Can an ios device be assigned to a Windows Workgroup?

I can sync much of the content like my contacts/calendar and some of the data from apps via either iCloud or DropBox. I mostly use the iTunes sync for backup of the iPhone and iPad. It seems silly to download new apps separately on each device but that has usually been the most convenient way to load new purchases.
Also I do have all of my music files loaded in iTunes but only a subset loaded on the iOS devices. I can use sync to manage that. Playing my music from the Cloud works ... but only if I have a solid data connection, something that is not certain where I live so I like to have a good bit of that content physically loaded on the devices.
I've tried the troubleshooting steps at imore but so far no joy.
Oh well.

Maybe I am missing something. I gave up on iTunes over a year ago (at least on my Windows devices), and haven't looked back after migrating to the higher capacity paid version of iCloud. And with the selection of third party software that can easily create an iPhone backup on a Mac or PC, it's not hard to accomplish if you require. FWIW, I mostly utilize a program called CopyTrans Manager to manage my music/media on various iOS devices at home. Maybe iCloud Drive will be available for Windows 7, but I am not counting on it. More info here: http://www.cnet.com/news/apples-icloud-drive-cost/

Or is the underlying issue mostly regarding a lack of decent wifi in your residence? Perhaps we could also assist in that arena

I don't know what happened with the email notifications for the thread. I don't recall seeing any.
In any event I would prefer to avoid paying for extra iCloud storage space which is the main reason I don't make full use of it's capabilities.
I had not heard about non-Apple backup and content management so I'll have to check that out.

You wrote this above-

"Playing my music from the Cloud works ... but only if I have a solid data connection, something that is not certain where I live"

Then you state 'the wifi works fine'

??

Would you mind clarifying this a little?

At home the WiFi is fine but away from home WiFi is not available and cellular data access is not predictable or reliable. That is one of many reasons I don't want to keep too much information in the cloud as opposed to devices that I can access more reliably.

Now I at least partially understand your dilemma, but I still feel you could find a better middle ground.

I find many users resist doing all it asks. I can't imagine what fears folk have about forgetting the network but have seen folk say "no" to that step.
Bob

It pains me beyond belief to visit a client/family member and find out they think that wifi with a 50 foot max range is adequate for covering the whole house <smacking forehead with palm>.

Having set up the home LAN with two access points I'm always within a reasonable distance of one, but I'm still uncertain if there is a way to convince the computer to automatically switch to the one with the strongest signal. I admit I haven't researched this recently since everything works as long as I manually select the closer access point. Switching when I move from one room to another is not particularly disruptive since the IP address does not change, it's just annoying.

To a more central location, or quite possibly, updating to a newer wireless router with longer range/more bandwidth for multiple devices? For example, we built a small shelf for my brother in laws central closet off a hallway, which now provides wifi at a reasonable signal for 95% of a 2500 sq ft house. YMMV, of course. Changing the channel helped too.

Putting in the necessary cabling takes more time than I really want to invest right now and it is not a given that it will work because of a large amount of metal between the floors in the most obvious location for a central router. That's one reason I haven't worried too much about the need to manually select the more appropriate access point; I was just curious whether there might be an automagical way to handle the selection. One peculiar thing about this is that the newer router (Apple Airport, don't recall the model) actually seems to have a shorter range than the old Belkin that has been chugging along fairly reliably for a very long time.

At least until you find the 'secret sauce' that applies to your particular needs/situation.

Regarding age/quality/performance, you might want to note is that it's fairly standard practice that each new device may have it's own strengths/weaknesses. Nothing unusual in the least that an Apple Airport wouldn't necessarily be the high flyer your Belkin was, at least in your particular domicile/network. <pointing over to the arguably cruddy Cisco router that seemingly does better than several other higher priced/better rated models in my residence.>.