Apple testing iTunes Match on Apple TV with iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2
Apple on Wednesday issued iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 to developers, adding support for iTunes Match on the Apple TV set-top box.
In addition to new Apple TV support for iTunes Match, iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 includes "a number of important stability and performance improvements," according to a person familiar with the release. The Cupertino, Calif., company told developers interested in trying out iTunes Match on an Apple TV unit to first upgrade to the new beta and then turn on the service in the Music settings for the device.
Apple is already a few days late in delivering iTunes Match to the public, as the company had previously said the service would launch by the end of October. People involved in the beta test had reported that the service still has a number of issues, such as stalling or incorrect matching, that needed to be resolved, but it's not yet clear whether those issues have been addressed in the most recent iTunes beta.
Apple seeded iTunes 10.5.1 beta 1 to developers in October shortly after releasing iTunes 10.5 to the public.
When it's released to the public, iTunes Match will cost $24.99 per year and support music libraries as large as 25,000 songs. The service will scan iTunes collections to find songs that match up with those on offer on the iTunes Music Store, making them available via iCloud.
Apple also issued an iOS 5.0.1 beta on Wednesday, with fixes meant to address a battery life issue on iOS 5 devices. But, some developers report experiencing issues with installing and activating the update. According to the company, the update will arrive in "a few weeks."
In addition to new Apple TV support for iTunes Match, iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 includes "a number of important stability and performance improvements," according to a person familiar with the release. The Cupertino, Calif., company told developers interested in trying out iTunes Match on an Apple TV unit to first upgrade to the new beta and then turn on the service in the Music settings for the device.
Apple is already a few days late in delivering iTunes Match to the public, as the company had previously said the service would launch by the end of October. People involved in the beta test had reported that the service still has a number of issues, such as stalling or incorrect matching, that needed to be resolved, but it's not yet clear whether those issues have been addressed in the most recent iTunes beta.
Apple seeded iTunes 10.5.1 beta 1 to developers in October shortly after releasing iTunes 10.5 to the public.
When it's released to the public, iTunes Match will cost $24.99 per year and support music libraries as large as 25,000 songs. The service will scan iTunes collections to find songs that match up with those on offer on the iTunes Music Store, making them available via iCloud.
Apple also issued an iOS 5.0.1 beta on Wednesday, with fixes meant to address a battery life issue on iOS 5 devices. But, some developers report experiencing issues with installing and activating the update. According to the company, the update will arrive in "a few weeks."
Comments
Maybe this is common knowledge ... But what happens if you stop paying for iTunes Match after a year?
What happens about what?
If you have downloaded the songs, they are on your computer/iOS device and stay there unless you delete them.
What happens about what?
If you have downloaded the songs, they are on your computer/iOS device and stay there unless you delete them.
In case others missed previous discussions of iTunes Match it's a way to replace low bitrate songs with DRM-free 256Kbps AAC files.
In case others missed previous discussions of iTunes Match it's a way to replace low bitrate songs with DRM-free 256Kbps AAC files.
... and in case your iTunes Plus upgrade is more than $24.99, this is an amazing deal if just for that. I know I'll be getting this at least for one year to take DRM and upgrade the quality of my pre-iTunes plus music collection.
... and in case your iTunes Plus upgrade is more than $24.99, this is an amazing deal if just for that. I know I'll be getting this at least for one year to take DRM and upgrade the quality of my pre-iTunes plus music collection.
Need to have more than 83 songs of DRMed 128Kbps iTunes songs to upgrade to make the numbers work out.
Maybe this is common knowledge ... But what happens if you stop paying for iTunes Match after a year?
Its like a subscription based deal. So if you don't pay for the next year then the service will not work.
Is iTunes match going to allow the user to download the entire library as drm protected apple music, or is it just of you are streaming the music off the cloud?
Maybe try reading Apple's page about it.
Is iTunes match going to allow the user to download the entire library as drm protected apple music, or is it just of you are streaming the music off the cloud?
iTunes Store music started dropping DRM in 2007 with EMI, all music went DRM-free on January 6th, 2009 (almost 3 years ago), and no 256Kbps AAC file from iTS has ever had DRM.
iTunes Store music started dropping DRM in 2007 with EMI, all music went DRM-free on January 6th, 2009 (almost 3 years ago), and no 256Kbps AAC file from iTS has ever had DRM.
Thanks for that, but really the main reason I was asking is is it downloadable to replace your current library, or just the songs that you stream that will be iTunes store quality music (do the songs that you didn't have as iTunes quality music to away when you cancel your subscription)?
Thanks for that, but really the main reason I was asking is is it downloadable to replace your current library, or just the songs that you stream that will be iTunes store quality music (do the songs that you didn't have as iTunes quality music to away when you cancel your subscription)?
Yes: http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...44#post1980644
And if you're using it just for this conversion loophole you have to have more than 83 FairPlay encrypted 128Kbps songs to make it profitable: http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...53#post1980653
Now lets assume your iTunes Match subscriptions end and then after that you lose your music. All the music you can then re-download from iTunes Store will still be in the format you bought them, so if they were 128Kbps DRMed music you'll get that again, unless you want to pay for iTunes Match again and redo this process of re-downloading all over again. Pros and cons, so you have to weigh it against how much music you have and how you listen to it.
Its like a subscription based deal. So if you don't pay for the next year then the service will not work.
But if you have already downloaded all the songs, it won't matter (except for redownlaoding them).
In case others missed previous discussions of iTunes Match it's a way to replace low bitrate songs with DRM-free 256Kbps AAC files.
Any ideas on the 25,000 limit? Is that based upon an annual maximum or the number in your iTunes library?
By way of explanation ... 25,000 have been downloaded. Now if 10,000 of the newly downloaded high bit rate versions were moved out of the iTunes library would that free up another 10,000 downloads or is the cap already met?
Any ideas on the 25,000 limit? Is that based upon an annual maximum or the number in your iTunes library?
By way of explanation ... 25,000 have been downloaded. Now if 10,000 of the newly downloaded high bit rate versions were moved out of the iTunes library would that free up another 10,000 downloads or is the cap already met?
Just a guess, but I don't think Apple isn't going to be that protective about iTM. I would suggest that those with more than 25,000 (likely ill-gotten) tracks of low quality to break up your iTunes Libraries into separate sections as I would guess you'll have to rebuild the entire iTM DB each time you attempt this.
1128Kbps FairPlay encrypted songs
That should shut up the audiophiles
Maybe try reading Apple's page about it.
Makes no sense Huh????
To my understanding iTunes match allows you to download any of your tracks to any iOS or Lion device; it is not streaming.
Whether or not it's technically streaming doesn't matter much. In the case of the aTV they can either have it download the files you play, stream them, or download them then delete automatically after done playing. The last two options should look the same to the user.
In general, there's nothing stopping Apple from having Match behave differently on different devices.