Apple Misses iTunes Match Launch Target as iTunes 10.5.1 Developer Beta Expires

[Tonewheel]

It's kind of sad that folks would be so negative about the Apple team for a few hours delay in a new service. No one knows why iTunes Match hadn't been released. I think Apple learned a very hard lesson from MobileMe about releasing crap software. I don't think they are going to let a flagship piece of software like iTunes Match go release with a bunch of problems, you would all complain 2x as much. You aren't giving the people who have run Apple for the last couple of years enough credit.

Because most of these commenters are kids.

 

[kurosov]

While I agree in part there is still a large %age of people testing thier products on the primary system. If they got rid of all these testers the end result would just be a longer testing phase. So the more they can do to help people like these the better. The fact is they are helping the product cycle by testing out and feeding back issues.

Yet such people are not likely to be reporting bugs to apple. Instead they will go on a forum and complain because the beta doesn't work right.

 

[rorschach]

I wonder if the Chicken Littles here already proclaiming the death of Apple remember when Leopard was delayed like 5 months - and that was a major OS upgrade.

Or Push Notifications on the iPhone, which were delayed almost a year.

Or the white iPhone.

All of that was with Steve at the helm.

Get a grip.

 

[Kavok]

Tim Cook really is doing a poor job. First no new iPhone 5 and now iTunes match is delayed. This would never have happened under Steve. #Sarcasm

Sarcasm aside, there never WAS an iPhone 5 to begin with. Nothing but rumors and speculation. The new phone is the iPhone 4S and it's a worthy upgrade.

Having used the iTunes match service, I can tell you that it wasn't ready for a public release, and had they done so yesterday, today you would hear nothing but people complaining it doesn't work the way they want it to.

As far as Mr. Cook goes, don't give him any credit for a "fairly smooth" release of iOS 5, the iPhone 4S, iCloud, and all the other updates associated with those releases. A lot has happened in the last month. Just be patient, it will happen when it is ready.

 

[evansls]

it's launching today

it's launching today, you can quote me.

how do i know? because it's tuesday. nothing launches on a monday.

 

[diamond.g]

Sarcasm aside, there never WAS an iPhone 5 to begin with. Nothing but rumors and speculation. The new phone is the iPhone 4S and it's a worthy upgrade.

Having used the iTunes match service, I can tell you that it wasn't ready for a public release, and had they done so yesterday, today you would hear nothing but people complaining it doesn't work the way they want it to.

As far as Mr. Cook goes, don't give him any credit for a "fairly smooth" release of iOS 5, the iPhone 4S, iCloud, and all the other updates associated with those releases. A lot has happened in the last month. Just be patient, it will happen when it is ready.

What about iTunes Match wasn't ready for primetime?

 

[darkplanets]

If a Tuesday or Wednesday is when Apple releases software updates, why didn't they say "beginning of November"? It's not like the calendar changed and October 31st unexpectedly switched to a Monday.

Quit apologizing for a company who did not follow through on what they said!!! This is how companies lose accountability to their customers!

Lose accountability over an unreleased product? Leopard was 5 months late. Other projects, of which we were not privy to, were undoubtedly late too. Any business assuredly has later than expected releases in ALL industries (videogames, pharma, general sciences, tech)... **** happens. It has nothing to do with accountability but the general variability and randomness of life, which increases as the complexity of the system scales with size. I take it you're not employed at any science related company, or at least aren't involved in scientific R&D.

 

[guzhogi]

Just as well since I'm not quite ready for Match yet. I need to rip some CDs before I'm ready.

 

[Dwalls90]

i sense that apple is having issues internal operations .. things are just not flowing right

and then i read this:

https://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/0...arts-apple-for-j-c-penney-no-successor-named/


humm something is a foot

Sorry, had to correct you. This was a planned transition out of the company, long before Steve died and certainly before Steve stepped down.

 

[GenesisST]

Do some digging and you will see this isn't the first time Apple has been late on an expected deployment. Many examples of this when Steve was at the helm too.

This is Business as usual for Apple, or really any other tech company.

+1...

Has there been ANYTHING both on time AND bug-free? If you want to argument, please name ONE software that is still on version 1.0.0 years (if not months) after release. (I would gladly be surprised, though)

Relax, people!

 

[Kaibelf]

While I agree in part there is still a large %age of people testing thier products on the primary system. If they got rid of all these testers the end result would just be a longer testing phase. So the more they can do to help people like these the better. The fact is they are helping the product cycle by testing out and feeding back issues.

If I am taught to look both ways before crossing the street, and then I walk into an intersection without looking, I'm the fool. Not the road, not the cars, not the city. Me.

 

[milo]

Reminds me of a software scheduling rule:

If you slip your release schedule, people might complain.
If you ship a crappy product "on time," people will hate you.

Exactly. I don't care about the delay at all IF it means they're making sure it's absolutely solid before release. Frankly I wish the releases of iOS5 (at least the iPad version) and iCloud had been delayed a bit to fix some things.

What about iTunes Match wasn't ready for primetime?

Personally I haven't used it but if what I've heard is true it sounds like the 25k songs limit isn't handled as well as it could be. Metadata is transferred over but Lyrics are missing, hope that is added. And mobile devices switched to Match can't sync music any more, which if I understand it correctly sounds like it will be a step down for me - slower syncs (using lots of data from the net instead of copying over local files), no way to use higher bitrate files on those devices when they're on my drive. Also I believe no genius playlists supported yet?

Go ahead and delay it, just make sure any known issues have really been fixed.

 

[TWSS37]

Lose accountability over an unreleased product? Leopard was 5 months late. Other projects, of which we were not privy to, were undoubtedly late too. Any business assuredly has later than expected releases in ALL industries (videogames, pharma, general sciences, tech)... **** happens. It has nothing to do with accountability but the general variability and randomness of life, which increases as the complexity of the system scales with size. I take it you're not employed at any science related company, or at least aren't involved in scientific R&D.

Thanks for assuming what line of work I'm in. I'm perfectly qualified to have this opinion based on my profession and career.

If you are not positive you're going to meet an expected date, don't announce one. Look at iOS 5 for example. It was announced as "Fall". That gave a wide spectrum as to when that could occur. To say something as "end of October" set an internal deadline for an unreleased product which served no purpose other than for blogs like this to occur. Overpromise and underdeliver is the complete opposite of what companies should be striving for. Saying "Fall" for iMatch and delivering on November 5th is great! Saying "Late October" and going beyond that date creates disappointment.

To my initial point in my post though, customers and users should not be giving passes and APOLOGIZING for them when companies do not fulfill promises. I didn't say late October, Apple did. So why are we all just saying "Oh, it's OK! <Insert random reason why it's "OK">!" If you told your superior R&D boss that you're going to miss your deadline for a project, is he or she going to pat you on the back for it and say, "it's OK!"... No, because if they did, the EXPECTATION is now that deadlines don't matter. While you may have a perfectly valid reason for missing the deadline, the expectation was not met to deliver a product that was PROMISED to be delivered by.

 

[Peace]

10.5.1 beta hasn't expired for developers.

Perhaps an older version that non-devs have has but the one I'm running hasn't .

 

[Laird Knox]

what? why? its 2 completely different things. thats like cancelling ur cable provider bc u can download shows on itunes

Is it? I did just that. Not missing cable in the least.

 

[teknishn]

The latest 10.5.1 beta is still working just fine for me. I'm thinking the guy is using an older version of the beta.

 

[AnonMac50]

Reminds me of Boot Camp 3.1

 

[EgbertAttrick]

In reading all the bitching and complaining, I can see why we are made fun of as fanboys. I hope this doesn't ruin everyone's life like this thread makes it seem to have.

 

[charlituna]

Maybe all hands are on deck to fix the 4s battery issue first.

You mean the battery issue that is affecting perhaps 1% if that many users and has been traced back in 99% of cases to software corruption from the backup they used to set up the phone rather than setting it up as a new phone and doing a fresh sync.

Or are you talking about another battery issue.

 

[iSRS]

While I typically agree with OS betas that they are not meant to be run by people as their everyday operating system and it is annoying when people sign up for the Developer program just to get stuff early and then complain when it doesn't work, this is different.

There is nothing for developers to develop for Match. Also, Apple made beta testers pay for it in advance. This was obviously a beta that was meant for people to test in real life, not just for app development. On the flip side, Apple has said from the beginning that they would be deleting the libraries from time to time and to back up all of your music.

Either way, I'm excited for this service to see the light of day. Without stepping on the NDA too much, the service itself has been rock solid lately and I bet any delays are either to add some features for managing your online library or to be sure they have the capacity to handle the crazy first day of launch.

Yet such people are not likely to be reporting bugs to apple. Instead they will go on a forum and complain because the beta doesn't work right.

I agree whole heartedly...

I saw on another site "having used it for months, it's crap, blah blah blah"

I responded to that person as follows. Have yet to receive a reply/response to my query.

I have not had any experience with iTunes Match yet, and am looking forward to it, but...

I'm not sure I would jump to any conclusions while a brand new service was in beta and only available to developers. I would also bet that the first month or two will be a bit less than perfect. There is limited testing that can be done to simulate real world demands.

When I got the first seed of Lion, it was slow, many of the great/magical new features were so painful to use that I didn't use them, etc.

That is what testing is for. As someone with advance access to new features, I would assume you understood that.

You, of course, have valid issues. Have you documented them and filed them with Apple?​

 

[charlituna]

I expect there is 0 crossover between the people working on iTunes Match and any iOS battery bugs. What, you think there are like 10 guys working for Apple or something?!

with Ron and Steve gone it's actually now just 8.

 

[iRobby]

I wonder if the Chicken Littles here already proclaiming the death of Apple remember when Leopard was delayed like 5 months - and that was a major OS upgrade.

Or Push Notifications on the iPhone, which were delayed almost a year.

Or the white iPhone.

All of that was with Steve at the helm.

Get a grip.

you tell 'em!!!

 

[SafariX]

My iTunes beta hasn't expired yet....

 

[sectime]

Because most of these commenters are kids.

I would add "Regardless of their age"

 

[charlituna]

+100000

They are already getting ready for the free time off Cook gave them in November.

Try again. That was started 4 years ago by Steve Jobs.

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We’re going to the standards bodies, starting tomorrow, and we’re going to make FaceTime an open industry standard."

What happened with that? Anyone know??

they opened the doors and thus far no one has come to the party. That's not Apple's fault. They can't force folks to adopt the standard

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End of October... 2012

Nah it's this year.

But it is the end of Fiscal October which is this Saturday.