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Believe me, it can. My boss had me review this help desk guy's computer he was writing up for having 40+ gigs of pirate movies on his work machine. Along with that were a bunch of mp3s. Now ask yourself if the following folder looks suspicious?

Jay-z.The_Black_Album.Mp3.R3LeaSeGroup.www.torrentsite.com

Or, if people normally embed torrent site info or "greets" in their ID3 tags.

Match will give you consistent artwork, tag structure, and bitrate as well. Totally laundered, and comes from a legitimate pay service.

Laundered is a good way to describe... Like money laundering(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering) but with music.
 
I signed up last night and activated it on my home computer, but can't seem to activate iTunes match on my work computer, I just get "iTunes Match beta testing has begun with an initial set of developers. Over the next days, we will con tune to expand our testing. Please check back later to subscribe."

thats exactly the same message i get. I have a US dev account, however am on iTunes in italy.
 
This seems like a pretty cool service. I have one question though (didn't read the whole thread...):

using the system, you can put everything in the cloud and stream, which is great. But say I wanted to buy a new song through iTunes. Will there be a way to "download" the song without actually downloading the file? Meaning will I be able to skip the "delete file" step and go directly to streaming? This could be useful if you want to purchase on a system that is already bursting at the seams with files and can't handle any more. Or it's also just a convenience thing.

High yield: buy right to streaming? so no downloading of the file initially?
 
I'm really trying to get psyched about this. I can't. Call me old fashioned, but I wanted the new Apple TV to have two gigs of storage, not a streamer that relies on the cable companies I abhor. Now the cell phone companies I abhor could have a say in my music listening habits. Not into it. I'll just upload to my I-device the old fashioned way.

I kinda think the casual iOS user will as well. As for posters on this site - I'm sure you'll stream, it's in your nature to push the technology to it's limits whether there's a point or not.
 
I basically want to know if it's possible to have both options enabled. So that i can sync certain songs directly from iTunes to my iPhones memory and have the rest just available for streaming on my iPhone. I don't want to have to set up my iPhone where i will only be able to use it via iTunes stream, meaning that through my iPhone i would have to download each song that i want stored onto my memory individually via my iPhone, unless i have to do this. I want to know if i can sync certain songs directly via iTunes and than set up iTunes Match on my iPhone where i will be able to stream the songs which i chose not to sync from my iTunes library directly onto my iPhone, but in doing this have the songs which i did chose to sync via iTunes stay on my iPhone, for when i don't have good reception.

I hope this makes sense. Thanks for your help.




Thanks for your help! So i basically won't be able to do what i just stated above correct? Definitely a bit of a bummer, but ill manage. so basically with this new iTunes Match service were given two options where we chose to "sync" over iTunes Match or sync directly from iTunes, but we can't have both?

Why would you want to plug your phone in when you chuck stuff on your device wireless through match or through wireless sync? Think of Match like an iTunes upgrade. Wherever you are on the planet (and have signal!) you'll see your whole iTunes library in your iPod app. Each song can be streamed once OR you can download it to your device. This negates the need to touch iTunes for song syncing. That said, if you want to drop music onto your device from iTunes, it will be no there but simply not show the cloud logo next to it. Based on what I've just said, my money would be on you being able to do both.
 
...I really hope Apple brings this to the UK soon, as well as enables Match and streaming for TV Shows and Movies. I would love to be able to buy a DVD, rip it to my computer, and have it matched with the iTunes version.

I like iTunes but they charge way too much for movies, but i wouldn't mind paying a small fee like this to stream my ripped DVD's from apples servers. :apple:

I wonder how it would work for ripped copies? Not that I agree with or understand how copyrights (if that's even what I'm talking about) work but isn't ripping DVDs consider "illegal" (not wanting to start a debate about how archaic or unfair they are or if it doesn't matter, etc) because you have to strip some kind of encryption? Ripping CDs has been a part of iTunes since day one (I think?) but DVD ripping has never been mentioned or included.
My guess is that the Movies/TV Shows might be a) limited to Apple ID purchases or b) just be a subscription service like Netlifx to avoid having to deal with ripped copies... having said that, if this new iTunes Match service appears to legitimize torrents, maybe it will allow matching ripped copies.
 
I've got 59,000 tracks and iTunes match immediately gave me the over 25K error and quit. Is there a way to match just part of your library?

I hope they figure this out. While 59,000 songs is far above average, it is not that unusual. I have about 52,000 after getting rid of duplicates. 25,000 seems pretty low for anyone over 35 that bothered to rip their CDs/records. Certainly for anyone interested in this service.
 
Think of it this way....

You pay for a subscription to Spotify (or any other service) for one month ($5). Download/Stream Rip all of the songs you ever wanted that are available from that service. At the same time, have an iTunes Match account ($25) and have that service make all of the Spotify songs available to you in the cloud. Now you can redownload a permanent copy of your Spotify songs. Unlimited music for $30 that you can keep forever (if you only need a month to download everything etc)

Sounds like a good deal to me.

GL

Is your time worth that little? The hassle of doing stream rips (Spotify doesn't do downloads), the fact that your unlimited music doesn't include anything released after your little crime spree. Not at all worth it for me.

Spotify = access to the full library of music that spottily hold on their servers - millions of songs.

iTunes Match = Access to ONLY the songs you have in your iTunes Library, NOT the full iTunes Store content.

Big difference.

Agreed. Spotify is the way the industry is heading. In ten years (if that long), any kind of physical media will be reserved for the same people that currently collect vinyl (aficionados / collectors / "retro" stylists), and the idea of a permanent "local" digital copy will seem as quaint as the idea of permanently saving websites to read leader. You'll pay a monthly subscription like you do for TV, allowing 24/7/365 access to on-demand songs.

IMO TV will most likely be the same (subscription pricing paying for on-demand viewing) -- the idea of a "prime-time schedule" is becoming more and more obsolete.
 
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Glad to say I've successfully managed to register for the iTunes Match service even being out of the US (I'm in Singapore!) I can confirm that it asks for a US credit card but it will charge your account balance (as it did with mine) if you have sufficient to cover the costs of the service.

The problem is I don't have any us credit card.
 
What about Genius?

Can you shuffle through your entire iTunes library, or start Genius playlists, even if you don't have the songs downloaded on your device?
 
Is your time worth that little? The hassle of doing stream rips (Spotify doesn't do downloads), the fact that your unlimited music doesn't include anything released after your little crime spree. Not at all worth it for me.

Spotify is the way the industry is heading. In ten years (if that long), any kind of physical media will be reserved for the same people that currently collect vinyl (aficionados / collectors / "retro" stylists), and the idea of a permanent "local" digital copy will seem as quaint as the idea of permanently saving websites to read leader. You'll pay a monthly subscription like you do for TV, allowing 24/7/365 access to on-demand songs.

IMO TV will most likely be the same (subscription pricing paying for on-demand viewing) -- the idea of a "prime-time schedule" is becoming more and more obsolete.

I'm not sure about that. With an digital copy, you still have something that is yours, just like with vinyl. I think people still want to see that they "own" something they pay for.

Also, there is an emotional attachment to music and movies. I think half the reason people buy television season DVDs is to say, "that's my favorite show" as sort of an expression as that DVD sits on their shelf.

And there's also the threat that the media goes away if it's in the "cloud". Am I going to risk losing my copy of my favorite album and trust that to Apple or Amazon? I wouldn't.
 
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)

Why do I not give a rats ass about this sort of thing ? Because I dont buy music; read Pandora, Radio Paradise, etc
 
Wow, with streaming I actually want to use this.

Before I thought it was just going to be a kind of music backup service - have all your files on one machine, download better quality ones to your iPhone/iPad and other macs.

But with streaming...this is a lot more useful for $25. Especially since I have a MBA which I don't want to store my entire music collection on. And a 16GB iPhone which also doesn't have the space for my entire music collection.
 
The problem is I don't have any us credit card.

It offers PayPal as a payment option...

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I'm not sure about that. With an digital copy, you still have something that is yours, just like with vinyl. I think people still want to see that they "own" something they pay for.

Also, there is an emotional attachment to music and movies. I think half the reason people buy television season DVDs is to say, "that's my favorite show" as sort of an expression as that DVD sits on their shelf.

And there's also the threat that the media goes away if it's in the "cloud". Am I going to risk losing my copy of my favorite album and trust that to Apple or Amazon? I wouldn't.

Agree on all of your points -- for today. I'm absolutely one of those people that was proud of my CD / DVD collection. It took up an entire wall in my living room. When I moved to the UK, I ripped all of my CDs to iTunes, and moved all of my DVDs out of keepcases and into 3-ring binders. Took a little bit of getting used to, but much more convenient. And with digital copies, you don't really have the "showcase" to show everything you own. So it becomes an choice of:
1 - paying per-unit to have a finite set of things that invisibly sit on your computer, ready for when you want to listen to it
2 - paying per-month to have EVERYTHING available, ready for when you want to listen to it.

In my mind, the network performance is the only drawback right now. Once network speeds / coverage are up to it (and it won't take much more for music -- this isn't video we're talking about) and the performance of local vs. cloud is equal, I honestly can't see any advantage to "owning" the music. I'm not trying to be argumentative -- I'm honestly wondering if I'm missing something. In London, network performance / coverage is great, and I've been using Spotify almost exclusively. Looking at my playlists, I've added (on average) 2.5 complete albums a week, plus a handful of one-off tracks / singles. That's 10 albums a month for £10 a month. Can't beat that.

Yes, when you end your subscription, you don't have anything left "to show" -- but you also don't have anything if you stop paying your cable bill, if you stop paying your water bill, if you stop paying your electric bill, etc. You're paying for what you're using. And paying much less than the cost of "owning" something.

I suppose it all comes down to your music-buying habits. If you're someone who frequently listens to new music, updating your library daily/weekly (even monthly -- one "new release" album costs the same as a monthly Spotify subscription), there's a huge financial advantage to a subscription plan. If you're a casual music listener that has a few albums they listen to over and over, then the buy-it-once, own-it-forever model makes more sense.
 
Apple iDevices won't change their storage capacities - they might offer/retain lower storage devices - but with faster processors and more functions - storage is still important. Especially for people using it for video/photos.

As for iTunes Match - for me there's little point. I don't want or need access to my whole library nor do I need to "cleanse" any files in my library.

And while I'm hopeful for those that use it that it's true - the old expression of "if it sounds too good to be true - it probably is" could play out here in that to continue to be able to access/play/etc your library (downloaded/cleansed versions) you would need to pony up the $25 each year or the "new" files downloaded would become inactive.

A question - if I have a song on my HD at 128K and iTunes offers me a 256 version which I can also download (in addition to streaming) - does it replace my 128K version when I download? Do I now have 2 versions?

The above scenario will be telling as to what could/would happen after the year is up.

Not to mention - then the end user is required to manage lots of files if they have a lot that get matched. Do you back the originals up/sacrifice local storage in case a year later the new ones don't work, or?

I think there are still a lot of questions out there....
 
Apple iDevices won't change their storage capacities - they might offer/retain lower storage devices - but with faster processors and more functions - storage is still important. Especially for people using it for video/photos.

As for iTunes Match - for me there's little point. I don't want or need access to my whole library nor do I need to "cleanse" any files in my library.

And while I'm hopeful for those that use it that it's true - the old expression of "if it sounds too good to be true - it probably is" could play out here in that to continue to be able to access/play/etc your library (downloaded/cleansed versions) you would need to pony up the $25 each year or the "new" files downloaded would become inactive.

A question - if I have a song on my HD at 128K and iTunes offers me a 256 version which I can also download (in addition to streaming) - does it replace my 128K version when I download? Do I now have 2 versions?

The above scenario will be telling as to what could/would happen after the year is up.

Not to mention - then the end user is required to manage lots of files if they have a lot that get matched. Do you back the originals up/sacrifice local storage in case a year later the new ones don't work, or?

I think there are still a lot of questions out there....

I'm pretty sure Apple have confirmed that all songs can still be played in their 256 clean version once the year is up, regardless of if you continue to subscribe.
 
I'm pretty sure Apple have confirmed that all songs can still be played in their 256 clean version once the year is up, regardless of if you continue to subscribe.

That answers (hypothesizes) one question.. I raised a few... but thanks
 
AT&T, you're gonna have to pry my unlimited data from my cold, dead hands.

Until the inevitable day when you take it away even from customers who are grandfathered in. :(

Send me a message when they do and I will represent you.
 
I don't think i can sign up soon enough for this. Just this last weekend I was at a party and playing music from my Iphone and someone asked me to play some songs from a playlist we made a while ago. Didn't have those songs on my phone anymore due to lack of space. Itunes match would take care of that problem for me. I can't wait.
 
this service will only be interesting to match and level up the quality or your tunes. I tried having all my music in one of my WD world edition and streaming from my house wifi and itunes was freaking slow and "skipping" tunes is not something I want

So I can imagine the same over internet. Also, I don't think ppl will do it with their ipod/iphone over 3G costwise. After all, only americans have unlimited plans on their phone
 
I don't think i can sign up soon enough for this. Just this last weekend I was at a party and playing music from my Iphone and someone asked me to play some songs from a playlist we made a while ago. Didn't have those songs on my phone anymore due to lack of space. Itunes match would take care of that problem for me. I can't wait.

I think it's going ot be one of those things that people will be on the fence about, they'll try it out and then find it very difficult to live without.
 
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