Apple Activates iTunes Match Setting in iOS 5, Suggesting Imminent Launch
While Apple launched iOS 5 and iCloud last week, the company pushed back the debut of its paid iTunes Match service in the United States until the "end of October". While iTunes Match had been in beta testing with iTunes 10.5 developer releases, the feature was removed from the public release and instead folded into an iTunes 10.5.1 beta that will presumably debut alongside the service.
Apple appears to be moving closer to a launch of iTunes Match in the United States, as the Music section of the Settings app in iOS 5 has now gained a toggle for turning iTunes Match on and off. That toggle had been present for developers testing the service, but had disappeared in recent days for many developers. The toggle now appears to have returned for developers and is visible to the general public as well.
iOS 5 Music settings before (left) and after (right) addition of iTunes Match toggle
Non-developers turning on iTunes Match on their devices will not yet be able to sign up for the $24.99/year service, as iOS 5 pops up an alert instructing users to sign up through iTunes.
With iTunes 10.5.1 not yet available to the general public, signups for iTunes Match are similarly not yet functional. Apple is, however, advertising the service as "coming soon" on the front page of the iTunes Store. Interestingly, iTunes Match is reportedly only launching in the United States by the end of the month with other countries set to come later, but Apple is optimistic enough about the service's international timeline that the "coming soon" flag is showing for users in a number of other countries. So far today we have received reports of the "coming soon" flag from users in Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
iTunes Match will allow users to have their music libraries matched to Apple's database of over 20 million tracks in the iTunes Store, making those songs available for use on any iCloud-enabled device associated with the user's accounts. Songs not available in the iTunes Store can be uploaded to Apple's servers and also made available across devices.
Apple appears to be moving closer to a launch of iTunes Match in the United States, as the Music section of the Settings app in iOS 5 has now gained a toggle for turning iTunes Match on and off. That toggle had been present for developers testing the service, but had disappeared in recent days for many developers. The toggle now appears to have returned for developers and is visible to the general public as well.
iOS 5 Music settings before (left) and after (right) addition of iTunes Match toggle
Non-developers turning on iTunes Match on their devices will not yet be able to sign up for the $24.99/year service, as iOS 5 pops up an alert instructing users to sign up through iTunes.
With iTunes 10.5.1 not yet available to the general public, signups for iTunes Match are similarly not yet functional. Apple is, however, advertising the service as "coming soon" on the front page of the iTunes Store. Interestingly, iTunes Match is reportedly only launching in the United States by the end of the month with other countries set to come later, but Apple is optimistic enough about the service's international timeline that the "coming soon" flag is showing for users in a number of other countries. So far today we have received reports of the "coming soon" flag from users in Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
iTunes Match will allow users to have their music libraries matched to Apple's database of over 20 million tracks in the iTunes Store, making those songs available for use on any iCloud-enabled device associated with the user's accounts. Songs not available in the iTunes Store can be uploaded to Apple's servers and also made available across devices.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
21 months ago
Still hoping for a way to "test my library" first before signing up. Why pay if only 1/3 of my music can be matched?
Taken from Apple's website.
Here’s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 19 million songs in the iTunes Store, chances are, your music is already in iCloud. And for the few songs that aren’t, iTunes has to upload only what it can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch.
21 months ago
Hopefully it goes without saying, but please backup your music before enabling Match. That way if something goes south, you'll always have your original files.
This message was brought to you by common sense in conjunction with foresight. :)
This message was brought to you by common sense in conjunction with foresight. :)
21 months ago
I apologize if this has already been answered, but I have yet to see a definitive answer:
What if I only pay once? Will all of the matched songs still be available once the year is over? Once a song is matched is it always matched? To download to a new computer, for example?
What if I only pay once? Will all of the matched songs still be available once the year is over? Once a song is matched is it always matched? To download to a new computer, for example?
21 months ago
$25 per year to keep my entire music library safe and upgrade all (or most) of the tracks to higher quality is a no-brainer.
Remember when you had to pay an additional $0.30 per song (at least, I think that's what it was) to upgrade the quality, and that only covered songs you purchased through iTunes? If you have thousands of songs to be upgraded, the cost comparison is pretty silly.
Remember when you had to pay an additional $0.30 per song (at least, I think that's what it was) to upgrade the quality, and that only covered songs you purchased through iTunes? If you have thousands of songs to be upgraded, the cost comparison is pretty silly.
21 months ago
Still hoping for a way to "test my library" first before signing up. Why pay if only 1/3 of my music can be matched?
21 months ago
I apologize if this has already been answered, but I have yet to see a definitive answer:
What if I only pay once? Will all of the matched songs still be available once the year is over? Once a song is matched is it always matched? To download to a new computer, for example?
You just won't be able to redownload it after your years up.
21 months ago
But this is only after you sign up right?
Correct. Regardless your music will be in the "cloud". If your songs don't match, it will just take longer because they will need to be uploaded. With 19 million songs in iTunes, I feel like majority of them should be matched.
AC/DC?
21 months ago
That was my first thought. When did Apple start auto-forcefully send me OS updates?
It's not an OS update, and nothing was sent. It was lying dormant in the code all along, and it just checks a server to see if it should appear.
[ Read All Comments ]
As noted by The Verge, Microsoft has released a new Windows 8 tablet ad that uses Siri to highlight a few of the iPad's shortcomings, depicting the ASUS VivoTab Smart tablet as a robust...
Realmac's gesture-based list making iPhone app Clear has been updated to version 1.2.2, adding a feature that allows users to email their lists to other people. When viewing a list, Clear users...
In an event today at the CTIA conference, case maker OtterBox announced it was acquiring waterproof case maker LifeProof.
OtterBox will keep LifeProof's San Diego location and employees will...
Google has announced plans to roll out an update to the iOS version of Chrome that will enable voice searching. The feature will function similarly to Siri on the iPhone, requiring a tap on the...
Forbes reports that former Gartner research director Michael Gartenberg has joined Apple. While his exact position at Apple hasn't been revealed, Gartenberg is said to be working under Apple...
Twitter has updated its Mac app today, adding notification support. When a Direct Message or mention is received, users will now be alerted with a popup notification. This option can be configured in...
FiftyThree, the developer behind the popular sketching app Paper, has posted a lengthy article examining the new Zoom feature that was added to Paper earlier this month.
Zoom is one of those UI...
As noted by Gizmodo, iLoveHandles has launched a new Trunk Lightning charging cable for the iPhone 5, offering an innovative posable design that allows the short cable to also serve as a stand for...
