Apple’s latest update to its iDisk app, on top of some other upgrades, allows music streaming for the first time. It isn’t quite the full iTunes sync like some people want, but it will allow you to stream any music that you have stored on your iDisk to any devices that have the software. It even allows for background streaming, which is quite nice for those on the move.

There are some drawbacks, such as the lack of music auto syncing and the lack of playlists and album artwork on the service, but if you are just looking for a way to get a ton of music in the cloud, this is great.

The funny thing is that this music streaming feature is not included in the bullet list of added features that shows up on the main screen, it is almost like Apple is hiding the functionality. One reason may be that “Apple’s service allows unlimited sharing (no username or password required) and now background streaming – all without a license from the record labels” which is apparently a big no-no in the industry.

Regardless, you can pick up your free update to iDisk today. Have fun!

[Source:Michael Robertson]

FREE!

MobileMe iDisk

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2009-07-29 :: Category: Productivity

Apple has posted an iPhone and iPod Touch version of its online file storage system, iDisk, to the App Store. In an unexpected move by the company, the application gives users the ability to view and send their files that are stored remotely on MobileMe servers. Rumours had recently surfaced suggesting that an iDisk application would only be available in iPhone 3.1, of which Beta 3 has recently been released to developers.

The application, free, supports viewing of “iWork, office, PDF, QuickTime and more [file formats]”. Files can be shared publicly and an e-mail with a link to the file can be sent.

Apple are inexplicably late to the game with the iDisk app, as the mobile version of www.me.com stated “You can access this information directly from the applications on your iPhone or iPod touch.” Several third party developers have already built applications that allow access to a user’s iDisk. Notably, Air Sharing Pro were quick to offer iDisk support and QuickOffice offered full iDisk viewing and editing, an important function, from within their app. Both applications were approved by Apple to the App Store with no fault.

It is not all bad news, though. The video playback feature alone warrants installation on any iPhone or iPod touch, where users can view video of any QuickTime supported file format (this includes the much-lacked AVI).

So Apple had a big day yesterday announcing new computers, the new iPhone 3G S, and of course the long awaited software upgrade to 3.0 with Copy & Paste, MMS, and the new Video Recorder (3G S only). As great as these features are though, I think they’ve completely over shadowed some other great additions, many of which, on a daily basis are going to be far more useful than being able to receive that picture message of my parents dog in a pig costume, scary…I know. I’ve gone through all of the information I could find directly from Apple’s website (these aren’t rumors) and pooled together some of the new features that have slipped through the cracks.

iDisk
MobileMe got some major revision with the “Locate My Phone” feature and the “Remote whipe” but there is also a free application coming out called iDisk. Yup, you will now be able to remotely view you iDisk content straight from your phone, sorry MobileDisk and Air Sharing Pro. An added bonus is that through this app you can send a direct link to any file on your iDisk via e-mail so that anyone you like can view it, this is especially useful for content that is just too large to be sent through an e-mail itself.

Contact Syncing
More good news for MobileMe and Exchange users are the new advances in over the air contact and calendar syncing. Right now turning on syncing from a cloud to a phone will erase all information currently on the phone and replace it with the new info. With 3.0 though users will get the choice between erasing, merging all data, or creating separate profiles.

Apple also states that on top of MoibleMe and Exchange the phone will be able to sync contacts and calendars from Yahoo!, Google, iCal, and Microsoft Outlook. At this point it’s unclear if these are going to be new over the air features or more likely ones that need to be synced through iTunes. We do know though that you’ll be able to add subscription based calendars directly from the phone over the air, this is great for some one like me who needs an alert every time the Cubs are going to play a game or Special Holidays are coming up.
Continue reading iPhone 3.0: The Features Falling Through The Cracks »