The future of hi-fi, is in the clouds?

Its not the preferred route for me. i like the idea of using my ipad like a juke box and running the finger down the list until i find a random album to play, plus like the idea of returning back to certain music previously played.

Dont think cloud would serve me, unless it retained a history of use file

Paul

The challenge audiophiles face is a lack of demand for CD and higher definition music.  I don't see the likes of Spotify or Rhapsody rushing to provide this, as 320 Kbps streaming meets the quality needs of 90-something percent of their customers.

In terms of selection, today's services are doing a pretty good job, but their libraries are by no means complete.  This is not only in terms of which artists are represented, but also which albums. Or, more specifically, which versions of which albums. When using today's streaming services, I have no way of determining if I am listening to an original release, or a later remastering.

For me, the devil is in the details.  I would like nothing more than to get all of my digital music from the cloud, but I just don't see those services maturing any time soon. Not bad for surfing for new tunes though.

Hook

One way to simplify the issues is to ask whether I'd be happier with my "collection" of lossless music being housed where it's currently housed (on my nas and on my uServe, with a backup on a usb drive) or in the cloud.

My current system is not too inconvenient.  Having a nas box generating a little bit of sound in a room far away from my listening room isn't too bad.  Sure, the hardware will eventually fail, but that's what a backup is for.  I am not convinced that cloud storage is that much more reliable overall.  I'd want a backup 'in hand' anyway.

+1

Support all your comments.

The other thing for me is still the pleasure of getting out the cd and reading the sleeve notes, even if the music is on the NAS, (being an old school type from the vinyl era)

I'm not against storing my digital music in the cloud, but I'd need a better connection than super slow broadband ... I expect studio quality masters to be available using the service, with the top mastering available. 

The cloud is the current fashion ... but I agree with all the comments about personal backups, as there could be problems with access (what if you could no longer afford the subscription or wanted to change providers). 

One day it will happen, but not for a while. 

I don't like it, but I think it's sure to come. It makes perfect economic sense for record companies to sell their music in a non-tangible form, and that is what will drive 'progress'.

I don't even want a domestic computer having possession and control (or not!) of my music, let alone committing it to 'The Cloud'.

Freudian anal retention? Dunno; but I like to hold my music in my hand.

John.

I don't really like it either but each needs to ask themselves do they keep at least one regular back-up out of the home? I suspect 90% or more would say no (lets face it messing around with back-ups is very boring indeed) yet it is the only true back-up policy (forget RAID) unless you have cloud back-up.

Not to mention that I have NO intention of buying all this music AGAIN. 

Good call Bart; +1

Reliable and Cloud Based do not consistently fall into the same sentence. Pushing 24/192 or higher down a copper line from a server via an exchange with 100% reliability? Don't think so. Seems to be a theoretical solution for a problem which doesn't exist, particularly as local storage is cheap and an off Cloud back up is essential.

Whilst we're on the subject. What's the difference between The Cloud and The Internet?

Saying "the internet" in 1992 made you "cool."  Saying "the cloud" in 2011 made you "cool."  That's the main difference, I think.

(If you think of "the Internet" as the network, and not the sum total of everything that's on the network, then The Cloud is simply storage that's available on the network.  Storage 'up there' on the network on someone else's hardware, and because it's networked available to you anywhere at anytime, rather than down here on your own hardware.  Of course, Netgear and others sell consumer level 'cloud storage devices' so you can create your own little cloud at home.  The cloud metaphor starts to fall apart . . . )

Thank you Bart.

Wow! My own little cloud. Now that's appealing. Sounds much prettier than my old home network.

The scales have fallen

The jargon around "cloud" has gotten pretty silly.  There are private clouds, public clouds, of course hybrid clouds that leverage both private and public clouds.  There is cloud storage, and there is cloud computing.  There is so-called cloud "bursting" (think of a short-term, seasonal cloud), and there is cloud "storming" (where you leverage a number of different cloud services to build your own computing and storage environment).

The funny thing is that, as Bart alluded, there is really nothing new in any of this.  Time-sharing concepts go back to the 1950's, and Internet-based computing and storage has been around since the mid-90's, when the introduction of virtual private networks (VPN's) first made infrastructure, platforms and software available "as a service" (IAAS, PAAS, SAAS) to desktops with "thin clients" (a.k.a., "smart terminals").

Not saying it is all a sham, because there have been amazing advances in underlying technologies to enable these cloud services (e.g., large scale "grid" computing and storage, global file systems, automated provisioning and management, usage metering and billing, and so on).  The scale of the largest public clouds is absolutely freaking huge (e.g., Amazon's storage cloud, or IBM's "Smart Computing" cloud)!

And of course, let's not forget all of our home-grown UPnP music clouds... 

Hook

Don't let any of them rain on your parade?

 I'm sure most people said that the first couple of times!

I have an excellent device that gets music from over the clouds - it is called a radio - no idea why it never caught on, you can get Test Match Special on it too. 

I've looked at clouds from both sides now, from data loss and still some how, it's a marketing illusions as I recall, we really don't need clouds at all.  

Isnt that one of those modern hi tech gadgets, based on an original piece of kit called a wire less?

Hi Guy

I think I may have spotted why it didn’t catch on,,,, It’s right there in your post.

"you can get Test Match Special on it too."

I bet thats it.

Peter

Let's not forget one crucial point here - if (or when) we are all storing music on the cloud and streaming it, we will be at the mercy of storage charges increasing year on year. If you don't pay you lose your music! At least with CDs or hard drive storage you physically have the music file.

That is my fear - what happens when the service provider goes in to administration. 

I think you still need an off-line backup. 

Also how do you get to hear your music on somebody else's system ... what is the equivalent to turning up with a CD or two.