How do I create an iCloud account on my PC?

Reading a lot of these posts I read that many don't think you need access to the iCloud unless you have an iPhone, iPad or other apple product. What about iTunes. I like to listen to music and I buy my music through iTunes that's an apple product right? Apple support asked me to access my iCloud account to download music they sent to my account. Funny thing is I can't login to the iCloud account until I set it up. The support site had me download the iCloud control panal for windows yet I still get the same message. I have to login with an apple IOS device. They charge me money for a product I can't get access. Would that be considered theft? selling you a prouduct you can't have access to.

Pat613 wrote:

Reading a lot of these posts I read that many don't think you need access to the iCloud unless you have an iPhone, iPad or other apple product. What about iTunes.

iTunes has nothing to do with iCloud, you do not need an iCloud account to use iTunes.

They charge me money for a product I can't get access. Would that be considered theft? selling you a prouduct you can't have access to.

iCloud is a free service, forget about theft, you did not pay for it, it's a gift.

Message removed.

Guess I'll through my 2 cents in here. Unlike Dropbox, Google Drive, Skydrive, Cubby and others, iCloud is not "open" in the sense you can use it with any device. Not everyone, and I would go so far as to say not very many, are exclusive Apple users. Today, people and companies have a mish-mash of devices. Example: A church pastor has an apple device he uses to create KeyNote presentations for the sermon. The church secretary has a PC with Windows 7 which cannot open a KeyNote (.key) file. Another post said this "iCloud.com homie on PC keynotes are viewable" so the implication is that iCloud should have some benefit for PC users but now I'm thinking not. What's better working together or alone? All the little children say "together".

I am experiencing this as a problem, but for different reasons.

I have a mac and have set up an iCloud account, primarily because I'd like to use shared photostreaming, mainly with other people that are PC users.

I set it up and they were sent the link and they've run into exactly the same issue - they don't have any Mac device and therefore it seems that the door is closed to them when it comes to viewing these photos and videos that I'd love to share with them.

Is it really true that non mac users can't view photos and videos that are in iCloud? They aren't for public consumption, so I'm not going to simpley make them accessible to the world, but I'm finding it hard to believe that Apple don't offer a solution for this.It certainly won't get everyone I know to change to Apple, and it actually more likely to have the opposite affect.

I know that there are other options such as flickr and facebook, but I'd have preferred not to use them. Besides, I paid extra for additonal storage for my iCloud account in anticipation of uploading loads of videos for my family to see.

Am I missing soemthing obvious?

Any constructive thoughts anyone?

Anyone from Apple care to comment, as that is the only way to get a definitive answer on what I'm trying to find out about?

Why let you CREATE an Apple ID on just a PC if you cannot use it?😕

Can't those with a link just have simple guest access?😎

Like Picassa

Well my daughter put her wedding album on icloud.

Clicking the link starts the fruitless goosechase !

( Can't those with a link just have simple guest access?)

I've no Apple hardware . Guess what.

No access . ( Came as a bit of a surprise to her! ).

As I pay google for my storage the pic's will go there-Picassa-😀.

icloud is free so Apple can run it how they like.

Seems they want to run it in a way that only let's you share with those who have bought into recent Apple!

Don't think I would be pleased if I did have Apple hardware as this would be severely limiting my sharing options!

Regret the time I spent installing icloud for PC....

janehmr wrote:

Why let you CREATE an Apple ID on just a PC if you cannot use it?😕

If that were true it would indeed be foolish, but t's not true.

You can use an iCloud account on a PC, but you can not create one using a PC.

The exact opposite of your complaint.

Hello Csound1,

Do you have anything constructive to offer? Whilst it may be true that janehmr wrote something that was probably the opposite of what she meant, I'm still attempting to find out once and for all if it is true that users of just PCs and PC based products cannot view photos and videos which I've created on my newly acquired Mac and uploaded to iCloud using Photostreaming.

I'd almost certainly arrived at that conclusion due to the deafening silence to my post asking the same question over a week ago. I suspect strongly that most apple users would agree with me that this is ridiculous but would not be willing to admit it to an ex-PC user like me.

I love my new mac for many reasons, and I'm not looking to enter into the overdone PC vs Mac debate, or looking to do Apple down in any way, but it certainly doesn't seem to be the all singing all dancing, ultra user friendly machine that I had been lead to believe, and I"m attempting to find out what the limitations are. Mac users don't seem to be able to admit that there are deficiencies.

In my view, Photostreaming would be a hugely more powerful tool if it allowed anyone to view the photos and videos no matter what platform they use (and this doesn't mean going onto someone else's phone or machine to set up an account - clearly apple haven't designed it for this, and it is a hugely cumbersome way of doing things, which is conra to Apple's supposed normal ethos). I can't understand how it is any use if only Apple users can get access to the photos - surely most people's communities are a mixture of both PC and Mac users - or am I wrong in this assumption?

I'd quite like it understand why Apple don't share my view - maybe I've missed something which is key, and if so, then I'd like to understand what it is.

I would also be super grateful if any other Apple user out there that regularly shares content with friends / family on multiple platfrms, how they go about it.

Many thanks for your help

DawseyBrown

To share content with non iCloud users the content has to be shared publicly so there is no username/password requirement to view. All online photo/video sharing services work the same way. To share stuff privately, there has to be an account to log in to.

It's all explained in the iCloud: Shared Photo Streams FAQ: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5903

Just because your Mac doesn't function in exactly the same way as your PC, doesn't mean it isn't user-friendly. Many previous PC owners run into problems because they try to use a Mac in the same way as they used their PC. They are not the same. Macs do things differently. Once you embrace the different way of doing things, and stop trying to force the Mac to function like a PC, most people find they prefer the Mac way, and would never go back.

Hi Snozdrop,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I fully agree that the way to go is to embrace the way Macs work - and I'm trying to get there, which is why I am asking questions. I made the investment in a Mac because I had bought into it, not to prove anyone wrong. I am just trying to find out how to do things which I would think are fairly simple requirements.

I think that you've missed the point of my specific post, though. I don't want to make my content fully public. I want to share it with a select group of people. Not all of them are Mac users. Please explain how I do this?

Thanks in advance for your explanation.

Dawsey Brown wrote:

Hello Csound1,

Do you have anything constructive to offer?

Yes, I correct the errors

What do you do except pontificate?

I think that you've missed the point of my specific post, though.

No, I didn't miss the point at all. You're asking for something that isn't possible.

I don't want to make my content fully public. I want to share it with a select group of people.

Just give the Shared Photostream link to that select group of people. Your content won't be publicised any other way. Anyone who wants to see your stuff would need the specific link to visit.

You can't share stuff on the internet, but keep it private unless you have some kind of log-in system to stop just anyone viewing it. So, either you share it privately and require people to log-in to see it (which you don't want), or you share it publicly and only give the link to people who you want to see it (and hope nobody else gets the link).

You can't have it both ways.

Csound1 wrote:

Dawsey Brown wrote:

Hello Csound1,

Do you have anything constructive to offer?

Yes, I correct the errors

What do you do except pontificate?

Apolgies Csound1 - I can see how you took it like this. I was merely enthusiastic about trying to get a solution to a problem.

Snozdrop - many thanks for your reply.

You can't share stuff on the internet, but keep it private unless you have some kind of log-in system to stop just anyone viewing it. So, either you share it privately and require people to log-in to see it (which you don't want), or you share it publicly and only give the link to people who you want to see it (and hope nobody else gets the link).

You can't have it both ways.

I understand all of this, and wasn't asking to have it both ways. I was hoping that somehow I'd missed the point and that non Mac users could also get an iCloud login, which would really be the only way that iCloud content is fully sharable, and I naively thought that 'obviously' iCloud would do this, but clearly this isn't the case. (I still can't quite understand why, but no one's managed to give me a good answer and I'm not going to thrash the question to death - that's the way Apple have chosen to do it and I'm not going to change it or even die trying.)

Your idea of sharing the link might have miles but I'd need to satisfy myself that it is 100% watertight, and I'm not at the moment, so I suspect I'll just use a non Apple based service where anyone can get a login. Shame I'm not able to use Apple's services wall to wall, but there we go, I'll try my luck with Flickr or similar.

As iCloud is primarily designed as a sync service for iOS devices (with Mac & PC integration), and has little use for people who don't have at least one iOS device there's not much point providing a means for non-Apple owners to sign up.

Most people have enough site log-ins and passwords to remember as it is. I doubt very many people are going to be too happy at being forced to sign up for yet another service they never intend to use, just to look at someone's holiday or baby snaps, giving away their email address for the privilege.

That's why Apple provides a way to publicly share your Shared Photostreams with non-iCloud users. The public URLs are very obscure, (e.g. https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A45oqs3qiu3sb ) so the chances of someone guessing or stumbling across your photos is rather slim, but that doesn't stop one of your friends sharing the URL with someone else. Public Photostreams are also not indexed by search engines, so although the URLs are publicly accessible, they are not actually publicised.

And remember, no matter how you share your photos, nothing on the internet is 100% watertight. Anyone you (privately) share your photos with could easily just send them in an email to others if they wanted.