Along with an early build of iOS 5.0.1, Apple has provided developers with an updated version of iTunes 10.5.1 that is compatible with its upcoming iTunes Match service.
When iOS 5 arrived last month, it included a slew of new cloud-based features, but the much-hyped iTunes Match cloud music storage service was missing. iTunes Match allows users to upload their non-iTunes purchases to the cloud for easy access on multiple computers and iOS devices. Apple told us that the feature would be live by the end of October, but as we enter November, iTunes Match is still unavailable to regular users. We’ve reached out to Apple for information regarding the delay.
The updated version of iTunes that is now available to developers adds some new refinements to the iTunes Match service, indicating that it might be close to release.
iTunes Match works on up to 10 devices, including five computers authorized with your Apple ID. You can also use iTunes Match with two different Apple TV 2 devices.
Once enabled, iTunes Match lets you access not just your tunes, but also your playlists, from other devices. You can download hard copies of music to your device, or you can stream the audio from the cloud.
The service isn’t demonstrably different than what Amazon offers with its Cloud Player or Google Music, with one big exception: Apple will query your music to see if it already has songs in its database. If it does, rather than uploading your existing files (which might be lower quality), it will provide access to high-quality 256kbps versions of the songs. That also prevents users from having to upload their entire library to the cloud.
Of course, iTunes purchases are instantly available. In fact, all users can now take advantage of iTunes in the Cloud, which gives users a chance to access past purchases from multiple devices and makes downloading purchases to multiple devices seamless.
We’re not sure why iTunes Match is delayed, but once the service arrives, we’re sure it will be a hit. It costs $24.99 for a year of service, but the benefits of having access to your entire music library anyway is worth the cost.
No comments:
Post a Comment