Although voices heard earlier this week indicated Apple’s cloud-based music service may be delayed and be “limited it scope,” it appears the Cupertino, Calif. company may have quietly launched streaming music via its Mobile Me iDisk App.
iDisk, similar to Microsoft’s SkyDrive and Google Docs, was upgraded last month to allow stored music to be played via the MobileMe iDisk App.
“This means that any MobileMe user can upload audio files in MP3 or AAC format to their iDisk account,” writes Computerworld’s Jonny Evans. “These tracks can then be played back using your Apple device, including the capacity to stream multiple devices simultaneously,” he adds.
Michael Roberston, CEO of MP3tunes, believes the service may be a stop-gap while Apple gets its streaming iTunes up-and-running. “This is not ‘iTunes in the cloud’ but it is definitely moving the Cupertino company in that direction,” he wrote at his blog Tuesday.
The iDisk service is limited, however. No support for your playlists. No automatic music uploads. No cover art. Still, this may serve as a test of Apple’s abilities to serve up music streams without a hugely public launch.
“Apple is simply fielding a music streaming service in an extremely limited form in order to test is abilities to serve,” according to the report.
