What's the difference between iTunes and iCloud?

iTunes is on the main computer you use to update your devices. Older iPods and other devices were to be synced by connecting to the computer on which you had your iTunes library.

iCloud is to be accessible for syncing from anywhere.

iTunes is a music management and playback program designed by Apple and optimized for their hardware (Macs, iPods, iPads, iPhones). It also has a store like you said. iCloud is a part of iTunes that links all of your devices and will automatically sync your media across all devices.

For example, if you download a podcast on your iPad, it will sync to your iPhone. If you listen to it on your iPhone, it will be marked as played on iTunes. It can be very helpful if used correctly.

@wds2 But I was told that I could get one Apple ID for iTunes and another one for iCloud. In that case, I guess I would use the 2 IDs for different purposes. You said, “It can be very helpful if used correctly.” How should I use the IDs for best management of my stuff? I would like to start off in the best way, so that I won’t have to undo things and reorganize them later.

Thanks for your help.

It is possible to use seperate apple ID’s for itunes and icloud as most people using itunes had their apple ID long before icloud came about (icloud uses the icloud email address as it’s Apple ID). However as Apple won’t combine Apple ID’s i would avoid using 2 different ID’s just for the sake of simplicity.

iCloud is simply for storage and transfer. I can save playlists, mp3s, notes, documents, photos and other media related things in iCloud on my computer then whip out my iPhone and pull from the, “iCloud” and have it on my iPhone. And vice versa.

iDont know !!!
Seriously,that would make sense in a small scale but when your dealing with Exabytes of data,it makes good sense to keep the two separate.

Okay so it sounds like you know what iTunes is. Yep, it’s the same thing it always was, a place for all your media, a launchpad for iPhone and a marketplace to buy media (music, etc).

iCloud is more of a place than an application. It’s just Apple’s Cloud. So, basically a big row of servers at a data center. In the simplest terms, the iCloud is just some server space at Apple that stores your stuff. It’s available over the internet, so you have access to it from anywhere.

You can have stuff on your local hard drive, or you can have it on a flash drive, or you can have it on your mobile device (like an iphone). OR you can have it all stored in the iCloud (and access it from there as well).

Anyway, anytime you’ve ever emailed yourself something so you’d have it later, just remember the Cloud cuts out that old, obsolete middleman.

@gambitking Great tip about the email alternative!

But the reason, for my question is that you can also “upload” and store stuff in iTunes and access from anywhere, too. So, what is the optimal way to handle both so that you don’t confuse yourself and actually make things more difficult to find? Is there a difference in the way iTunes and iCloud should be used for storage purposes?