Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,289
30,364



apple_tv_itunes_match_menu.jpg
While Apple revealed as part of its notes on the new iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 released earlier today that iTunes Match is now available for testing on Apple TV, the option is appearing not just for developers but also for regular users. The general public is unable to activate the feature, however, as subscriptions to iTunes Match must be initiated through iTunes 10.5.1, which has yet to see a public release.

apple_tv_itunes_match_activate.jpg
The second-generation Apple TV has lacked a "Music" section on its main menu page because Apple has not offered any streaming music services, although users are currently able to stream music content from their computers via Home Sharing in iTunes. That option is accessed through the "Computers" section on the main menu page.

Article Link: Apple Turns on iTunes Match for Apple TV with New 'Music' Section
 

TMar

macrumors 68000
Jul 20, 2008
1,679
1
Ky
The same way iOS devices have had the option and no way to subscribe. The software is ready before the service, and this is news?
 

Diode

macrumors 68020
Apr 15, 2004
2,443
124
Washington DC
The same way iOS devices have had the option and no way to subscribe. The software is ready before the service, and this is news?

Because it was not announced for ATV until today?

Now you don't need your computer on to stream music to the ATV - this has not been possible with the ATV2 until now. Seems like news to me.
 

ovrlrd

macrumors 65816
Aug 29, 2009
1,384
146
The best thing about iTunes Match on the AppleTV is it shows that Apple is not afraid to allow the service to stream music without requiring it to also download the music at the same time. While technically it streams to iOS devices just fine, it also downloads the music in the background, preventing you from using it as a stream-only service.

Basically iTunes Match on AppleTV proves they will probably be more open to stream-only in the future, but choose to have it act the way it does for only the present (possibly due to potential heavy traffic).
 

Diode

macrumors 68020
Apr 15, 2004
2,443
124
Washington DC
The best thing about iTunes Match on the AppleTV is it shows that Apple is not afraid to allow the service to stream music without requiring it to also download the music at the same time. While technically it streams to iOS devices just fine, it also downloads the music in the background, preventing you from using it as a stream-only service.

I think it just hints that you may be able to have other things streaming to the ATV (and other devices) "from the cloud" - IE movies and TV shows.

One could only hope.
 

gmcalpin

macrumors 6502
Oct 2, 2008
462
74
Somerville, MA
I think it just hints that you may be able to have other things streaming to the ATV (and other devices) "from the cloud" - IE movies and TV shows.

One could only hope.
Apple certainly wants to do it, but it's up to the studios, unfortunately. With any luck Steve Jobs taught Tim Cook a thing or two about strongarming suits into doing Apple's bidding.
 

saving107

macrumors 603
Oct 14, 2007
6,384
33
San Jose, Ca
Because it was not announced for ATV until today?

Now you don't need your computer on to stream music to the ATV - this has not been possible with the ATV2 until now. Seems like news to me.

With AirPlay, my computer doesn't need to be ON so that I can stream my Music.
 

locust76

macrumors 6502a
Jan 23, 2009
688
90
With AirPlay, my computer doesn't need to be ON so that I can stream my Music.

It does if the music you want to listen to is on your computer...

----------

This is iTunes Match only, right? Meaning we can't stream our purchased iTunes music from the ATV without a PC or iDevice? That's kind of lame.
 

Tha Professor

macrumors regular
Apr 21, 2009
170
43
The Mothership
With AirPlay, my computer doesn't need to be ON so that I can stream my Music.

And it does if you don't have any other iOS device. This basically "re-downloads" anything you have purchased from iTunes or moved to the iCloud. So you can come home, or even a friends house, login with your iTunes Match Account and listen to YOUR music without iPhone, iPad or Computer on you! I think this is perfect and I only hope they will include the ability to store multiple iTunes Match accounts, because ATV is very often in a family environment and i don't want my family to go through tons of bass music in my library to find their favorite mellow tunes...
 

saving107

macrumors 603
Oct 14, 2007
6,384
33
San Jose, Ca


My response was based on this statement:

Now you don't need your computer on to stream music to the ATV - this has not been possible with the ATV2 until now.

With the inclusion of AirPlay, the ability to stream Music to an Apple TV without a computer present has been there, but of course you were limited by having to own an iOS device and the capacity of music held on your device.

With iTunes Match on the Apple TV, Apple is getting rid of the middle man (Computer/iOS device), so this is a welcomed addition.
 

liquidsuns

macrumors 6502
Jun 23, 2009
341
24
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A334)

Diode said:
The best thing about iTunes Match on the AppleTV is it shows that Apple is not afraid to allow the service to stream music without requiring it to also download the music at the same time. While technically it streams to iOS devices just fine, it also downloads the music in the background, preventing you from using it as a stream-only service.

I think it just hints that you may be able to have other things streaming to the ATV (and other devices) "from the cloud" - IE movies and TV shows.

One could only hope.

Apple has already made TV shows iClouded. Purchased shows can be redownloaded on any iOS device and Mac, and even streamed (which I wish you could do on everything and not have to download) on Apple TV.
 

jclardy

macrumors 601
Oct 6, 2008
4,138
4,319
I thought iTunes Match was not a "streaming" service, yet the Apple TV only does streaming with a large buffer.

It would be nice to just have streaming on the iPhone as well, rather than just downloading.

Either way, i'll be subscribing as it boils down to only $2.08 per month. And it will make it so I don't have to "Erase & sync" my iPhone to sync music as I lost my old iTunes library file when I moved all my music to a NAS.

One thing I have been wondering...does it actually replace your local files with 256kbps AACs? And are the replacements DRM free? I'm wondering what happens if you decide not to resubscribe the next year, as in do you get to keep the "upgraded" music?
 

milo

macrumors 604
Sep 23, 2003
6,891
522
One thing I have been wondering...does it actually replace your local files with 256kbps AACs? And are the replacements DRM free?

It replaces them if you delete the old files and tell it to download the new ones. And no DRM, that was part of the initial announcement. You'll get to keep those new files forever (and load them to other devices, convert to other file formats, etc).
 

ravenvii

macrumors 604
Mar 17, 2004
7,585
492
Melenkurion Skyweir
It replaces them if you delete the old files and tell it to download the new ones. And no DRM, that was part of the initial announcement. You'll get to keep those new files forever (and load them to other devices, convert to other file formats, etc).

In other words, endorsed piracy.

Brilliant move by Apple, really.
 

d21mike

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2007
3,320
356
Torrance, CA
Since I will not be using Music Match, I don't like it that they are dedicating a High Level Menu item for Music but it is ONLY for Music Match. It would be nice to have my other Music (like my iTunes Purchased Music) under that heading instead of having to go to the Computer Section. With ATV 1 I think my iTunes stuff was under the headings for the content and not under Computers. Also, it appears that the Internet Heading covers way too many items. I would like new Internet items like Hulu and also hopefully some Apps for other Video Sources. I would not want everything to be under Internet. I guess ideally it would be good if I could organize the Menus to suit my needs.
 

globality

macrumors member
Jun 7, 2010
81
4
The only thing I really care is that whether Apple will have a Netflix-Like streaming service. iTunes match is different from Pandora or Spotify.
 

APlotdevice

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2011
3,145
3,861
I'm a little bit surprised that you will need iTunes to initiate Match. With PC independence having been pushed so heavily in iOS 5.
 

macbd

macrumors regular
Mar 13, 2010
117
2
I'm a little bit surprised that you will need iTunes to initiate Match. With PC independence having been pushed so heavily in iOS 5.

I think the fact that your Match music will be available on the Apple TV demonstrates that they are moving forward with PC independence. But I can see why you would need to sign up for iTunes match on your computer's iTunes because, that is essentially the connection between your iTunes library and the Cloud. Once you have everything loaded you should be good to go - PC/iTunes free. At least for music at this point.
 

Dan--

macrumors regular
Jul 30, 2008
237
23
Now you don't need your computer on to stream music to the ATV - this has not been possible with the ATV2 until now. Seems like news to me.

True. Except that you still cannot listen to lossless music this way. On the good system. (Argh!)
 

lowonthe456

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2007
438
0
Big question for me.

It seems from what I am reading that with ATV2 and iTunes Match I can stream music from the cloud. If true thats awesome. My question is, my 2011 MBP has a cruddy 320gb HD, I could then conceivably delete all the music from my MBP and choose music from the cloud to my iPhone 4 right? My HD is full, mostly due to movies (iTunes should send me a thank you card lol) so my thought was when this goes live with movies, like it did with TV shows, I could, essentially, dump all the media from my physical drive and let it all come from the cloud.

Am I understanding correctly?
 

ryanromine

macrumors newbie
Oct 12, 2011
12
0
304
I think the iTunes Match works seamlessly with this new beta. I turned on the iTunes match last night on the :apple:tv and it instantly found my library. works very well!!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.