iTunes Match Goes Live
by Kristian Vättö on November 14, 2011 2:10 PM EST- Posted in
- Apple
- Mac
- iOS 5
- iTunes Match
Apple has finally released iTunes Match to the public. The release comes a couple of weeks later than its originally schedule October.
For those of you unfamiliar with the service, iTunes Match is iTunes in the cloud - it lets you store all your music (up to 25,000 songs) on Apple's servers. Once uploaded, you can access your music from anywhere so long as you've got a semi decent Internet connection. What makes Match special is that you only need to upload the songs from your library that are not in Apple's iTunes Store. Songs that are available in iTunes Store are already on Apple's servers, hence the upload isn't necessary. This is a definite advantage compared to Amazon's Cloud Player, which requires you to upload all of your music. Upload speeds are still generally slow; a 1Mbps upload would take over four days to upload 50GB of music.
iTunes Match is priced at $24.99 per year and is currently US only. Along with the release of iTunes Match, Apple has also updated iTunes to 10.5.1, which is required for iTunes Match. iOS devices need the recently released iOS 5.0.1.
Source: Apple
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PCHPlayer - Monday, November 14, 2011 - link
You only have to upload the songs you did not buy on Amazon to the Amazon cloud, just the same as iTunes. So no advantage, except that the Amazon cloud is free!web2dot0 - Monday, November 14, 2011 - link
ummm ....iTunes match is different. You only have to upload the song that ISN'T on the iTunes library. Not just the ones that are bought thru iTunes. That's a big difference.
Ronakbhai - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
I've only used iTunes once to redeem some music, but doesn't iTunes only let you download the music once? Or does it change with the cloud that you can essentially download your music again and again for the yearly fee?solipsism - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
As many times as you'd like, so long as you keep iTunes Match active.Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
But you are limited to 10 devices. I.e. you can't share your Apple ID in Piratebay :Dsolipsism - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Lets say you write your own song and give it to a dozen people. Then you add that song to iTunes and sync with iTunes Match. Apple's servers now have a record of it so if the dozen people you gave the song to then sync it with iTunes Match there would be no additional upload because the song already exists in their cloud. It's much more like how Dropbox works (before they started bungling it).Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
It needs to be in iTunes Store, I think. What would e.g. "Song 1" be otherwise? There must be thousands of songs named like that.solipsism - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
It checks the file, not the file's name. As stated, much more like Dropbox where the name of the file doesn't matter when it checks for that file on their system.KoolAidMan1 - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
You don't upload any of your own music with iTunes match, it just logs your metadata and allows you to download music in your library whether it was bought on iTunes or not. And it has the permission of the record labels, so any possibility of legal problems are out the window while other services may have trouble down the road.GotThumbs - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
The Idea of having to PAY 25.00 a year to play music you own is just NUTS.Especially when there are other services/options that are FREE. If you go with an upload type service, its a one time thing...then access your music free anywhere till they decide to charge. You could also store your music on a home server/NAS and bypass Itunes or other services altogether. You could also have a one-time purchase of one of the many streaming software titles available that install on the computer you have your music stored.
I know Apple will have many 'Followers' dive in to this head first....but "a fool and their money are quickly parted". After the adoption is complete...then prices WILL rise. You CAN count on that.
Suckers born every minute.