It’s finally here — for U.S.-based developers, anyway. iTunes Match, Apple’s upcoming new service that takes your iTunes library and mirrors it in Apple’s cloud so it can be streamed has just dropped in Beta form.
The beta requires the current iOS 5 beta and iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1 — and a paid subscription to iTunes Match, which runs $25 per year. However, the beta will also come with an additional three free months of the service. Additional notes from the release:
To get started with iTunes Match, download the current version of iOS 5 beta and iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1 with iTunes Match. Once installed, choose Turn On iTunes Match from the Store menu, and click “Subscribe for $24.99.”Please note that you must maintain a local backup of your iTunes library as well as any music you add to iCloud. Apple will periodically reset your iCloud library during the beta and it is critical that you backup your music regularly. Some features and optimizations of iTunes Match will not be available during the beta.
When he was eight, Eli Milchman came home from frolicking in the Veld one day and was given an Atari 400. Since then, his fascination with technology has made him an intrepid early adopter of whatever charming new contraption crosses his path. He calls San Francisco home, where he works as a journalist and photographer. Eli has contributed to the pages of Wired.com and BIKE Magazine, among others. Hang with him on Twitter.
8 responses to “iTunes Match Beta Now Available for Developers”
My iTunes has been matching for the last 45 mins and has only gone through 45 songs.
Yeah, it’s pretty slow, but I’m sure the datacenter is at full throttle right now scanning libraries…
Streaming or “syncing”?? Which one is it Apple, will icloud stream to all my devices or am I going to have to download all the songs onto each device from the “cloud”? Also, $24.99 is there any sort of money back guarantee if we don’t like the service?
your posting this in the wrong place bro.. no answers to your (rethorical?) questions here..