Apple's iCloud service restricted to Lion and iOS 5?

[Candlelight]

https://www.icloud.com/

I just tried logging in (am using Snow Leopard) and an error came up saying Mac OS X Lion or iOS 5 was not present, please log in using those systems.

Are Apple really gonna isolate those that are on older OS's or do you think they'll delay the general release for older operating systems once it goes live?

...might have answered my own question...

 

[Amaris]

Would you really be surprised if they did limit it to OS X Lion/iOS 5? While I like Apple, Steve Jobs tends to make erratic decisions on occasion that alienate legacy software Mac owners. In fairness, Microsoft does the same thing from time to time, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Candlelight]

 

[Robert Maxwell]

A quick Google search shows pretty much unanimous agreement that iCloud won't be supported on Snow Leopard.

 

[Candlelight]

Supported is one thing - outright blocked is something else!

Apple may have to relent if it sees part of it's target audience is sticking with Snow Leopard and iCloud isn't getting the hits they want.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Supported is one thing - outright blocked is something else!

Apple may have to relent if it sees part of it's target audience is sticking with Snow Leopard and iCloud isn't getting the hits they want.

Sorry, I guess my language was too soft. I mean, "iCloud will not work on Snow Leopard or anything below iOS 5, period."

Apparently Lion and iOS 5 have some features that enable iCloud which are not present in prior OSes and cannot easily be backported. Maybe they will have to relent. I saw some people posting that they can't even upgrade to Lion with their current hardware, so they'd just be plain SOL as far as iCloud goes.

 

[Small White Car]

To be clear, there are 2 things we're talking about here:

1) iCloud the 'cloud service' that will sync OS X and iOS with cloud data. This does indeed seem to be limited to Lion and iOS 5, per Apple's website.

2) The iCloud.com 'web-login' that's replacing Me.com. This will be replacing Me.com for things like checking your e-mail and calendars. We DON'T know that this has any such restrictions. The only clue we have is that the website is not currently letting you in. The site that...you know...has been setup for developers to test their apps with in Lion.

So the fact that the website is currently Lion-only means nothing. Only developers with Lion need it right now. There's no reason for them to load up a Snow-Leopard compatible website yet. Will they? I dunno, but the fact that it's not there now is to be expected so it doesn't tell us anything.

I sure hope the website eventually becomes less restrictive. The only time I need the web log-in is when I'm on someone else's computer.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I'm going to be moving to Lion soon (at least I hope so, I have a dual core 1.86GHz Mac Mini so I hope that will suffice; I am sorely tempted by the new model though...) and iOS 5 having sync via Bluetooth (or WiFi?) is long overdue.

I wasn't sure about iCloud, but the price appears to (finally) be right and the idea of having my mail in sync between computer and iPhone without a manual sync process appeals. A shame the storage isn't enough for my iTunes library though.

 

[Small White Car]

A shame the storage isn't enough for my iTunes library though.

It doesn't store your iTunes library. It lets you re-download songs you own from Apple's own iTunes store library to any device logged in to your account. Basically it lets you buy them again for free.

So the library size doesn't matter, it just comes from their store no matter how much you have.

Music you bought from iTunes works this way for free. If you want it to work with music you ripped (or bought from Amazon) you have to pay a yearly fee*. It then scans Apple's store and lets you download those songs from their system if they find a name match. You can do that as long as you're subscribing. If you never rip anymore it may be worth subscribing, downloading iTunes versions of everything, and then un-subscribing. At that point you won't need to pay anymore. But if you constantly rip stuff from CDs it may be worth paying that forever.

Or, just use the USB cable. That's still free for any song. (This is probably what I'll be doing.)

* ($25 per year)http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/

 

[Sean Aaron]

It doesn't store your iTunes library. It lets you re-download songs you own from Apple's own iTunes store library to any device logged in to your account. Basically it lets you buy them again for free.
...
* ($25 per year)

Good to know. The overwhelming majority is ripped music (CDs are in storage boxes in the cupboard), but with 10GB of my 16GB iPhone devoted to music I can't say I feel the need for the instant access - certainly not if it means downloading from the shop, which would be a bit cumbersome. If I could upload my entire library to iCloud and then add and delete playlists on my iPhone when I was out-and-about that would be worth the extra yearly fee.

 

[TheBrew]

It doesn't store your iTunes library. It lets you re-download songs you own from Apple's own iTunes store library to any device logged in to your account. Basically it lets you buy them again for free.
...
* ($25 per year)

Good to know. The overwhelming majority is ripped music (CDs are in storage boxes in the cupboard), but with 10GB of my 16GB iPhone devoted to music I can't say I feel the need for the instant access - certainly not if it means downloading from the shop, which would be a bit cumbersome. If I could upload my entire library to iCloud and then add and delete playlists on my iPhone when I was out-and-about that would be worth the extra yearly fee.

I am tempted to do this once just because I have stuff I ripped in poor quality over a decade ago and it would be nice to upgrade everything to 256.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I rip all my CDs to 256 AAC. I've been told this is overkill and 192 would be sufficient and I'd get back some space, but I'm not re-ripping for the sake of MBs of storage.