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Where does iTunes radio store streaming data?

Hello,


we know that iTunes Match on iOS devices is supposed to stream music unless you want to download it.

However I notice that, even if you just stream the music, iOS stores the data locally anyway....you can see this by going to general--->usage--->Music


Does iTunes Radio the same? Does the streaming actually use free space on your device? How can you remove it or iOS does it by itself?


thanks

iPhone 5s, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Dec 14, 2013 4:16 AM

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Posted on Dec 17, 2013 11:13 PM

I haven't noticed that it does so far.


You are correct though about iTunes Match storing the songs in a cache file on the iPad/iPhone so that the songs do not have to download the next time you play them. This cache is shown as "other" when you are viewing the usage bar in iTunes.

7 replies

Dec 18, 2013 2:52 AM in response to nijinski

You already know the answer, sort of. If iTunes Radio caches it's reflected in that data quantity in general/usage/Music. What's specificially stored (synced) music or video or whatever and what's streaming cache, Radio or Match, you won't be able to distinguish. Spotify iOS apps used to be notorious for creating massive cache files and never clearing them at any reasonably quantity, even if all you did was stream, not make anything available for offline play -- that is, download a playlist to the device. They finally fixed that. It hovers around a GB of cache plus whatever you've got stored for offline play. I think Apple's Music app already cleans up after itself pretty regularly. I've not noticed any substantial variation in available space even when using iTunes Radio a couple hours a day for many days running.

Dec 18, 2013 3:05 AM in response to nijinski

Hello and thank you all for your reply :)


In order to distinguish it clearly I had wiped out my library in the iPad (I only use Match there anyway) and started streaming from Match. It actually stored some data...then I've wiped out it again and started streaming iTunes Radio.

I've listened to a couple of songs and went back to setting--->usage--->to my surprise there was nothing stored!


I don't know if I streamed too few songs or what...but it looks like it's just steaming...maybe because you don't own the song?


I just don't want the storage to go down due to streaming :)

Dec 18, 2013 3:15 AM in response to nijinski

That's the impression I got from my glancing at my iPad storage usage numbers -- I haven't used Radio from my iPhone -- that iTunes Radio is doing pure streaming, or mostly pure stream. It does it really well, too, if it's caching little or nothing. I perceive a pretty decent quality difference between iTunes Radio streaming and Spotify Premium streaming at highest quality setting on the same iPad. Maybe it's just in my head, maybe it's a network traffic thing, but I swear the Radio stream is clearer and less crunchy/noisy with compression -- although Radio and Spotify Premium highest quality should stream at pretty close to the same bit rate.


I posted a question elsewhere, about Match and not wanting to stream to my Mac due to quality issues, preferring to play the locally stored songs where they are already all locally stored. And also not wanting to download all my songs from Match to my Mac thereby creating two copies of a rather large music library on the same MacBook Pro disc, if you include iTunes purchased songs and many CDs ripped back from the good old days when I bought CDs. Anyway, if the streaming quality is as good as Radio, maybe I don't care if I'm streaming and I don't have to bother with a double set of downloads on the one Mac.


Maybe I should just spend the essentially insiginificant US$25 for a year, see how I like it, and if it doesn't work for me, just don't renew. It's not like I'll lose any music or anything for letting my subscription lapse.

Dec 18, 2013 3:29 AM in response to sanford_may

I use high radio and match and I have to say that they work great together.

I was worried about the radio streaming but it looks like it won't be an issue after all. I use it on the Apple TV too and I really like the experience...

Match has become a must, for me...I doesn't have a very large library yet (3000 songs) but it's very handy...it let me avoid storing my music in other Macs or devices with less storage, like a MBA...I listen to what I what without needing to manually choose what to store and what not.


And when i feel like trying something new I listen to Radio and buy whatever song I like :)

Dec 18, 2013 3:49 AM in response to nijinski

Yeah, I don't like buying 32GB or 64GB iOS devices. You really don't need that much space for apps and their data, not even for photos and video unless you take and keep an insane number of images. Maybe if you play a ton of high-end iOS games at the same time, but I don't. I do play a lot of games, but I'm a mainstream console and handheld gamer. My wife is the big iOS gamer, and she plays puzzlers and doesn't need much space for those on her devices.


For me the extra storage would be all for music and it's a pretty substantial premium just for extra storage, especially if I replace device every 2 - 3 years. I'll keep Spotify Premium no matter what. I like the total access subscription model just as much as the buy-to-keep model, and it's cheap at US$10 per month. I still buy-to-keep from iTunes what I especially like from a new Spotify discovery. And of course I want ready access to both Spotify and my whole iTunes library, on a 16GB iOS device.


My concerns for Match are streaming quality versus playing from local files. I'm not what you'd properly call an audiophile. Yeah, sure, vinyl has a richer sound, right, I get that, but I'm never going to give up the convenience of digital and compressed to exclusively play records on a Sota turntable the price of a car, or rip every CD I own to Apple Lossless. Still I can tell the difference between a pair of Sennheiser Momentums and various fashion statement headphones, especially the US$100-range headphones, and I have a good quality portable analog headphone amp. Sure Momentums are a fashion statement as much as Monster/Beats or Skullcandy, but they're a fashion statement with what I consider better attention to balanced audio quality. I just want to get the best I can out of my playback and listening equipment. Doesn't have to be perfect. I'm not going to run out and buy a US$2,000 DAC. I just don't want muddy and bassy from headphones that should subtle and clear in the mid- and high-ranges.


But, as we've mentioned, if iTunes Match streaming matches, pardon the pun, the streaming quality of iTunes Radio, I don't have anything to worry about.


All that said, I suppose if all I had to listen on was a 20-year-old jambox with noisy mix tapes, I'd listen to those and be happy. It's when you start comparing pricier equipment you get silly picky.

Dec 18, 2013 5:34 AM in response to sanford_may

Of course, Apple tried to preserve use experience and at the same time not compromise too much with the quality.

With iTunes you can listen to Apple Lossless and every CD you import would be like 200mb or more.....you can't do that with cloud storage.

If you subscribe to match you have 250GB for your cloud music (at least I'm told so) and songs are ACC encoded at 256kbps bitrate. It's acceptable for over-the-air listening...

If they'd let you upload your songs as Apple Lossless I don't think the system would run as smooth as it does now (and it has its kicks too).

Where does iTunes radio store streaming data?

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