'iTunes Match' Allows Both Streaming and Downloading of Music

[captain kaos]

If you can stream your library, hands up who now thinks the next iphone could have smaller storage?!

 

[commander.data]

I wonder why Apple didn't announce the streaming feature at WWDC? I didn't think Apple was one to spring things on the record labels compared to say Amazon. Perhaps Apple needed the summer to secure final streaming licenses with an announcement at the iPhone 5 launch.

 

[Mattsasa]

to be clear.... for the songs that don't get recognized by iTunes... Apple will upload them and allow you to download them to any device?

 

[japasneezemonk]

+1

This was the only feature I was excited about when iCloud was announced. Hopefully Tim Cook will be smart enough to realize that there's more out there than just the US.

I think we can lay some blame on the record industry for a US only rollout. Lets not forget how long it took Spotify to get all the deals in place to make their US music service happen.

 

[rpc33]

Noticed a few others have asked this but haven't seen an answer so wondering if anyone knows...

If you have ripped music of low quality 128kbps, then you pay for the itunes match service, it will upgrade the music to 256kbps if they have the same songs on the itunes store. So if I cancel the service do I own the 256kbps version or the 128kbps?

Anybody know if this also upgrades songs that are 128kbs from iTunes to 256kbs, no DRM version? I would assume that if the iTunes Match service will turn non-iTunes downloaded songs into 256kbs versions, that it would also do the same thing for 128kbs iTunes downloaded songs, acquired legally. Right?

 

[davidg4781]

For those concerned about data caps and such.... how will this be any different from streaming Pandora or iheartradio or Radiotime or Spotify?

 

[Mattsasa]

so they are offering streaming for music, music videos, and not yet Movies?

 

[Peace]

to be clear.... for the songs that don't get recognized by iTunes... Apple will upload them and allow you to download them to any device?

Yes. Any IOS device that is registered to your iTunes account.

 

[Žalgiris]

+1

This was the only feature I was excited about when iCloud was announced. Hopefully Tim Cook will be smart enough to realize that there's more out there than just the US.

Or maybe some people will go through hoops if this can be done with iTunes gift card. There are sites you can buy those for little extra. I might try at least for one year then to see how it works, but still this is very annoying.

 

[charlituna]

iTunes changed all those 128kbps songs over to 256kbps a long time ago.

Yes and no. They changed their servers but you had to pay to change your purchases. It wasn't just done automatically

 

[cuestakid]

I wonder why Apple didn't announce the streaming feature at WWDC? I didn't think Apple was one to spring things on the record labels compared to say Amazon. Perhaps Apple needed the summer to secure final streaming licenses with an announcement at the iPhone 5 launch.

I think they wanted to wait for Spotify, Google and Amazon to show their hand first. Then decide to release a beta of iTunes match to devs and sneak in "oh by the way that little streaming thing you all were complaining about us NOT having-well... we lied. We do have it and its part of the iCloud experience".

Maybe it was also a subtle goodbye gift to Steve to the devs that made his empire what it is.....

 

[Mattsasa]

Yes. Any IOS device that is registered to your iTunes account.

So this means... hypothetically, apple is offering unlimited cloud storage of audio files?

 

[Peace]

So this means... hypothetically, apple is offering unlimited cloud storage of audio files?

Up to 25,000 songs.


Once subscribed, you can add up to 25,000 songs to iCloud, and iTunes purchases do not count against this limit. iTunes Match will not add your apps, books, movies, TV shows, ringtones, and audiobooks to your iCloud library. These items can continue to be synced to your iOS device with iTunes. iTunes LPs and iTunes Extras are also unsupported.

 

[314631]

+1

This was the only feature I was excited about when iCloud was announced. Hopefully Tim Cook will be smart enough to realize that there's more out there than just the US.

Apple is spending a lot of money on this deal. Labels view it as an experiment with big risks attached. I don't think either side wants to rush into international expansion of this service because of the risks. I know execs in Europe have been quoted as saying there's no chance of this being authorized in Europe well into 2012, probably later, because they want to see what the impact is on earnings in the US market.

I think we probably need to view iTunes Match along the same lines as Spotify. Spotify was active in Europe for years before labels would sign on to licensing the service in the US. I think Europe will probably be waiting in line for this for years.

 

[The Tuck]

iTunes changed all those 128kbps songs over to 256kbps a long time ago.

No, they added the option to upgrade songs for 30c per album - it would be great to pay the $25 once to have all of your old DRMed music upgraded to iTunes Plus.

Tuck

 

[Zmmyt]

I'm wondering if there are going to be nefarious programs out there that will try to "game" the system.

What I mean is, someone writes a program that makes an mp3 song file that "fools" the iTunes match system into thinking you have that song on your system...then it just automatically gives you that song from their iCloud servers.

Let's say I don't own "Oh Darlin" on Abbey Road by The Beatles. I fire up this hypothetical program, it makes a random mp3 file that's just noise, but it's the same size as "Oh Darlin" and has all the meta-data about the song attached to it and it puts it in my iTunes library. Then iTunes match comes along, see's "oh, he has "Oh Darlin" now, let's make available the 256-bit version to him on our servers". Wham...free song without having to go to Pirate Bay or wherever.

They have safe-guards against this? Just curious.

Good point. I'm wondering the same. I hope they do have something in place to prevent this from happening.

iiTunes Match sounds like a great service and it would be a shame if they had to shut it down because of such "hacks".

 

[Peace]

No, they added the option to upgrade songs for 30c per album - it would be great to pay the $25 once to have all of your old DRMed music upgraded to iTunes Plus.

Tuck

You are correct. I was acting under the assumption that most people had already done that.

My bad.

 

[Mattsasa]

Up to 25,000 songs.


Once subscribed, you can add up to 25,000 songs to iCloud, and iTunes purchases do not count against this limit. iTunes Match will not add your apps, books, movies, TV shows, ringtones, and audiobooks to your iCloud library. These items can continue to be synced to your iOS device with iTunes. iTunes LPs and iTunes Extras are also unsupported.

25,000 high quality songs??? thats like 250GB!!! WOW!

 

[Žalgiris]

Apple is spending a lot of money on this deal. Labels view it as an experiment with big risks attached. I don't think either side wants to rush into international expansion of this service because of the risks. I know execs in Europe have been quoted as saying there's no chance of this being authorized in Europe well into 2012, probably later, because they want to see what the impact is on earnings in the US market.

I think we probably need to view iTunes Match along the same lines as Spotify. Spotify was active in Europe for years before labels would sign on to licensing the service in the US. I think Europe will probably be waiting in line for this for years.

When did they rush it? Yes, never. And people wonder why so many people download things, you know many are doing it just to prove a point. Here i am, take my money …

 

[314631]

Good point. I'm wondering the same. I hope they do have something in place to prevent this from happening.

Yes it's called the law. I doubt Apple or its industry partners will hesitate to go after anyone who is seen to be abusing the service.

 

[darbus69]

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)

this is how you do it, thanks apple...

 

[ghett0tech]

i can not wait for iCloud. this service in particular is going to be great.

 

[Roy G Biv]

Match Spotify downloads?!

I just had a nuclear explosion in my mind. I'm a Spotify premium user with many gigs of 'free' downloads. Question: Can this service match these downloads for euphony and glory!

 

[darbus69]

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)

What the little demo didn't show is what exactly happens with that file he downloaded. Is it accessible in the Finder to be "kept forever" or has the computer truly become just another iOS-style "device" where the underlying file system is not really accessible, and the downloaded track is only visible or able to manipulated from within iTunes? Is the iTunes Library now like the iPhoto Library?

Personally I don't care, but there were some heated arguments a while back about whether iTunes Match would be purely streaming or would actually let customers "keep" all the 256kbps files they could possibly download/hoard, essentially making it an all-you-can-eat buffet for a one-time $25 fee. Looks like the streaming is clearly in place, but whether or not downloading means "for keeps" remains to be seen. My prediction: no.

Also curious if the latest iTunes will close the CD-burning loophole. Apple's deal with the record companies on this is suddenly believable if all the tracks are "trapped" inside of iTunes on the various devices, including computers.

really, PLEASE, artists IP has to be protected SOMEHOW;GEEZ some people want to steal everything from everyone-Walmart mentality at it's finest!

 

[Mattsasa]

I just had a nuclear explosion in my mind. I'm a Spotify premium user with many gigs of 'free' downloads. Question: Can this service match these downloads for euphony and glory!

I guess so