Apple's cloud music service could address buffering with local files A patent has emerged that shows how Apple could address the buffering lag time that is a frequent bane to streaming media users. In the patent, Apple describes storing just small segments of media files locally on a user's device. These segments would be the beginning of a song, for example, and would begin to play immediately while the device buffers the rest of the song from the cloud servers. Using this method, there would be no lag time between when a user taps on a song to play it on his iPhone and when the song actually begins to play.
Current cloud services often feature a noticeable lag time between when a user selects a song and when it begins to play, since the entire file is stored remotely. This patent is important given the rumor that Apple is soon to launch a cloud-based digital music service. If Apple implements this local file snippet feature into its service, it would be a significant advantage to the usability and quality of its service over rivals like Amazon and Google.Apple's cloud music service could address buffering with local files originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 19 May 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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