When Apple announces its big plans for ICloud last year, many skeptics said that most consumers either didn’t need or didn’t want such a service. Well a new survey out today seems to have vindicated Apple. The survey found that 89% of mobile users stated they felt their digital libraries were growing out of control and wanted a cloud solution. Apple wasn’t the first to attempt this of course, with Google still offering its free cloud music locker to anyone, and Amazon doing the same provided you buy the MP3 from them. This also explains the explosion in popularity of services like Box and Dropbox. The survey found that most people had a library of over 5,000 files including both smaller items like photos and larger ones like videos and music.
By default, Apple gives every free user 5GBs of data, but this survey suggests that isn’t enough. While only data and documents count towards that 5GB limit, ITunes match is a different service and is charged as such. Currently, users hoping for an extensive Cloud solution who don’t want to be charged are best off using ICloud for photos and documents, Google Music for music, and Box for everything else. Some would argue that its better to spend the yearly fee for ITunes Match, but keep in mind it does not cover music added after the initial sign up. Personally, I found myself running out of ICloud storage before I knew it and have been using Box ever since. Do you run out of space often? Are you always on the look out for a free solution, or would you be willing to pay a fee? Do you agree that your digital library is getting out of control? Let us know below.
It is also worth noting the survey was done by a company called Funambol that happens to be the leading provider of cloud servers for enterprise, so there maybe more than a little bias in the results. Either way, it seems clear moving forward that cloud services will be an increasing part of our digital lives, and the idea of a fast easy way to always have your files sure is attractive.
Pree survey report available here
