It has been just over a month since Apple's last round of expansion for its iTunes Match service, but it appears that the company may be preparing to add Japan to the mix.
As noted by Mac Otakara, the "iTunes in the Cloud" music component has gone live in Japan, with the "Purchased" tab within the desktop iTunes Store and the iOS music application now allowing users to access their previously-purchased iTunes Store music. The iTunes in the Cloud service has until now been limited to apps and books in Japan.
Apple's iTunes Match service that allows users to match or upload their entire libraries of music acquired from any source to Apple's iCloud is a step further than the music re-download service just now rolling out. There are, however, currently no other countries in which Apple offers iTunes in the Cloud music capabilities without also offering iTunes Match. iTunes Match is currently available in 37 countries, and if iTunes in the Cloud music downloads are now appearing in Japan it seems that iTunes Match may not be far behind there.
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why.
In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup.
If you skipped the iPhone...
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro.
The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence.
The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles.
iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by Juli Clover
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look.
Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta.
Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device.
The revised beta addresses an...
Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March.
As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
I think iTunes match is a joke. Doesn't do album covers perfectly, currently replaces explicit tracks with clean tracks...and with data caps, even less useful.
I'm as big an Apple fan as it gets, and unfortunately I have to agree with you.
I love iTunes Match for both what it is, and what its supposed to be, but Apple has done a terrible job of implementing it.
The fact that they're continuously rolling it out to new markets without fixing the problems it has, fills me with dread for their current leadership.
I don't want to get into the "if steve were here" nonsense.....but I don't understand how Apple, a company with such high standards, can be happy with iTunes Match as it is, and continue deployment without addressing very serious problems.
1. Album Artwork.
2. Explicit/Clean confusion (which is akin to data loss)
3. Inexplicable Matching errors, where certain Matchable tracks are uploaded instead.
4. Lack of support for AudioBooks.
Sure hope iTunes Match launches better over in Japan because the iTunes Match in the US is still buggy, matching explicit with clean lyrics never mind the disaster it leaves your iTunes library looking like.
I'm as big an Apple fan as it gets, and unfortunately I have to agree with you.
I love iTunes Match for both what it is, and what its supposed to be, but Apple has done a terrible job of implementing it.
The fact that they're continuously rolling it out to new markets without fixing the problems it has, fills me with dread for their current leadership.
I don't want to get into the "if steve were here" nonsense.....but I don't understand how Apple, a company with such high standards, can be happy with iTunes Match as it is, and continue deployment without addressing very serious problems.
1. Album Artwork.
2. Explicit/Clean confusion (which is akin to data loss)
3. Inexplicable Matching errors, where certain Matchable tracks are uploaded instead.
4. Lack of support for AudioBooks.
Agree strongly with 1 & 2. I hope they have a remedy for this. All my Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg is censored now!
I think iTunes match is a joke. Doesn't do album covers perfectly, currently replaces explicit tracks with clean tracks...and with data caps, even less useful.