One of the most popular features of Apple's iOS 4 is the ability to stream music apps like Pandora and Slacker in the background similar to how the iPod app has always worked. The downside to these apps, though, is that you can't stream your own music. Apple has rectified that problem, though, with an update to their iDisk app. The 1.2 upgrade to that app, which was actually pushed out about a month ago, features the ability to "play audio from your iDisk while using another app." iDisk is a part of Apple's MobileMe service, which costs about $100 per year, and gives users 20 GB of storage for whatever they would like to use it for. If you have a MobileMe account and the iDisk app on your iDevice, you can now stream any music in your iDisk in the background, including licensed music.
While it is a bit of a downside that you have to be a MobileMe customer to take advantage of the iDisk app and its background streaming capabilities, subscriptions to the service can often be found online for a discount. The fact that you can only store 20 GB of music on your iDisk account may be a disappointment for some users with vast music libraries, but you could always just switch out the music in your account if you have some new stuff to listen to. Record labels, and the RIAA, may not be big on the fact that you can stream licensed music with the iDisk app, so who knows if we'll see them take action against Apple. Any MobileMe users out there taking advantage of the iDisk background streaming?
