On the other hand, my 4S has a persistent mobile data connection, so storing music locally is of no great benefit to me. I guess all we can conclude is that 16GB can be huge, or tiny, depending on how you want to use your device.

Ever done a road trip? Amazing how many places out there on major interstates have like no data coverage. On-device storage is important for cases like these.

I was in the US a few months ago and did experience what you are talking about on the interstates, so I get where you are coming from. It was actually kind of a strange experience to be out of service so often.

But here in Canada, where I spent almost all my time, the only place I've ever had any significant coverage issues is when I was in the far north, and I've only been there once. It's essentially a non-issue for me.

Come play around in Australia for a bit :(

(Hence my 64GB device with the majority of space used by music)

The only times I use my iPhone for music are on long drives and airplanes. Not a good use case for iTunes Match. I do have Match, but mainly just use it on my laptops (which don't have any music on them).

Having local storage is good for services like Spotify though, especially for those long road trips where the signal can be a bit spotty.

That's why I love iTunes Match. I'm able to take my complete music library around with me without actually using up all my phones storage. As long as I have network connectivity, the song will be downloaded to the device on-demand.