There’s been so much chatter about Apple iCloud that you’d think the streaming music service had already been announced and the deals inked. But it’s still just a rumor until an Apple executive takes the stage and unleashes the Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music competitor in a spate of superlatives. That hasn’t stopped Businessweek from stepping up with a good summary of all that is “known” thus far, while giving us some insight into the particulars of how the service will work and the motivations to make it happen. One revelation, sourced from three people in the know, claims that Apple will scan customers’ iTunes libraries (hello, LaLa) and quickly mirror the contents on Apple’s own servers — no massive DSL-choking upload required. And Apple will do you the solid of “replacing” any low bit-rate tracks with high-quality versions stored in the Apple music locker for streaming to your connected devices. Of course, this value-add won’t come free and will certainly require a subscription fee. The cost to the consumer, though, is still very much unclear as is the service’s integration with Apple’s per year MobileMe sham. But it’s this subscription model that has the major labels so enthusiastic as it will finally allow them to extort fees for all that pirated audio you may have stumbled upon since Napster was loosed on an unprepared music industry a decade ago. All signs point to WWDC for this to get official but we’re sure to hear more — much more — before the event kicks off on June 6th.

Apple’s iCloud music service will automatically mirror your iTunes library, augment with ‘high-quality’ tracks? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 03:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in December, I broke the mobile broadband speed limit using Verizon’s just launched 4G network. The only LTE-compatible devices at that time were USB dongles, and they were initially limited to computers running Microsoft Windows. Since then, Verizon has added USB support for Mac computers, but also new MiFi devices that can share the fast 4G signal with multiple devices.

For the past week, I’ve been using one of the new MiFi’s. Novatel Wireless sent me a loaner MiFi 4510L, which Verizon currently sells online for with a two-year data contract. This morning I used the device as my only data connection for my laptop and a tablet. It can share the 4G connection with up to five devices. My laptop was used all morning on the MiFi’s hotspot, while I used the tablet sporadically. Both devices enjoyed super speeds from the 4510L; I felt like I was working at home where I have a fast FiOS connection.

Verizon advertises that the MiFi 4510L should provide downloads 5–12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2–5 Mbps. In repeated tests, the device exceded those claims and performance didn’t vary much. My speedtests routinely showed network latency around 45 milliseconds, downloads at 16 Mbps and uploads just over 5 Mbps, all of which are comparable or better to what I experienced in December.

To give you a real-world example of the speeds, I downloaded the latest Christina Perri album from my Amazon Cloud Storage account in just under two minutes. Every activity I threw at the network and the MiFi — video chats, YouTube HQ viewing, streaming music, browsing and more — offered a comparable experience to my speedy home network.

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The device itself is slightly thicker than the old 3G MiFi I still have for Verizon’s network, but it doesn’t have a noticeably bigger footprint, as you can easily throw the new MiFi in a pocket. The 1500 mAh battery lasted for just over 3.5 hours on the 4G network and can be charged with the included plug or from a computer’s USB port. One upgrade I really like over the prior version is a handy display to show signal strength, battery life and the number of connected devices: A small dot appears for each computer, tablet or mobile device using the MiFi’s wireless connection.

While the MiFi 4510L uses Verizon’s 4G network, it also supports the operator’s 3G or EV-DO data networks; helpful since LTE is only available in 46 markets now. The carrier plans to cover 145 markets before the end of 2011. Since the MiFi 4510L supports both 3G and 4G mobile broadband, it’s future-proof and is prepared to show you 4G speeds if you’re not yet in an LTE coverage area. Using the device at my home office provided standard 3G speeds, just like my old MiFi does.

Should you buy this MiFi? There’s two schools of thought here for people that need mobile broadband. One one hand, some are occasionally using the wireless hotspot functionality that’s becoming prominent on new smartphones. The potential downside here is that using the phone as a hotspot can leave you with a brick. Once the battery runs down you lose both your mobile broadband and your smartphone features. The other camp would rather have a dedicated data device which can offer more monthly bandwidth for the dollar. For those folks, especially in an LTE coverage area, the MiFi 4510L is a great choice.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• Mobile Q1: All Eyes on Tablets, T-Mobile and AT&T
• A Global Mobile Handset Platform Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• In Q4, Data Was Mobile’s Hot Spot

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