Download music from cloud

[2handband]

Hi, new user here... and not a very happy one so far. I'm a professional live sound engineer. Part of the job is having canned music to play through the PA, which I was hoping to use my new iPad for. It's looking like this is going to be a problem.

What I need is a way to get stuff off of the cloud and onto this device. I need to be able to do it on the fly, and without having to rely on synching with a desktop machine. I always have wifi; an extra computer not so much. I don't care if the solution is Dropbox or iCloud or whatever but I need something that works.

Can anyone help?

 

[giradman]

OK Guys - won't bite, but may take a nibble - a Professional Sound Engineer basing his/her career on an iPad? And then a few days later, another 'new' poster offering a solution? This has to be a scam - just saying? If wrong, then I apologize on my knees, but... Dave

 

[2handband]

Hardly basing my career on it, but hoping to use it to make my life easier. Unfortunately the iPad is the only tablet that makes sense; there are control apps for a lot of the equipment I use that are not available for other tablets. I was hoping I could use it for other stuff too. I had no idea how restrictive and control freaky Apple was... no access to the file system??? Who's good idea was that? Anyway, only being able to add music to the library via iTunes seriously limits this device's usefulness. Does anyone have a workaround?

 

[nathan.kindle]

I don't understand. I used WD cloud storage the 1t. I can simply download and play the music I want. I also use att locker and box and or Dropbox. Maybe I'm not understanding your need.

 

[giradman]

Hardly basing my career on it, but hoping to use it to make my life easier. Unfortunately the iPad is the only tablet that makes sense; there are control apps for a lot of the equipment I use that are not available for other tablets. I was hoping I could use it for other stuff too. I had no idea how restrictive and control freaky Apple was... no access to the file system??? Who's good idea was that? Anyway, only being able to add music to the library via iTunes seriously limits this device's usefulness. Does anyone have a workaround?

Hi again 2hand..... - first, the post from '....Ninjas' seems to have been deleted from this thread, so part of my initial response was related to that post - whoever this poster was/is had left at least 8-9 ridiculous posts and the mods seemed to have banned them - my guess.

SO, back to your issue, i.e. wanting to have 'music' on an iPad to play over a PA system - correct? Well, you need to provide us w/ much more information, e.g. 1) Do you want to music stored on the iPad; 2) Do you want to stream the music via the cloud (of course, many options exist, e.g. I can play all of my Amazon purchases via their service wirelessly to my portable Blu-ray speakers); 3) How are you planning to play sound from the iPad (regardless of the source) to a PA system; and 4) What PA system options do you have, e.g. cabled plug-in and/or wireless options? Difficult to advise w/o more details - Dave

 

[2handband]

You're using Dropbox? How? I have tons of stuff on Dropbox, but if there's any way to download it to the iPads internal storage from there I don't see it.

 

[2handband]

ok Dave, to answer your questions: no, I don't want to rely on the cloud during a show... I almost always have wifi access but networks fail, ya know? That said my 64G device isn't going to store my whole library or anything like it, so I want the ability to hard download the songs I need for a given show from my collection on the cloud, have them on device storage for the show, then add/delete as appropriate for the next gig. Working for a regional production company doing a wide variety of event types means my needs are never the same one night to the next. As for plugging in that's easy... all of our rigs include an adapter/di to convert from the headphone out of a mobile device (as of right now I'm using an old laptop I was hoping to retire) to xlr into the console.

 

[giradman]

ok Dave, to answer your questions: no, I don't want to rely on the cloud during a show... I almost always have wifi access but networks fail, ya know? That said my 64G device isn't going to store my whole library or anything like it, so I want the ability to hard download the songs I need for a given show from my collection on the cloud, have them on device storage for the show, then add/delete as appropriate for the next gig..............

Hi again, if you don't want to rely on Wi-Fi, then your music files will need to be stored on your iPad, so a larger capacity device and/or more than one would seem to be one solution - I guess that a couple of 128 GB iPads would serve your needs?

NOW, if you want to just have a single 64 GB iPad and are willing to trust Wi-Fi to your PA systems, then another option would be a wireless adapter - I have an AirStash Device which accepts SD cards of LARGE capacity and sets up its own Wi-Fi network w/ an iPad, so music can be streamed to the iPad from this device - there are several other similar options, but just another consideration. Dave

.

 

[nathan.kindle]

You're using Dropbox? How? I have tons of stuff on Dropbox, but if there's any way to download it to the iPads internal storage from there I don't see it.

I have to apologize, your right you can't just download the music to the iPad from the cloud. I just play it from the cloud normally but I do see your issue. I new to iOS but maybe there's an app that will let you store music locally such as another player?

 

[2handband]

This. Is. Ridiculous. This is basic functionality on every computer or mobile device I have ever used. An Android phone will do this. All I want... the only thing... is to be able to put music on this device without relying on iTunes. And don't even tell me this is piracy prevention; we all know how far out of the barn that particular horse is. This is because Apple wants to sell Match. So I have to pay for something every other platform offers for free? Color me a very unhappy customer. Are there really no workarounds?

 

[Mickey330]

If you have your music stored in Dropbox, you can Favorite it so that it is stored locally on the iPad. Granted, you will need access to WiFi/cellular so that the songs can be downloaded, but, once they are favorited (in your Dropbox app), you won't need WiFi or cellular.

Maybe that'll work?

Marilyn

 

[2handband]

Okay, Marilyn, I figured out how to do that. Thank you. Now: where are the files? So far the only place I can access them from is Dropbox itself. I need to be able to get at them from a music app with fast, easy playlist editing and I don't see them in iTunes or anyplace else.

 

[J. A.]

They still are in Dropbox. If you have another music app than the built in app, try the Open In... feature in Dropbox to export these files. Maybe you can get them there. Tap the box with the arrow upwards at the top right of the screen in Dropbox (Share), then select Open In...

 

[nathan.kindle]

I don't know if this works or will help but the app ever music says you can pull from the clouds and load it locally for offline listening. I havent tried it yet. Evermusic by Artem Meleshko
https://appsto.re/us/EgAX0.i

 

[Mickey330]

Okay, nevermind about Dropbox ... in a way.

I was playing around, using J.A.'s suggestion to open the music in another app. I have the app OPlayer HD, so I used that to successfully open a song in it while the iPad was in Airplane mode. Worked a treat.

Then, I started looking more closely at OPlayer HD and discovered (re-remembered?) that it has the ability to sync with Dropbox. So, I synced the app with Dropbox.

Then, while online, I could put any number of songs into the app (I used MP3s, though OPlayer can/will play a LOT of formats).

After I got some songs into the app, I turned Airplane mode back on - and was still able to play the songs I had loaded into the app.

So, the songs can be directly input into OPlayer HD and they will work fine in the app when you are offline. In other words, you don't have to favorite the songs in Dropbox, just download them directly into OPlayer.

Once you are done with a song, it's an easy delete from within the app and it won't affect the songs still on Dropbox. Plus, there is a filing/sorting system in OPlayer that will allow you to organize your music.

I am sure OPlayer HD is not the only app that can do this, but it is the app I have on my iPad that did. So, maybe give it a shot? The app has a free Lite version that is app-supported so you won't lose any money to try it.

Marilyn