Apple seems to be deploying iTunes Match into international music stores this evening, though there seem to be some ongoing glitches that suggests they could be an early mistake or a partial roll out.
Several readers in the UK and Australia have noticed that iTunes Match is now a sign up option in their iTunes Account information page. Apple has not yet started promoting iTunes Match in the iTunes Store, but the links to iTunes Match are live with localized pricing (see above).
In the UK, iTunes Match costs £21.99 for a year and €24.99 in other parts of Europe. Users are allowed to sign up for it and receive a confirmation email of their purchase but one Twitter report claims it "does nothing" at this stage. For Australian customers, the service is priced at A$ 34.99.
To see if it appears available in your country, log into your iTunes account on your Mac or PC and then tap on your account name to see your account information. From there, you may be able to sign up, though we'd advise some caution as it seems the service isn't fully operational at the time of this writing. Alternatively, you can also try this direct link that opens the page directly in iTunes.
iTunes Match is Apple's music service offers users the ability to match their existing iTunes library with high quality versions in Apple's iCloud. The service originally launched in the U.S. and recently expanded to Brazil.
Thanks Colin
Update: It appears the launch may have been premature. Apple is refunding early buyers and claims it is not available outside of Brazil and the U.S. at the moment.
Apple is planning some of the "biggest iOS and macOS redesigns in its history," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman reiterated that iOS 19 will have a visionOS-like design with more transparent interfaces:The new interfaces will adopt the design principles introduced in visionOS, the software for Apple's Vision Pro headset. That includes greater...
Tuesday March 11, 2025 3:26 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Despite being released over two years ago, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 continue to dominate the wireless earbud market. However, with the AirPods Pro 3 expected to launch in 2025, anyone thinking of buying Apple's premium earbuds may be wondering if the next generation is worth holding out for.
Apart from their audio and noise-canceling performance, which are generally regarded as excellent for...
If you've been following iPhone rumors over the last few years, you may remember reading reports that Apple flirted with the idea of introducing a super high-end "Ultra" model that would either replace its Pro Max device or sit above it in Apple's smartphone hirearchy. These reports appeared in the pre-launch iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 rumor cycles, but ultimately came to nothing. Now though, the...
Saturday March 15, 2025 10:50 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device.
Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
Apple prototyped a larger ultra-slim iPhone 17 Air with a 6.9-inch display, but ultimately decided not to go ahead with the device because of fears that it could be susceptible to bending, according to a new report.
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, writing in his latest Power On newsletter:
When it first started work on the phone, it prototyped a device with a 6.9-inch screen — matching...
In an investor research note today with British bank Barclays, analyst Tim Long said Apple's first foldable iPhone could have a starting price in the $2,300 range in the United States, which would make it by far the most expensive iPhone model ever.
If the first foldable iPhone starts at $2,299, that means it would cost nearly twice as much as the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which starts at $1,199.
...
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today shared some new details about the rumored iPhone 17 Air.
In his Power On newsletter, Gurman said he was told that the device may start at roughly $899 in the U.S., which means that it would occupy the same price point as the iPhone 16 Plus. This would make sense, as it has been widely rumored that the Air model will take over the Plus model's spot in the iPhone...
Apple today launched a new app called Surveyor, which is designed to allow users to collect data like images of street signs and roadside details to improve Apple Maps.
The app is not public facing and appears to be for use with companies that Apple partners with to assign mapping tasks. Downloading the app and opening it up directs users to "Open Partner App" to choose a task. Tapping on...
Apple considered launching the iPhone 17 Air without a USB-C charging port, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said that while Apple ultimately decided against making the iPhone 17 Air its first iPhone model without a charging port, the idea is still on the table for future iPhone models.
He said the iPhone 17 Air will "foreshadow a move to...
First they release TV Shows for Canada, UK, and Australia on AppleTV then pull it without warning or explanation and now this? Somebody's really messing up or purposefully F#$king with our minds. :mad:
I went thru the matching process about a week ago. First stuff I did -
-Created a playlist of all music with a bit rate less than 256 VBR (variable bit rate)
-Updated all "songs" that were actually audiobooks to the correct media type and genre so they wouldn't all get uploaded as unmatched songs and to get below the 25,000 song limit (I had about 32,000 items when audiobook tracks were included.)
-Re-imported a few cds where I had bit rates less than 100 VBR (too low and it won't match)
-Back up the music collection
The actual scanning and matching ran very quickly, was done in about 2 hours for 9000 songs. About 3,000 were in a low quality that could be redownloaded at the higher iTunes Plus quality. I deleted the matched and upgradable songs, then used the playlist to help track progress for redownloading. I did that part over 2 days on and off when i was not doing other stuff.
I turned on iTunes match on my phone after a few days, and it warns you it will replace your music. I have a metered 3G plan, so I didn't want to stream all the time. I selected a bunch of songs to redownload via wifi, but turned off the iCloud-only music. So basically using iTunes match to upgrade all my music, and provide an off-site, always available backup of my music collection. Well worth the $25! Less to put in my regular backups, and less room to take up on my laptop if you want to delete local copies and store the upgraded music on an external harddrive. Used to be that your entire music collection had to be in the iTunes music directories, now very easy to have partials. Would have loved this a few years ago, as I had been purposely burning lower fidelity songs to save space on my laptop. Now you can listen to the hi-fidelity music all the time, with less hassle.
