Apple to Wipe iTunes Match iCloud Data on Monday, Sept 26th

MacRumors · Sep 23, 2011

Apple has sent an email to developers notifying them that their iCloud libraries housing iTunes Match data will be wiped on Monday, September 26th at 9AM PDT. The reason for the wipe is to "improve the overall quality and reliability" of the service. The news comes after Apple wiped all the iCloud backup data on Thursday, September 22nd.

We believe these are preparations for Apple to launch the final Golden Master (GM) version of iOS 5. Apple had been planning to declare iOS 5 as GM on Friday, September 23rd, though we haven't heard confirmation yet if that had actually taken place. Also on schedule was to start installing iOS 5 GM onto new devices in their factories on Monday, September 26th. Assuming all this has remained on schedule, we expect the final GM version of iOS 5 to be release to developers as early as next week.

iCloud and iTunes Match services have been running in developer beta for the last couple of months. The public release is scheduled for "Fall", and it seems likely Apple will announce the ship date at their rumored October 4th media event.

Article Link: Apple to Wipe iTunes Match iCloud Data on Monday, Sept 26th

Esuark · Sep 23, 2011

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

"should not be affected" lol

jaw04005 · Sep 23, 2011

I hope they seriously improved iTunes Match because the beta was a mess and it never got any better.

Talk about screwing up your iTunes library.

echo2011 · Sep 23, 2011

Can't wait for the GM release!

hiphopboy · Sep 23, 2011

Just hope GM will be released with Lion 10.7.2 and iTunes 10.5

jayhawk11 · Sep 23, 2011

If we weren't so close to a GM I would think this is a sign of problems server-side. Interesting that they're requiring everyone to shut off iTunes Match locally for this, though.

Yamcha · Sep 23, 2011

I really hope the event is Oct 4, Apple events always have me excited..

teknishn · Sep 23, 2011

Curiously they don't say when you can reenable the features. I wonder if reactivation will require the GM builds.

slrandall · Sep 23, 2011

So pumped for this event!

And were there ever any more rumors about the iTunes 11 re-design?

Roessnakhan · Sep 23, 2011

Clear out iCloud on Monday, release invites on Tuesday for an event the week later on October, 4th (if the rumor is correct)? Maybe even release iOS5 shortly after the event? That seems about right.

swingerofbirch · Sep 23, 2011

I haven't seen Apple get Internet services right except for the iTunes Store (in its original form).

It seems problematic that Apple's idea of increasing the reliability and quality of a service is to delete all of users' server-side data. Like most of of us here, I'm not an expert on Internet services, not even a little bit. But it seems like betas usually grow into a mature product. Gmail didn't force users to delete all their e-mail as it grew. Other companies fail and fix. Apple tends to have a slash and burn mentality.

You know Tripod is still hosting some sites I created back in the late 90s? Apple has destroyed every Internet service offering it's offered when it came out with a new idea. eWorld, iTools, .Mac, MobileMe. I've paid for those except for iTools, and while I don't remember the details of what's about to happen with the iCloud transition (Apple seems to obfuscate that information), I am not trusting that my MobileMe gallery is going to be around or that my iDisk data won't disappear. I've lost enough e-mail through MobileMe to know it's possible at any time. And these are paid services. I never paid Tripod a dime, and it's still hosting the first web-sites I ever made.

As a layman, it seems to me it's a bad sign if you need a fresh start to mature a beta. I would love for Apple to prove me wrong.

Nonobeez · Sep 23, 2011

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A5313e Safari/7534.48.3)

No GM until October 4th... Because of the new features that need to be formally announced.

Eduardo1971 · Sep 23, 2011

These next several weeks are going to seem long...

jayhawk11 · Sep 23, 2011

swingerofbirch said:
I haven't seen Apple get Internet services right except for the iTunes Store (in its original form).

It seems problematic that Apple's idea of increasing the reliability and quality of a service is to delete all of users' server-side data. Like most of of us here, I'm not an expert on Internet services, not even a little bit. But it seems like betas usually grow into a mature product. Gmail didn't force users to delete all their e-mail as it grew. Other companies fail and fix. Apple tends to have a slash and burn mentality.

You know Tripod is still hosting some sites I created back in the late 90s? Apple has destroyed every Internet service offering it's offered when it came out with a new idea. eWorld, iTools, .Mac, MobileMe. I've paid for those except for iTools, and while I don't remember the details of what's about to happen with the iCloud transition (Apple seems to obfuscate that information), I am not trusting that my MobileMe gallery is going to be around or that my iDisk data won't disappear. I've lost enough e-mail through MobileMe to know it's possible at any time. And these are paid services. I never paid Tripod a dime, and it's still hosting the first web-sites I ever made.

As a layman, it seems to me it's a bad sign if you need a fresh start to mature a beta. I would love for Apple to prove me wrong.

Quite the rant, but this is very different. This is a brand new feature that they were very clear would be deleted near the end of the beta. Same thing with device backups on iCloud. it wasn't a surprise to anyone as they were telling devs from day one that stuff would be deleted as time went on.

I'm with you, I have lost stuff with MobileMe, too. Just be sure to judge appropriately.

alectheking · Sep 24, 2011

Finally. It really screwed my iTunes up. I can't wait to see if they actually improve its matching, cause the beta was horrible.

DeathChill · Sep 24, 2011

swingerofbirch said:
I haven't seen Apple get Internet services right except for the iTunes Store (in its original form).

I have this same feeling. Apple understands how to make so many amazing products but they really fall down when it comes to web services for some reason.

pewra · Sep 24, 2011

DeathChill said:
I have this same feeling. Apple understands how to make so many amazing products but they really fall down when it comes to web services for some reason.

This is a private beta as very distinct from a public beta.

The deletion is to avoid problems in the future, as some of the data stores might have changed during the beta development.

jayhawk11 · Sep 24, 2011

pewra said:
This is a private beta as very distinct from a public beta.

The deletion is to avoid problems in the future, as some of the data stores might have changed during the beta development.

This. A million times over this.

The developer program is just that...a program for developers. I almost wish there was a requirement to prove you are actively developing for the platform to keep your membership.

DeathChill · Sep 24, 2011

pewra said:
This is a private beta as very distinct from a public beta.

The deletion is to avoid problems in the future, as some of the data stores might have changed during the beta development.

Oh no, I didn't mean in reference to this particular event. This is for developers and judging anything based off of this would be silly.

zama36 · Sep 24, 2011

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

I just gotta ask the question. Am I in the minority? Never lost anything on iTools, .Mac or MobileMe. I even having over 10,000 emails in my inbox dating back to 2003 today.

MattJessop · Sep 24, 2011

zama36 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

I just gotta ask the question. Am I in the minority? Never lost anything on iTools, .Mac or MobileMe. I even having over 10,000 emails in my inbox dating back to 2003 today.

I'm the same, though I've only been using MobileMe since 2008. I've not once had an issue apart from in the last few days when all my iCloud devices decided to conveniently forget the password for the service. I assume it's because Apple also reset all the certificates along with the backup data. I guess it makes sense since it seems like they've worked out the kinks in the data solution, and it wouldn't make sense to have backup data for builds that are soon to be obselete.

pewra · Sep 24, 2011

jayhawk11 said:
This. A million times over this.

The developer program is just that...a program for developers. I almost wish there was a requirement to prove you are actively developing for the platform to keep your membership.

The issue is that the vast majority are using the program as part of a "buy your UDID a copy of iOS5". None of those people actively report bugs, they just complain and submit negative app reviews.

Bevz · Sep 24, 2011

Cool. Looking forward to iOS5 on my iPhone! Got the beta on my iPad for development and it's pretty cool.

One annoying thing though.... Has anyone else noticed in iOS5 that when connecting to a shared library on iPad, all the thumbnails of the movies are wrong (i.e. all mixed up)? Pretty annoying! I'm going to report to apple tonight, but just wondered if anyone else has had the same issue?

mw360 · Sep 24, 2011

swingerofbirch said:
I haven't seen Apple get Internet services right except for the iTunes Store (in its original form).

It seems problematic that Apple's idea of increasing the reliability and quality of a service is to delete all of users' server-side data. Like most of of us here, I'm not an expert on Internet services, not even a little bit. But it seems like betas usually grow into a mature product. Gmail didn't force users to delete all their e-mail as it grew. Other companies fail and fix. Apple tends to have a slash and burn mentality.

You know Tripod is still hosting some sites I created back in the late 90s? Apple has destroyed every Internet service offering it's offered when it came out with a new idea. eWorld, iTools, .Mac, MobileMe. I've paid for those except for iTools, and while I don't remember the details of what's about to happen with the iCloud transition (Apple seems to obfuscate that information), I am not trusting that my MobileMe gallery is going to be around or that my iDisk data won't disappear. I've lost enough e-mail through MobileMe to know it's possible at any time. And these are paid services. I never paid Tripod a dime, and it's still hosting the first web-sites I ever made.

As a layman, it seems to me it's a bad sign if you need a fresh start to mature a beta. I would love for Apple to prove me wrong.

You've already had some replies, but here's a couple more thoughts.

Apple have said all along that beta accounts would be wiped periodically. There are many possible reasons. Maybe beta libraries contain lots of debugging data that Apple don't want hanging around when the service is live. Perhaps they want their testers to frequently re-match their libraries so that can test improvements they have made in that process. Perhaps they are doing it for no other reason that to deter non developers from using it as if it were the final product.

About all the other web services, yep something is amiss, but mobile me has worked pretty well for me over the last couple of years and I'd rather be trying out these new and exciting things than still doing all my online activity via a Tripod hosted website. I guess innovation is risky and not many companies have enough money to try these things out.

TraceyS/FL · Sep 24, 2011

zama36 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

I just gotta ask the question. Am I in the minority? Never lost anything on iTools, .Mac or MobileMe. I even having over 10,000 emails in my inbox dating back to 2003 today.

I had over 10k but purged some last week.... Why? I have iOS bug affecting my push to my iPad and the engineers for MobileMe think that 10k messages in an inbox is excessive... Even if they don't specify a limit and I'm no where near a space threshold.

Anyway, it didn't help my random bug (push is apparently being turned off at times).....

Apple to Wipe iTunes Match iCloud Data on Monday, Sept 26th

macrumors bot

macrumors newbie

macrumors 601

macrumors regular

macrumors newbie

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68000

macrumors 6502

macrumors 6502

macrumors 68040

macrumors 68040

macrumors newbie

macrumors 65816

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68000

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68000

macrumors member

macrumors regular

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68020

macrumors 601

Our Staff