Bandwagon backs up iTunes library
updated 05:55 pm EST, Thu February 22, 2007
Bandwagon backs up iTunes
Xackup has launched bandwagon, an online iTunes backup service offering unlimited storage. Bandwagon is designed for music lovers who forget to use rsync, ftp, or CDs + DVDs to backup music. The service is automatic, and features menubar controls with selective backups or full restorations. A queue manager supports free choice of which iTunes items are scheduled for backup, and users can pick artist icons from 'Alanis' to 'the Woz.' Bandwagon is $70 per year for unlimited storage until February 28th before midnight (PST), or $1 for a 30-day trial with unlimited storage. The service will cost $100 per year after February 29th, according to Xackup.
The new service also enables users to select which iTunes items are to be backed up without requiring any drag-and-drop operations, while a quick search feature uses Apple's Spotlight technology to sift through queued as well as backed up and missing items.
Bandwagon uses Amazon.com S3 service -- Amazon.com's Simple Storage Service -- for its back-end provider to host online backups for customers, relying on Amazon's trusted security measures and speedy networks for redundancy and reliable backups. The same company also offers xackmail -- an online backup of Apple Mail content for $2 per month with an unlimited storage capacity.
$100 per year?
02/22, 07:43pm reply
Lets say that it is 5 years or so until you lose your music due to a hard drive failure or whatever. That is $500 you could have put forth for your new music collection after the loss -- if it was ever going to happen in the first place. Much better to buy yourself a 500GB HD for $200 and back up your music, and whatever else you need as well.
jogdish
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
I don't think so
02/23, 12:37am reply
So... let me get this straight... I'm supposed to upload all of the content that I purchased with my own money, to some guy's server I don't even know?
Uh... pass.
Da Moof
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2006
interesting
02/23, 09:14am reply
I wouldn't pay more than $50 for the pleasure of giving away my entire music collection. WTF? This is the single most ridiculous thing I've seen in at least 15 minutes.
pottymouth
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2003
backup times
02/23, 09:50am reply
Not to mention the week it would take to copy my large collection over the internet.
Macrat
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2000
no thanks
02/23, 10:43am reply
I will keep my own backup locally...Do these people think this is a good idea?
silverflyer
Dedicated MacNNer
Joined: Jun 2006
let me get this straight:
02/23, 10:45am reply
For users TOO STUPID to back up their tracks to CD (free), or to another drive (free minus cost of drive) or another computer (free), there is now a service where they must now actively back up their tracks AND pay for the privilege??
Oh yeah, that's a business model that will succeed. Sure.
chas_m
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Price goes up to $100
02/23, 11:54am reply
after February 29th of what year - 2008? Is this all some kind of a plot by the people who changed Daylight Savings Time?
psdenno
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2003
Re: price goes up
02/23, 12:35pm reply
after February 29th of what year - 2008? Is this all some kind of a plot by the people who changed Daylight Savings Time?
Um, DST and Leap Years have nothing to do with each other.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Insulting people
02/23, 02:10pm reply
Offsite backups, a bad idea? How do you figure?
I'm not "too stupid" to backup my tracks - I have 5 external hard drives. Guess what? Hard drives die. I don't like to keep backups on a drive more than a year old, so think about replacing a drive every year. Plus if my house burns down... bye bye music. So I've burned them to CD? Oh well... guess they're gone too.
Once you started it up it requires no interaction - it magically keeps your backups up to date.
As to where the data is being stored, it's being stored on S3. So I'd say it's fairly safe.
As to "giving away your entire music collection" how does that work?
Did anybody actually read anything about this product?
(Disclaimer: I have a year's free service, but even if I didn't I'd so be paying for this.)
pftqg
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2007
Feb 29?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
02/23, 05:40pm reply
Testudo Wrote: Um, DST and Leap Years have nothing to do with each other.
Guess what? Neither do February 29 and 2007. That was the point that appears to have cruised over the top of more than a few heads.
psdenno
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2003