Debating on Going Mostly Digital with iTunes...Help & Tips?

So, I don't have a huge CD collection as of yet, and for now, I've always been just ripping my discs to iTunes, rather than making direct purchases.

However, I've lately decided that eventually, I may sell most of my CDs (most, because some albums aren't on iTunes, still) and go digital. Main issue here is storage. Now, I only have about ~50gb of tunes on disc. I have a 64GB flash drive. That will soon be filled up, and it really is a dissuading thing that iCloud doesn't have a permanent one-time payment option sort of thing for storage. To me, it seems like buying a flash drive, or any other form of physical storage media, and it being taken away from me, only to have to keep paying to keep it.What happens if I miss a month's payment (it is monthly charge, right?) for my storage? Where does all of the stored media/files go if I miss a payment?

I'm also trying to figure out how to check what is being stored in my iCloud account (without a PC, currently). Supposedly, music isn't stored on iCloud--so...when I go to upgrade iPhones, what happens to my purchases, since they're not on iCloud.

Aside from that, I'd like to go digital with movies, as well. Luckily, some blu-rays come with a digital copy--one of which is either a iTunes/Win digital copy, or UV. Which is better? Also, under the managing of storage section of the iCloud on my iPhone, why isn't movies/videos listed? Are they not backed up to iCloud, either?

As you can tell, I'm somewhat new to the whole "Cloud" business of various apps, so please forgive me, and I apologize if there are likely many other topics on this subject, or if there is an OT for this thing that already exists. I just find it easier to get some answers directly rather than finding needles in a haystack of Q&A pages.

Any help is appreciated.

 

I have recently assimilated iTunes and a DAC into my listening setup (replacing my CDP). I rip everything to apple lossless and backup to a 2tb drive (they're really cheap and, I think, more secure than a cloud [YMMV]). I've really enjoyed revisiting some of the lesser played elements of my digital collection, thanks to the ease of browsing iTunes, and the android remote app is a godsend!

I would certainly not support going digital for movies yet as drive space isn't quite cheap enough for that much space. A blu ray film can be around 30 gb. I wouldn't want to back that up, and I wouldn't want a compressed digital download to take it's place.

 

Are you considering buying music from iTunes or just using the software? iTunes is still only offering music downloads at 256K which contains less musical information than CD which is fixed at 1411K. I have (my wife buys her music on iTunes) a fair amount of iTunes content and the twenty five bucks it costs to access previous purchased music is a lifesaver if your storage devices fail. I use iTunes to archive ripped CDs and mostly Decibel for playback. iTunes is also useful for airplay applications around the house.

 

I would not base my archival music library on iTunes purchases of their lossy AAC file format. While this may be satisfactory for use on mobile devices in the future if you decide to implement a computer based music system you may find that the comprised lossy file formats are less than adequate for quality playback in a home system.

I would recommend an external HDD for your music library but of course if you don't have a computer that is a little difficult to implement.

 

I agree with mwheelerk. Although the difference may not be noticeable to you today, it's still a good practice to archive in lossless (FLAC or ALAC, for example). That way if, down the road, the AAC format isn't to your liking you still have those archives to use as a source.

External HDD's are fairly cheap, especially in the next week as they're be Black Friday sales for sure. Of course that's a problem without a PC, I assume you mean no laptop / desktop. But just something to think about.

 

Are you saying you don't have a computer, and only use your phone?

I believe music and everything *can* be stored on iCloud, but you have to pay extra to have enough space.

 

If you have a home internet connection with wifi and a router you can set up a home network and a NAS (network attached storage). Some NAS units have features that allow for Apple iDevice access to the storage. Might, maybe, possibly, be possible to manage files on the iDevice and store them on the NAS as well as the iCloud. Maybe. I've never tried or looked in to that. Tablets and phones and cloud computers (like Chromebook) are neat, but their ability to manage local files and manage local backups of those files is very limited.

You need a home computer (Mac, PC, or Linux) to be able to properly manage files along with backups and also be able to properly rip CDs. So much easier on a real computer. Doesn't need to be fancy or expensive. Just a very basic laptop will do. You need to be able to manage a backup of your library and files. You need to. A setup that doesn't allow for that is not a solution.