httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sgtK63DALQ&feature=player_embedded
Apple must really not want iTunes Match to stream. Last night’s hasty release if iOS 5 Beta 7 seems to have been hastened to release specifically to change the way downloading songs from the iCloud takes place.
When iTunes Match was first released to developers last Friday, it appeared that in addition to downloading your songs to your disk, you could stream them remotely from Apple’s servers. An Apple rep later denied this, saying instead that it was “instantaneous download” that “just worked,” but the fast tracked release of iOS 5 Beta 7 suggests Apple didn’t even want it to look like iTunes Match streamed anymore.
Why? I can hear you guys asking. If iTunes Match can stream, why doesn’t it stream… and why does Apple think letting it stream is such a bad thing, especially if, as Apple claims, they already have streaming licenses?
It all comes down to how Apple makes its money, and right now, a chunk of Apple’s empire is spent selling music downloads to people. If Apple starts offering streaming, not only does it undermine that download business — which is a far more lucrative venture than a la carte streaming services like Rdio and Spotify — but it pisses off Apple’s carrier partners who are already feeling the pinch on data plans.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
