iTunes Match beta reset on Thursday points to imminent launch

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Apple notified developers on Wednesday evening that it will reset iTunes Match beta accounts on Oct. 27th in order to improve the "overall quality and reliability" of the service ahead of its upcoming public launch.



Throughout the beta period, which began in late August, Apple has periodically warned of data resets for the service. But, given the public release of iOS 5 and iCloud earlier this month, Apple's decision to delete "all current iCloud libraries" of iTunes Match beta testers on Thursday is believed to indicate its imminent launch.



Developers are told to turn off iTunes Match on their computers and iOS devices to prepare for the wipe. Apple also reminded them to backup all information they have stored in iCloud.



iTunes Match will cost $24.99 per year and provides a convenient scan and match service that will determine which songs on a user's hard drive are also available on the iTunes Music Store. Those songs will then be added accessible from iCloud.



Apple touts the fact that the scan will take just minutes, compared to weeks of upload time for rival music services from Amazon and Google. The service will also offer increased quality by providing 256 Kbps AAC downloads even when the matched files have a lower bitrate.



"If you want all the benefits of iTunes in the Cloud for music you haven?t purchased from iTunes, iTunes Match is the perfect solution. It lets you store your entire collection, including music you?ve ripped from CDs or purchased somewhere other than iTunes, for just $24.99 a year," Apple says of the upcoming service.



A switch to activate iTunes Match has already appeared within iOS 5, but after activating it, users are prompted to enter the Apple ID associated with an iTunes Match subscription. Apple has yet to begin offering public subscriptions for the service; the company has said that it will go live by the end of October.







The service will initially be available only in the U.S., but Apple is working to bring it to other markets.



Though he initial iTunes Match beta appeared to instantly stream music, Apple has clarified that the service does not technically support streaming. Music files must first be "stored" on an iOS device before being played.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 31
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member
    Maybe I will find my perfect match some day. For now I will have to depend on iTunes Match and SIRI to be my perfect match. Lol.
  • Reply 2 of 31
    Maybe iTunes Match won't be so schizophrenic about which songs on an album it matches and which songs it won't. I have several albums where only a few songs were matched at the 256k rate and the rest were still at 128k. I noticed if the album was "Remastered", the length of the songs are slightly different, and that might be why they didn't match up.



    Case in point: Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon album. I have the original CD when it first came out on CD, but iTunes has the Remastered version. Some of the songs converted, some didn't. Also because Dark Side is a gapless album, you can hear when the bit rate changes between songs. If the consecutive songs are of the same bit rate, you don't notice anything and it plays as it should. Rather annoying.
  • Reply 3 of 31
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    When I used to upgrade from iTunes 128k to iTunes Plus, it sometimes got the wrong track (different language once, different version another time), and that was with their own metadata! If iTunes Match uses the same tech I'm not sure how it will fare in the world of arbitrary metadata.
  • Reply 4 of 31
    dave k.dave k. Posts: 1,306member
    I asked these in a standalone thread, but little response... Can anyone answer them?



    With iTunes Match coming very soon, will Apple phase out the iTunes Plus service along with it? Are early DRM-enabled, iTunes songs that I purchased from the iTunes Music Store not eligible of the iTunes Match service?



    Thank in advance.



    Dave
  • Reply 5 of 31
    kavokkavok Posts: 51member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dave K. View Post


    I asked these in a standalone thread, but little response... Can anyone answer them?



    With iTunes Match coming very soon, will Apple phase out the iTunes Plus service along with it? Are early DRM-enabled, iTunes songs that I purchased from the iTunes Music Store not eligible of the iTunes Match service?



    Thank in advance.



    Dave



    If you purchased the music on iTunes previously, you won't need to match it, as iTunes keeps track of what you have already purchased. It will be part of iTunes in the Cloud (hate that name) automatically.



    What I would do is go through the iTunes Match process, and then actually delete the earlier albums that had the DRM. The album will still be available to re-download from the cloud (you'll see the cloud-download icon next to the names of the songs), and it should force it to give you the higher bit-rate DRM-free songs to replace the old ones. At least that's how I've seen it work so far...



    As far as phasing out the iTunes Plus service, only Apple can answer that one.
  • Reply 6 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dave K. View Post


    I asked these in a standalone thread, but little response... Can anyone answer them?



    With iTunes Match coming very soon, will Apple phase out the iTunes Plus service along with it? Are early DRM-enabled, iTunes songs that I purchased from the iTunes Music Store not eligible of the iTunes Match service?



    Thank in advance.



    Dave



    I have the same question. Does it become a track that is upgraded or one that is treated as "not in iTunes"?
  • Reply 7 of 31
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kavok View Post


    What I would do is go through the iTunes Match process, and then actually delete the earlier albums that had the DRM. The album will still be available to re-download from the cloud (you'll see the cloud-download icon next to the names of the songs), and it should force it to give you the higher bit-rate DRM-free songs to replace the old ones. At least that's how I've seen it work so far...



    That doesn't work for me. I still have a handful of old 128kbit DRM songs and if I delete them from iTunes and use the cloud button to download them again, I get a fresh copy but it still has DRM and 128k bitrate.



    BUT these same songs also do not show up in iTunes Plus, and can not be found when searching the store normally, so maybe that is the reason: they have simply been taken down by their publisher, but Apple has struck a deal to let people redownload them anyway.
  • Reply 8 of 31
    disappointing that streaming will not be included. As is, it's a pain to download a song then listen to it. The customer benefit is somewhat lost without the streaming option.
  • Reply 9 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pjgchicago View Post


    disappointing that streaming will not be included. As is, it's a pain to download a song then listen to it. The customer benefit is somewhat lost without the streaming option.



    But the way it works looks like streaming to the user, it starts playing the song as soon as it's selected as opposed to having to wait for the download to finish. The only difference from streaming is that the file stays downloaded on the device (which is arguably a benefit in situations with data caps).
  • Reply 10 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    That doesn't work for me. I still have a handful of old 128kbit DRM songs and if I delete them from iTunes and use the cloud button to download them again, I get a fresh copy but it still has DRM and 128k bitrate.



    BUT these same songs also do not show up in iTunes Plus, and can not be found when searching the store normally, so maybe that is the reason: they have simply been taken down by their publisher, but Apple has struck a deal to let people redownload them anyway.



    That makes sense. If the song is no longer in the store, iTunes will upload it for you. Then, when you download it, you're just downloading the same file that iTunes uploaded for you.
  • Reply 11 of 31
    11/1/11 would be so Apple as a launch date
  • Reply 12 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bkaupe View Post


    11/1/11 would be so Apple as a launch date



    Except Apple said that it would launch in October. Apple wouldn't miss a promised launch just so the numbers of the date were all the same.
  • Reply 13 of 31
    I am confused at the comments about iTunes Match "not actually streaming" cause on the October 4th Keynote, they said that it would be "streaming". So perhaps it will be once it goes live? I think that is going to be a big deal as downloading a song over 3G, even if it plays instantly, wont that cost the user on their Data Plan? I have unlimited, but others (many) do not!
  • Reply 14 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lionelhuts View Post


    Apple wouldn't miss a promised launch just so the numbers of the date were all the same.



    But they WOULD miss a promised launch date. That's certainly not out of the question.
  • Reply 15 of 31
    I'm curious where AppleInsider saw this reset notice. I didn't see it in my Developer account, and my iTunes Match library wasn't reset yesterday. It's still completely messed up (I somehow have every song duplicated 5-6 times). I was really hoping there would be a reset yesterday, but I haven't been able to find any other reference to it other than this AppleInsider article. I didn't get an email like I did the last time Apple did this...
  • Reply 16 of 31
    Looks like we are left with October 31. AKA Halloween. for the release.
  • Reply 17 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by CPWicks10934 View Post


    Looks like we are left with October 31. AKA Halloween. for the release.



    They've missed launch dates before. If the current beta is any indication of how it's going to work, it's definitely not ready for prime time yet. Anyone else could launch it and it'd be fine, but it's not Apple quality yet.
  • Reply 18 of 31
    I doubt they will launch this on a weekend. That leaves Monday unless they are going to miss October. I think they changed the launch date for iCloud but changed it on the Apple website long before they got close to the originally posted date. I would be surprised that they changed the launch date with only two days left. That would be very un Apple.
  • Reply 19 of 31
    Apple website sys that Match is "coming soon" Looks ilke they may miss October
  • Reply 20 of 31
    This support article still says "end of October," so I'm expecting Monday.



    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4101
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