Apple's Cloud-Based Music Service Ready to Go?

155424 itunes cloud

Reuters reports that Apple has "completed work" on its rumored cloud-based music service and will beat Google to the punch as the search and advertising giant continues to work on a similar project.

Apple Inc has completed work on an online music storage service and is set to launch it ahead of Google Inc, whose own music efforts have stalled, according to several people familiar with both companies' plans.

Apple's plans will allow iTunes customers to store their songs on a remote server, and then access them from wherever they have an Internet connection, said two of these people who asked not to be named as the talks are still confidential.

Interestingly, the sources indicate that Apple still has yet to sign any of the major labels to new agreements covering the forthcoming cloud-based capabilities, making it unclear how the sources can be so confident that Apple will beat Google to a launch. Apple has reportedly not yet informed music industry insiders of when it intends to launch the new cloud-based service.

Tag: Reuters
Related Forum: Mac Apps

Popular Stories

apple intelligence black

Report: Apple's AI Strategy Could Finally Pay Off in 2026

Tuesday December 30, 2025 9:01 am PST by
Apple's restrained artificial intelligence strategy may pay off in 2026 amid the arrival of a revamped Siri and concerns around the AI market "bubble" bursting, The Information argues. The speculative report notes that Apple has taken a restrained approach with AI innovations compared with peers such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta, which are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data...
apple fitness 2026 1

Apple Teases 'Something Big' Coming Soon to Apple Fitness+

Tuesday December 30, 2025 2:11 pm PST by
The Apple Fitness+ Instagram account today teased that the service has "big plans" for 2026. In a video, several Apple Fitness+ trainers are shown holding up newspapers with headlines related to Apple Fitness+. What's Apple Fitness+ Planning for the New Year? Something Big is Coming to Apple Fitness+ The Countdown Begins. Apple Fitness+ 2026 is Almost Here 2026 Plans Still Under ...
maxresdefault

Hands-On With a Rough iPhone Fold Mockup

Monday December 29, 2025 10:55 am PST by
Apple is rumored to be introducing a foldable iPhone in September 2026, and since it will bring the biggest form factor change since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, curiosity about the design is high. A 3D designer created an iPhone Fold design based on rumors, and we printed it out to see how it compares to Apple's current iPhones. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
maxresdefault

Where's the New Apple TV?

Monday December 22, 2025 11:30 am PST by
Apple hasn't updated the Apple TV 4K since 2022, and 2025 was supposed to be the year that we got a refresh. There were rumors suggesting Apple would release the new Apple TV before the end of 2025, but it looks like that's not going to happen now. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said several times across 2024 and 2025 that Apple would...
iphone 17 pro dark blue 1

iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max Users Report Static Speaker Noise While Charging

Tuesday December 30, 2025 10:39 am PST by
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max owners are having trouble with the speakers of their devices, and have complained about a static or hissing noise that occurs when the iPhone is charging. There are multiple discussions about the issue on Reddit, the MacRumors forums, and Apple's Support Community, where affected users say there is a noticeable static noise "like an old radio." Some people report...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Next Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday December 23, 2025 8:36 am PST by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another nine months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped 12 features rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro models. The same overall design is expected, with 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, and a "plateau" housing three rear cameras Under-screen Face ID Front camera in...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These 8 New Features to Your iPhone

Monday December 22, 2025 8:47 am PST by
Earlier this month, Apple released iOS 26.2, following more than a month of beta testing. It is a big update, with many new features and changes for iPhones. iOS 26.2 adds a Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. Below, we have highlighted a total of eight new features. Liquid Glass Slider on Lock Screen A new slider in the Lock...
samsung glitter blue

Samsung's Year End Sale Introduces Major Discounts on Popular Monitors and TVs

Monday December 29, 2025 6:29 am PST by
Samsung kicked off a new end-of-the-year sale this week, introducing great deals on monitors, TVs, Galaxy smartphones, and home appliances. Many of these deals are the exact same all-time low prices we tracked during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Samsung. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep ...

Top Rated Comments

GeekLawyer Avatar
192 months ago
This is getting exciting.

The billion dollar question: just content purchased from iTunes or all compatible (audio) files in one's iTunes library?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TennisandMusic Avatar
192 months ago
It will probably work the way Amazon's new service does. Only the music you purchase moving forward can be synced in the cloud.

Uhh...that is not how Amazon's service works at all. Amazon syncs your entire library. It's only that new Amazon purchases don't count towards used space. Only syncing new purchases would be worthless.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aibo82 Avatar
192 months ago
I HATE the whole idea!

I used to walk to a shop buy a CD with a HARD copy it was MINE I paid for it! a physical copy I had controll over.

Then we had MP3's with that lovely DRM removed to let us do WHAT WE WANT and had a PHYSICAL file on my laptop or pc it was MY FILE.

So what we saying now?

Upload all YOUR music your PAID for back to Apple or whatever company running it so they have the whole controll to pull it all when they want!

No copys, no files, all on the server and it dont stop there it will be personal stuff soon eventualy everything cloud based and your trust in the company to keep this all safe!

NO WAY I'll stick to my few terabyte hard disk and stream it from MY PC not THERE servers!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OzyOly Avatar
192 months ago
I'm still skeptical about this coming out in 2011. MobileMe/Cloud Service have been rumoured since last year and nothing has come of it...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
QCassidy352 Avatar
192 months ago
I'll keep my media stored locally, thanks.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Loge Avatar
192 months ago




Get real, no way are the music labels going to allow them to do this unless they limit it to music purchased from iTunes.

But doesn't Amazon do this already - without the music labels permission?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)