Best cloud option for music

eviltimeban

Looking for some advice. I have a reasonable music collection, just over 8,600 tracks. I listen to music mostly on my iPod.

The iPod is on the way out, and as you can't get them anymore, I need an alternative solution. I have an iPhone, but the capacity isn't great enough to hold all the music. So was thinking of uploading everything to cloud, retire the iPod, and listen to everything on cloud.

What is the best option? Use iTunes? It's a big jump as it'll mean I'll always have to have an internet connection, so travelling abroad, on the beach might not work. Is there a way around this? Any recommendations?

paulbok

You have mentioned your only 2 real choices,
a high capacity device to store the music locally, or
Access to a clould based service which depends on half decent internet access.
There isn't any other solution available.

If it was me, I would use a decent android phone as a music player and get a few 16/32Gb micro sd cards and fill them with your music. You could easily carry them in your wallet with something like this.
2 x 32GB cards would easily hold your 8,600 songs (based on avg size of track of 6Mb, using approx 51/64GB)

GLaDOS

paulbok wrote: »

If it was me, I would use a decent android phone as a music player and get a few 16/32Gb micro sd cards and fill them with your music. You could easily carry them in your wallet with something like this.
2 x 32GB cards would easily hold your 8,600 songs (based on avg size of track of 6Mb, using approx 51/64GB)

Or just get a 64 gb one

eviltimeban

Thanks, changing phone isn't an option for me though.

paulbok

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Or just get a 64 gb one

indeed,

paulbok

You don't need to change phone, just use the android as a music device, you've been used to carrying around a second device with your ipod.
You can get an older model sony xperia for €50 in c.phone warehouse a 64GB microsd card for around €30 (if they deliver it) on Amazonn, sorted for under €100.

Or you could try and source a 2nd hand ipod?

Xzen

With Grooveshark gone, I've been trying a few different streaming services and so on.

If you have an old PC at home, you can install Plex-Server and use it to stream music to your devices. It also handles video which can be handy.

I've started using it to stream stuff at home on Wi-fi and even out'n about on 4G. If you've got no 3g or 4g, you can use it to offline your media on your phone too. The app's available on Android and iOS.

Have a look at http://plex.tv

eviltimeban

I've been looking into it, and as I'm running out of space on my laptop as well (which is 90% full of music), I'm probably going to try iTunes Match. I can upload all the music to the Cloud, then delete off the laptop, freeing up space.

Anyone done this?

Only issue will be if I'm somewhere where I've no connection, like on holidays, I may not have access to my music then. Also the battery life of the iPhone is rubbish.

loyatemu

Google Play Music is the obvious choice here - stores 20,000 songs in the cloud, you can stream them from any device, you can also pin them to your device for when you have no network and you can add their music streaming service for €10 a month if you want more music... (streaming your own files is free).

paulbok

eviltimeban wrote: »

I've been looking into it, and as I'm running out of space on my laptop as well (which is 90% full of music), I'm probably going to try iTunes Match. I can upload all the music to the Cloud, then delete off the laptop, freeing up space.

Anyone done this?

Only issue will be if I'm somewhere where I've no connection, like on holidays, I may not have access to my music then. Also the battery life of the iPhone is rubbish.

I don't think I could delete music off my pc without having my own phyisical back up copy on an external hard drive (I actually have 3 copies of my collection, I had a near miss with my only music hard drive breaking a few years ago, luckily I was able to restore).