iPhone Storage/Access

[EagleKeeper]

Wife was convinced last month to get an iPhone 5.
With the new toy, she has been getting videos and music and now the phone is full to storage capacity.

According to a daughter, the wife can backup the phone to the "Cloud", but has to pay for additional capacity; only 3G was available.

• Is there a way to dump these videos/music to an USB stick for backup/use, instead of the "Cloud".
• Can I get to the "Cloud" from my laptop or Android based phone?
• Can the files be sent directly to my Android phone and I can save them off.

 

[TheStu]

These are things that she is buying from the iTunes Store? If so, then they can be deleted and re-downloaded at your leisure.

If they are from elsewhere... that's trickier.

 

[EagleKeeper]

These are things that she is buying from the iTunes Store? If so, then they can be deleted and re-downloaded at your leisure.

If they are from elsewhere... that's trickier.

iTunes store; So there is no problem re-downloading - no additional charges?

However, is there a way of getting off Apple control and into my control?

 

[smackababy]

These are things that she is buying from the iTunes Store? If so, then they can be deleted and re-downloaded at your leisure.

If they are from elsewhere... that's trickier.

Not for music. If she has the MP3 files on the PC, you can manually manage what gets synced in iTunes. I am not sure for video files (as I don't know if iTunes saves those not purchased from their marketplace). Also, you can convert all the MP3 files to a lower bit rate to save space via iTunes. Sure, you lose some quality, but when you're using those Apple earbuds, I think it would be hard to tell.

Otherwise, if she is interested in music, a Spotify subscription allows her a near limitless amount of songs streamed to her phone.

 

[smackababy]

iTunes store; So there is no problem re-downloading - no additional charges?

However, is there a way of getting off Apple control and into my control?

Files she downloads from iTunes can be saved on a PC and just synced at her leisure. The content won't have to be redownloaded, just copied to the phone from the PC. You have to set up it to manually sync, though. And then you can choose what to sync. You could have it only automatically sync certain playlists and just manage those with the content you want on the phone.


As far as for Android, I believe if they are downloaded to a PC, the files can be transferred using whatever method you use for your Android phone.

 

[TheStu]

iTunes store; So there is no problem re-downloading - no additional charges?

However, is there a way of getting off Apple control and into my control?

Anything purchased from the iTunes Store can be re-downloaded at any time, to (I think) any number of iDevices, and up to 5 computers. There is no additional fee for this. And you can unauthorize a computer, and authorize another one, so it's a rolling 5 authorizations.

Music is DRM free, nothing else is. And movies, TV shows, music videos, books, apps, or anything else is locked down.

If you log into iTunes on the computer with your Apple ID, then you'll have access to all purchases, and you can set it up to automatically download any new purchases to that system.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Anything purchased from the iTunes Store can be re-downloaded at any time, to (I think) any number of iDevices, and up to 5 computers. There is no additional fee for this. And you can unauthorize a computer, and authorize another one, so it's a rolling 5 authorizations.

Music is DRM free, nothing else is. And movies, TV shows, music videos, books, apps, or anything else is locked down.

If you log into iTunes on the computer with your Apple ID, then you'll have access to all purchases, and you can set it up to automatically download any new purchases to that system.

Are there any companies that don't lock down video content? Because ripping DVDs is tiresome and BitTorrent gets people Cease-And-Desist letters.

 

[TheStu]

Are there any companies that don't lock down video content? Because ripping DVDs is tiresome and BitTorrent gets people Cease-And-Desist letters.

To the best of my knowledge, no. And the major players in eBooks are also locked down.

 

[smackababy]

To the best of my knowledge, no. And the major players in eBooks are also locked down.

I wouldn't be surprised if in order to be able to "sell" the content the MPAA (and whoever else) requires the files to have DRM.

Luckily for music, I think the MP3 became far too ubiquitous for the RIAA to impose such a lock down.