Q: How do I replace a corrupted iTunes file on iCloud?

When I log into iCloud I get the following icon:

What!? Whoa, it is exactly the same logo as the one from iTunes! Gee, if there is no correlation between the two, why would those Apple marketing people do that? If this is a generic cloud icon and is not a trade-marked logo connected with Apple iCloud, then I guess I can use it in my own marketing efforts? Let me know how many minutes I need to wait before the Apple Lawyers send the Apple Stoßtruppen to knock down my door.

I already did. Compare the logo. That would be like saying I could use the iconic Apple logo in any way I want as long as I don't have the word "Apple" underneath it. They would beat down your door before the ink was dry if you tried it.

I actually have a bit of experience in this area. I worked for a small startup that had the word "Sun" as part of their name. We were sued by Sun Microsystems because their lawyers said we could not have a company name that had "Sun" anywhere in the name. We said "Ridiculous" and went to our lawyers and our lawyers said we were right. Of course, they also told us we would have to spend around $500,000 to fight them to prove it.

In the marketing world I don't think anyone comes close to Apple, or is as protective of their marketing persona.

So, when I see that logo, I see an Apple trademark for iCloud, and whether it is or not, I am sure anyone else with casual knowledge with iTunes and iCloud would see it the same. If at a technical level - bits, bytes, protocols and so on - there is no connection between the two, marketing doesn't care; they put the obvious visual link there for people to think there is.

Well, I may be an abject imbecile, but at least I am good company. I went to the local apple store about six blocks from me and asked what the symbol in the safari toolbar (has no "Apple" text), and the one from iTunes is all about. The Apple Store manager and two other Apple employees all said the same thing - iCloud. Apple has some serious retraining to do. They also said they have had of a lot of other people who have had similar problems as this one come into the Apple Store and have the Genius Bar (one of the two employees was from the Genius Bar, as so I guess that is a misnomer) look at the problem. They said they would get it resolved one way or another. If they can do that I will take back my venom. It might help that about my last $15,000 worth of purchases here were with the manager's assistance. I won't hold my breath because it took a direct call to one of the server guys in California to resolve the MobileMe problem last time.

If I seem fanatical about this it is because I am fanatical about backups and not losing critical information. I have worked on computer systems for over thirty years and have never lost a byte of data, even through countless drive and system failures, and that includes Apple systems. But even though a $9.99 music album is hardly critical data, it would be the only thing I have ever not been able to recover that I wanted to recover. It is the principle of this system frailty I find inexcusable because people are putting family pictures, videos, and other irreplaceable items into the iCloud expecting it to be resilient and recoverable, but it is not. Luckily for me the only thing I have trusted to Apple so far was some music albums which is just some dollars out of my pocket.

The original songs are not lost. The base music data is the same for everyone; it is the Apple ID crap that gets mangled in there that makes sure you paid for it that is the problem.

When the data is on my systems I keep it all backed up. When this iTunes match / iCloud whatever the **** you want to call it started putting stuff onto the server and *not* leaving it on the local devices I trusted Apple would know what they were doing. Anything I feel is irreplaceable I would not leave to any one backup or vendor to ensure recoverability. Hence, I don't trust my photos, video, personal data, etc to iCloud only.

The iTunes stuff should be easily deleted and re-downloaded so it can never be "lost". The problems is in their apple ID accounting that even though the data *is* really up there (it's really the same data for everyone but just mangled with the apple ID BS that ensures I really payed for it). So, I guess I will just have Apple download their backend server database to me so I can pick through it and fix whatever apple ID confusion got me into this state in the first place? I begged them to merge the two separate ID's that MobileMe created in the first place, but they said they were unable to do that.

But this is all moot because I have converted my setup over to Amazon, am slowly re-downloading the music from the backend servers, and all future purchases will be made to them (or other similar services). And the stuff I already paid for will play on the Amazon player and I can use my existing and reliable backup mechanisms. So, problem is solved.

I already do understand what I am doing. My stuff is already back other than one album for $9.99 which I ended up repurchasing (with a receipt to dispute in process). I have lost no other data (and have never lost any critical data *ever*), and I have no worries about any of my current, or future, purchases getting "lost" again. Maybe in the third go-around for cloud based attempts by Apple in the future I will test the waters again and see if they have learned more from iCloud than they did from MobileMe.

Album was refunded. No data lost. A not entirely satisfactory solution as the apple ID situation is unresolved where data corruption could still jeopardize my collection if I left as is. However, my entire collection is now *not* trusted to Apple, but to Amazon where I have more control of my purchases.

Just to confuse things further, the cloud symbol in safari is actually related to iCloud.  The one in itunes is just a "cloud service".

my point exactly.