Apple has rebuffed reports that its upcoming cloud service will offer streaming music capabilities. Indeed, any music accessed via the cloud needs to be stored on a device before it can be listened to.
An Apple spokesperson told AllThingsD this rule applies to music purchased from Apple’s iTunes store or synched via the upcoming Match service.
The news is sure to disappoint Apple fans, many of whom were apparently mislead by a recent video posted to Insanely Great Mac, which made it appear as if users will have the option to download or stream songs.
“Apple says that what looks like a ‘stream’ is really a simultaneous listen and download – users can hear the song while their machine ingests it,” wrote Peter Kafka of AllThingsD.
According to Kafka, the lack of cloud streaming is a philosophical, rather than legal decision for Apple – which has reportedly already acquired streaming rights.
“Part of it is that Apple doesn’t trust the current telecom ecosystem to handle on-demand streaming of library files every time someone wants to use them – [just] look how much trouble AT&T has had with the iPhone to date.
“But the other part is that Apple wants its users to think of entertainment as something they consume on Apple devices – as opposed to the Google and Amazon approach, which is supposed to let consumers grab anything they want on any device, using a browser,” he added.
