Standard way of getting music onto the ipad itself is to download it to a computer and sync it over. You can probably buy direct to ipad via iTunes; I never shop there. There are barriers to competitors, so, for instance, you can't buy kindle books direct through the amazon app because apple would take a cut, you have to go to a browser and make the purchase on the amazon site and let it sync to the kindle app. I suspect there are probably similar limitations for competitors wanting to sell you music. Plus the whole apple deal where they want to completely control how you add and remove music to and from your device.
You can get apps to stream music from the cloud in various ways. Amazon has one for music you've purchased there, soundcloud has one for anything posted on their site, Pandora has one for thematic radio, etc. There are also some apps that allow you to stream the music that is on your home computer to the ipad via wifi.
My understanding is that Apple won't license any other music retailer to enable downloading onto an ipad. Somehow, 7 Digital UK had an app licensed in the UK a few weeks ago that included download facilities. Once Apple realised this, it was pulled very quickly. The reason given was that Apple did not want any other music download sites on the ipad. Amazon, eg, only sell CDs from their app - not downloads. There was some discussion whether this is illegal under EU rules - but I am not sure if anyone will challenge it.
I use iTunes Match to store 25000 songs and the Last.FM app to stream from the cloud (often over my apple TV for the better speakers when I am home). The app is adequate at best, but it combines last.fm scrobbles with my cloud music. If the Amazon App fed data to Last.FM I probably would switch.
The amazon mp3 app lets me download music onto my iphone; anything I've purchased or uploaded to my amazon cloud; does that not work on iPad?
Another option (maybe?) is iTunes Match; that's an iTunes cloud that costs $25 a year. Streaming is great, but downloading is better if you're going to be anywhere with spotty coverage.
I think the difference is, amc2, that you download to the Amazon cloud and then to your iphone or ipad, but not directly to the ipad etc. I listen to Spotify on my ipad, but you are not actually downloading, just streaming. But maybe the rules are different here. I've just double checked my Amazon app and there is no mp3 download facility
Yeah, the amazon mp3 app definitely lets me download to my phone; I can put it in airplane mode and it will still play. Also, I can make sure it downloads through wifi so that it doesn't affect my data limit.
Interesting - they must have different rules here, or perhaps Amazon have so much power. I've just searched out the article that I read in a magazine. It was actually HMV, not 7 digital, and the reason given was that Apple did not want other retailers to have the ability to download onto ipads! Although licensed by Apple, it was taken down within a few hours of being available, which perhaps shows they had not checked through it properly to start with. It may, of course, be the reason why emusic has an Android app but not an ipad app.
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You can get apps to stream music from the cloud in various ways. Amazon has one for music you've purchased there, soundcloud has one for anything posted on their site, Pandora has one for thematic radio, etc. There are also some apps that allow you to stream the music that is on your home computer to the ipad via wifi.
Another option (maybe?) is iTunes Match; that's an iTunes cloud that costs $25 a year. Streaming is great, but downloading is better if you're going to be anywhere with spotty coverage.