I dont; think the cloud has anything to do with the internet. Its just apples proprietary way of making money. I refuse to use it myself or buy into that scheme. If I buy music I want to own my copy. I still use cassettes in my car lol
I like them... and they are usually close to free at garage sales.
You can copy pictures into Icloud and back to your favorite "I thing" but I can copy to my own hard drive just as easy.
I did finally find a way to copy my MP3's onto my Ipad. It is possible but apple tries to make it as difficult as they can. Transferring pictures and photos is easy.
If you travel lots I can see how Icloud is good for backing up your phone in case you drop it in a puddle. They probably own the rights to all your photos if they get those though and if you take photos with location services turned on it maps exactly where you took them and that data is trapped in the file with the photo. locations services is creepy. the only time I turn it on is if I'm away from home and maybe lost and want directions.. I'ts none of apples business where I live. the data they can collect without you realizing it is scary stuff. Some malls were using to to track every shopper so they can tell where you walked how much time you looked in each store by following your phone's location. that's messed up and a serious invasion of privacy in my book. but the iphones are easy to use and they work well. I have an android for work and it's such a PITA after getting used to an iphone although I guess it's what you get used to. I think I could be perfectly happy with either it's just familiarity. I think apple makes it easier to get onto because the user interface is more user friendly.