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In iOS 6, iTunes Match Actually Supports Both Streaming and Downloading of Music

Wednesday June 13, 2012 1:40 pm PDT by Jordan Golson
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Last year, there was some controversy over whether or not Apple's iTunes Match service supported streaming of music or just downloading files. As it stands, iTunes Match appears to play songs as they download, which is an issue of semantics -- but all that will change in iOS 6.

As noted by Apple 'n' Apps, in the iOS 6 beta, iTunes Match has become a full-on streaming service. Songs can be downloaded or streamed, with streaming being the default playback option:
iTunes Match has become a streaming service in the beta. We confirmed it, by playing a few songs, then turning off iTunes Match, and seeing that the music folder then had no music. In iOS 5, the few tracks you listened to are stored. The various playlists, artists, and songs also drop the cloud icon next to them, and those are reserved for the album view, and a little bit off to the side.

iTunes Match costs $24.99 per year, matching songs in your iTunes library to those in the iTunes Music Store.

[ 190 comments ]


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bozz2006
90 months ago
AWESOME! Then I'll finally sign up for Match. Don't have room on my iphone to store much music, but if I can stream it... :D:D
Rating: 17 Votes
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chriscrk
90 months ago
Yes! I can't wait for iOS 6 to come out. I'm so excited :D
Rating: 17 Votes
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Icaras
90 months ago
Nice. Glad to hear this news. Local storage just became a little bit more obsolete.

Just too bad we don't live in a world of unlimited data anymore. :(
Rating: 14 Votes
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MacJones
90 months ago

There is no reason you should have any lower than an iPhone 4 once the new iPhone comes out. You will be able to sell your iPhone 4 for the cost of a new one under contract on ebay or craigslist. Stop complaining about missing features, you are not supposed to have a phone for longer than 2 years.


Some people haven't had their iPhone 4 for 2 years. You can still buy an 8GB iPhone 4 from a lot of carriers.
Rating: 11 Votes
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egeek84
90 months ago

But it's not Spotify. You can't search for an artist you don't have and stream can you?


No, it's not Spotify but for 25 bucks a year (unlike Spotifys 10 bucks a month or whatever,) this is a great deal for people who want to access their huge iTunes Music Collections anywhere they are wheres theres wifi without having to deal with syncing and taking up space on their iOS devices. Count me in, i'm sold!
Rating: 9 Votes
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parish
90 months ago
I just hope they fix all the missing artwork and "Unknown Album" bugginess before they add new bells & whistles!
Rating: 6 Votes
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gorbok
90 months ago

But it's not Spotify. You can't search for an artist you don't have and stream can you?


Spotify may be rather annoyed.


Until iTunes Match allows you to stream any music from the iTunes store regardless of whether you have previously bought it, it will remain a very different service to Spotify. The article is a bit misleading in that way. Spotify is an all-you-can-eat buffet, iTunes Match is a well-stocked fridge.

I can see the advantage for people with not enough storage on their phone though.
Rating: 6 Votes
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tasset
90 months ago
I really like iTunes Match and storing songs in the cloud, but the handling of album art drives me insane. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not, and sometimes it eventually shows up 10 or 15 seconds into playing the song.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Radio
90 months ago
$25 to stream your own music?

we can stream for free using audiogalaxy :hmm: why pay?:confused:
Rating: 6 Votes
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larrylaffer
90 months ago

Too little too late. 25 bucks to stream music I already own and already have on my computer anyway. Get real.

The iTunes music store is toast. Why pay to buy compressed music when I can get all the music I want for £5 or £10 a month with Spotify. I'd rather discover music on Spotify and then if I really like the album I'll go buy the CD and rip into my computer in glorious lossless sound.

Unless iTunes adopts a Spotify like subscription service or starts selling lossless music it's dead.


>complain about compressed audio source
>uses spotify

cool story bro.
Rating: 6 Votes

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