Apple's forthcoming cloud-based music streaming service could be faster than its rivals by storing small portions of songs locally on your device.
Based on a new information gleaned from a new patent, Apple's service will load songs faster by accessing the first portion of the track locally, while iOS scours the cloud for the rest of the song.
That would mean a portion of iPhone's hard-drive would be used to store the first few seconds of a track, but once it is loaded from the web, playback will sync perfectly.
This new means of streaming music would eliminate the need for the device to cache enough of the song for it to play all the way through without the risk of buffering.
Undesired pauses
The application reads: "When the electronic device is unaware of the next media item to play back, the electronic device can require undesired pauses between media items.
"Similarly, when a user skips to a different media item for playback, the electronic device can require a long pause during which no media item is played back as the new media item is streamed to the device."
So, the patent "Local Storage of a Portion of Streamed Media Items," could be the key to Apple providing a faster, more efficient cloud-service for its users.
With this new insight into the potential inner workings of the streaming service, and Wednesday's news that Apple has secured streaming deals with some major record labels, it seems that Cupertino is nearly good to go with this potentially industry-changing venture.
The smart money is on an unveiling at WWDC on June 7th.
