I have almost no 3G signal at my house for instance) your iPhone becomes an iPod.  If all your music is on iCloud however, this could be a problem.

iCloud Con: Apple's Cloudy History.

Theoretically, as long as you have "some" sort of signal, you should be good, but honestly, I have iDisk and MobileMe, and I've seen sort of spotty service with syncing my devices in the past.  I'll get doubles in my iCal or dates and times will be off, or won't show up at all.  Email will sometimes not send or receive for explained amounts of time, only to fire off some long ago written emails again months later.  Do you want to run the risk of paying for music and not having it show up on a particular device for months?  Or just disappearing all together?  Or doubling itself?

iCloud Con: It's not really YOUR media.

But Apple will be quick to point out that it never was in the first place.  But with the Cloud, you're more "renting" the music than "owning" it.  At least with the old fashioned downloading of files, you can physically "see" those files, store them on a portable hard drive and if something happens to your computer, you can just upload them from your secondary device.  With iCloud, the same is true but there's something about being able to physically have the files on hand.  And I've yet to hear word on if it'll be allowed to "burn" files to CDs.... if anyone still does that.

Analysis:

I'm not entirely sold on iCloud..... call me old fashioned but I like having my files on hand, independent of 3G or wifi.  I like to "own" my files, not essentially "rent" them, especially if I'm going to be paying for them.  But that's just me.