iTunes Match: $24.99/year, Matches Ripped Tunes, Offers Them In The Cloud

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by Don't panic

why is it per year?
once you upload/match you ripped library, wouldn't it become the same as a purchased library?
my library has about 5000 songs, all legal but mostly from my CD collection. once i transfer it to the cloud, and i don't get an new music on CD next year, would i still have to pay the 25$?

Because you are paying for the "service" of Apple doing all the work for you. Just like paying for any other kind of "service" that makes life easier/more fun than the old fashioned way.

[nemaslov]

Originally Posted by satirev

can anyone answer the following.

when the subscription is up, do we still have access to the matched music locally? just not over the cloud?

when is this service available?

I would assume if you end your subscription, you just lose cloud access, You still have your songs on your computer but would not be able to play them via WIFI on other devises without the old syncing method.

[uva25]

At the very least, you can look at this as professionally, off-site backing up of your entire music library for $24.99/year. Seems pretty good to me. I do question what happens if you cancel the service in say 2 years. Will these versions (especially the converted ripped versions) still work.

[teme]

Originally Posted by satirev

can anyone answer the following.

when the subscription is up, do we still have access to the matched music locally? just not over the cloud?

when is this service available?

You still have all the tracks in your local iTunes library. If I have understood correctly, iTunes Match allows you to stream matched tracks from cloud (and if they aren't available on iTunes, they are uploaded to the cloud) iTunes Match doesn't do nothing to your local library (it doesn't replace or delete any of your local files, it just uses those tracks to build up your cloud library). Apple's iCloud page says it's available in fall.

[lilcosco08]

This was a crappy "one more thing"

[oclor]

This is absolutely WORTHLESS!

I was so excited for this because I ran out of space on both my iPad and iPhone but now they are telling me all this does is store it in the cloud so i can DOWNLOAD it on different devices??? So it's just a backup???

I though I was going to be able to STREAM my music and photos so that they don't take so much space on my iPad/iPhone

Oh and I paid $99 to extend my mobileme subscription last month, thinking that when this came out I would just be compensated with extra storage, but they don't even seem to offer extra storage (not that storage is useful for anything anyways with this model)

I'm a die hard apple fan and this is the first time I have been very disappointed with them. This just doesn't make any sense, I don't see the point in it at all!

[baleensavage]

So, putting the pieces together, you get this for free with songs you bought from Apple. And iOS5 syncs on Wifi free.

So really, what you are paying for is an online backup (in 256K quality) of your iTunes library for $25 per year. In the grand scheme of things, that's not too shabby of a deal. And you get the added bonus of being able to sync your music over the cloud.

Still, without streaming, this is already behind the competition. I can get 10GB free (well with the purchase of 1 album) on Amazon and stream it on anything with a browser and it doesn't take up any of my storage space on anything except my home computer. Sure it's not my full iTunes library and it takes eons to upload, but streaming is really convenient if you have a decent internet connection.

[sishaw]

Originally Posted by HarryKeogh

If they don't have your song you can upload yours and they'll store it.

I think Ericinboston is worried that he would have to do an excessive amount of uploading.

[saxon48]

Originally Posted by alexandero

US only? Apple doesn't seem to care much about other countries if they don't even mention such relevant facts in their keynote.

But the US is left out of the loop with stuff like Spotify...

[Sackvillenb]

I don't mind the price at all, $25 for a year is nothing. Compare that to $15 a months for a dumb game like Wow!!! (no offense to wow players... well, not too much offense anyway).

But I wonder how extensive their catalog is... I'm sure it has a lot of common music... but I listen to a lot of death metal and black metal, among other things... I wonder how much of that they have?

[Bear]

Originally Posted by Don't panic

why is it per year?
once you upload/match you ripped library, wouldn't it become the same as a purchased library?
my library has about 5000 songs, all legal but mostly from my CD collection. once i transfer it to the cloud, and i don't get an new music on CD next year, would i still have to pay the 25$?

You're paying for disk storage and data transfer. You know stuff Apple has to pay for.

[OllyW]

Originally Posted by EricNau

I wonder... can this be viewed as a one-time upgrade fee? In other words, will I lose access to my matched songs if I don't renew ever year?

He said there was no DRM on the upgraded songs.

[sishaw]

Originally Posted by Rodimus Prime

my guess is it will be with the ablity to purchase more space later on.
Also knowing Google the beta will be years long. Just like Gmail was in "beta" for years. Right now Google Music shows a fair number of beta bugs but for the most part works great.

The record companies will not allow that to happen, they will insist on being paid. Google may fight it longer than most, but not forever.

[d0minick]

I will say this.

Can the big music execs, who are on contract with Apple, resist the urge to force content matches for pirated music.

I hope apple addresses the privacy issues of this neat feature.

If this is private as long as you pay, then I do feel that the big music execs have finally found a way to make money on pirated music.

[teme]

Originally Posted by uva25

At the very least, you can look at this as professionally, off-site backing up of your entire music library for $24.99/year. Seems pretty good to me. I do question what happens if you cancel the service in say 2 years. Will these versions (especially the converted ripped versions) still work.

It's not exactly back-up, because obviously you can only stream tracks from iTunes Match cloud, not download them to your computer. You still have to keep all the local files safe. After cancelling the service, you still have all the tracks in your local iTunes library, you just can't stream them from iTunes Match cloud.

[repoman27]

How long before someone figures out how to create 25,000 random files with the proper metadata to trick iTunes into providing up to 10 devices with 256 kbps AAC DRM-free tracks?

[nemaslov]

Originally Posted by Zimmy68

My questions.

I assume you can get your ripped music in the cloud but it wouldn't replace the stuff on your iTunes library without you manually doing it.

I have plenty of high bit rate MP3s that I ripped from FLAC & EAC, I wouldn't want the Cloud service to just overwrite my stuff.

But how you get it on your main iTunes library is a mystery.
Maybe they won't let you but why do they specifically mention DRM free?

Also, does it work with ITunes on PC/Macs?
Example, If I am at work, and I fire iTunes up on my PC desktop and my MacBook Pro, will I see all my music available to me?
That would be a winner for me.

Nothing overwrites what YOU HAVE/OWN. This just allows you to play those songs via WIFI on other devices. It does not download back to you more files. It's a bit like streaming radio.

You keep what you have.

[Worf]

Originally Posted by sishaw

The record companies will not allow that to happen, they will insist on being paid. Google may fight it longer than most, but not forever.

Google was insistent on allowing pirated music and in the end. when the deals fell apart, it only benefited in agreeing to the iTunes match service with the record companies.

[nemaslov]

Originally Posted by oclor

This is absolutely WORTHLESS!

I was so excited for this because I ran out of space on both my iPad and iPhone but now they are telling me all this does is store it in the cloud so i can DOWNLOAD it on different devices??? So it's just a backup???

I though I was going to be able to STREAM my music and photos so that they don't take so much space on my iPad/iPhone

Oh and I paid $99 to extend my mobileme subscription last month, thinking that when this came out I would just be compensated with extra storage, but they don't even seem to offer extra storage (not that storage is useful for anything anyways with this model)

I'm a die hard apple fan and this is the first time I have been very disappointed with them. This just doesn't make any sense, I don't see the point in it at all!

It does NOT download music so you don't need the storage. Read it closer

[Rodimus Prime]

Originally Posted by Don't panic

why is it per year?
once you upload/match you ripped library, wouldn't it become the same as a purchased library?
my library has about 5000 songs, all legal but mostly from my CD collection. once i transfer it to the cloud, and i don't get an new music on CD next year, would i still have to pay the 25$?

And you hit it on the head why I call it DOA. For something of your size there you have several free choices. Like Amazon Cloud drive or Google Music. Both would serve you great.

Why pay 25 a year for things that everywhere else will be free. Only reason I am even tempted to pay 25 for a 1 time fee is to remove the Apple DRM from a 318 songs. Heck of a lot cheaper than paying the upgrade price for them.

Originally Posted by sishaw

The record companies will not allow that to happen, they will insist on being paid. Google may fight it longer than most, but not forever.

The thing is both Google and Amazon are using a loop hole that the record company can not do anything about. It is all the users own song uploaded to the respective cloud.
Biggest given proof of this is the fact that there has not been any law suit filed against either one of them.

[teme]

Originally Posted by Rodimus Prime

Why pay 25 a year for things that everywhere else will be free. Only reason I am even tempted to pay 25 for a 1 time fee is to remove the Apple DRM from a 318 songs. Heck of a lot cheaper than paying the upgrade price for them.

iTunes Match doesn't remove DRM from your local files. You can stream them from iTunes Match cloud with better iTunes Plus quality, but your local files stay untouched.

[iEvolution]

You know what concerns me? His comment about trying to get rid of file systems locally.

I think we are approaching the end of capacity upgrades for the entire iOS eco-system & iPods.

I was hoping for a sneak upgrade of the iPod Classic to 220GB, but alas nope.

[oclor]

Originally Posted by nemaslov

It does NOT download music so you don't need the storage. Read it closer

There is no streaming. Lets say I download a song on my iPad, it goes to the cloud right? Well when I grab my phone, I will see it in iTunes, but if I want to listen to it I will have to download it from the cloud. Now it is taking up space on my iPhone.

I could have done the same thing if I synced my devices and just added the songs onto each.

All this service is, is a backup. There is NO streaming (except for photos, and even that has limitations)

Listen Im not expecting the streaming feature of music and photos for free or $25/year, but it should be an option. I was ready to pay $99/year for this, and I"m extremely dissapointed that this isn't even an option.

What about my iDisk now? I have 20gigs from mobile me, what happens to that?

[jeff526]

what happens if your local library becomes unavailable - hard drive dies.
Can you then download the Match as well as the Unmatched songs?
Or do the songs become unavaible?

[cav23j]

Originally Posted by ericinboston

Well this sounds pretty good...I have 22,000 songs. However, many of mine are remixes that are definitely not on iTunes. So I would definitely have to think about what's available before I sign up...Apple should allow iTunes to scan all my stuff beforehand and give me a report of what's missing before I fork over the $25.

But I would really like to see the proof that the iCloud can truly stream over cell phone technology for say 60+ minutes at a time. For example, I would like to plop my iPhone into a boombox at a friend's pool and listen to tunes over the cell network for several hours.

Also, how will the cell carriers like folks streaming 256k mp3s over their network for use cases like mine? Data plans gonna change soon?

if you seen the keynote
it says nothing about giving the option to stream songs
only to download them onto another device