iTunes Match Beta Now Available for Developers

[The Beatles]

Think about this logically.

Lets say you have an iPhone 16GB.
Your Mac's music library is 20GB of music. Your iPhone already has 14GB worth of video,apps and documents on it.

How are you going to be able to play any music on your iPhone if there isn't enough storage on it ?

A+B=C

Are you implying that the iCloud user will be able to stream their 20GB of music? I didn't think streaming was part of iCloud, only downloading to sync.

Regardless, I was applying logic to my situation. All songs and apps easily fit on my iPhone. However, others have stated that it makes it easier to keep music in both places at once. Not really having to worry about buying then transferring. So I guess I can get on board for the convenience factor.


quote from earlier macrumors article:
"Using the new Automatic Downloads feature, content purchased via iTunes is pushed (not streamed) to mobile devices and vice versa. "

So i don't think its going to save you any room on your device since you can't stream. But it will make syncing automatic. Im not covering the fact that you can download an individual song from iCloud if you want to listen to it as that isn't really very convenient and isn't a solution i'd be interested in.

 

[alectheking]

Ok, unless I'm mistaken, iTunes Match only matched 33 of my 630 songs. All the matched ones were bought from iTunes, and the rest were CD's and downloads from the internet. 98% of my music has artwork so I know that iTunes recognizes them. Wondering what to do..

 

[tharris0101]

Do you think when it says that it deletes the iCloud library periodically it will wipe out my local iTunes music? I have all of my music backed up but would hate to have to restore it regularly.

Initially I took it to mean that any music that it doesn't match and you upload to Apple will get deleted but now I'm not so sure since I'm hearing that Apple is actually changing the metadata on the local songs.

 

[Peace]

Are you implying that the iCloud user will be able to stream their 20GB of music? I didn't think streaming was part of iCloud, only downloading to sync.

Regardless, I was applying logic to my situation. All songs and apps easily fit on my iPhone. However, others have stated that it makes it easier to keep music in both places at once. Not really having to worry about buying then transferring. So I guess I can get on board for the convenience factor.

Ok. I have discovered this much.

A. When my iPad is connected to my Mac. It no longer shows music in the iTunes window So I can't "sync" any music or music videos.
B. Music videos on my Mac are now shown on my iPad via the Videos app on my iPad under "shared>user library>music videos.
C. I can play a shared music video that is on my Mac to my Apple TV by way of my iPad or I can play it on my iPad.


[edit]

As a matter of fact now nothing is selected as synced in iTunes.

[/edit]

 

[LaazyEye]

Do you think when it says that it deletes the iCloud library periodically it will wipe out my local iTunes music? I have all of my music backed up but would hate to have to restore it regularly.

Initially I took it to mean that any music that it doesn't match and you upload to Apple will get deleted but now I'm not so sure since I'm hearing that Apple is actually changing the metadata on the local songs.

No, your home computer is your backup server, icloud is a parity (i can't think of the proper word) service.

 

[famdav]

Is this restricted to iOS developers or is this also for Mac Developers?

 

[bluebomberman]

What are you, a freakin' radio station owner? Isn't that like every record ever recorded since the beginning of time?

My library's near 10,000, which is roughly a month of nonstop music. And frankly, it doesn't seem like that much. (If I had an unlimited budget I'd be filling up my library with even more indie stuff.)

Just to be clear, I have no expectation of being able to put 75 days of music into the cloud; I do have the expectation of being able to select what songs go into the cloud if my library exceeds their capacity. Throwing up an "it's too big, I can't handle it" error message is pretty inelegant.

 

[tharris0101]

My library's near 10,000, which is roughly a month of nonstop music. And frankly, it doesn't seem like that much. (If I had an unlimited budget I'd be filling up my library with even more indie stuff.)

Just to be clear, I have no expectation of being able to put 75 days of music into the cloud; I do have the expectation of being able to select what songs go into the cloud if my library exceeds their capacity. Throwing up an "it's too big, I can't handle it" error message is pretty inelegant.

I'm guessing this is just a Beta thing.

 

[CLWelch]

Are you implying that the iCloud user will be able to stream their 20GB of music? I didn't think streaming was part of iCloud, only downloading to sync.

Regardless, I was applying logic to my situation. All songs and apps easily fit on my iPhone. However, others have stated that it makes it easier to keep music in both places at once. Not really having to worry about buying then transferring. So I guess I can get on board for the convenience factor.


quote from earlier macrumors article:
"Using the new Automatic Downloads feature, content purchased via iTunes is pushed (not streamed) to mobile devices and vice versa. "

So i don't think its going to save you any room on your device since you can't stream. But it will make syncing automatic. Im not covering the fact that you can download an individual song from iCloud if you want to listen to it as that isn't really very convenient and isn't a solution i'd be interested in.

I watched the WWDC announcement and thought that streaming was part of the service. I thought it was obvious.

 

[cshearer]

You send me emails for every beta, but not a peep for something as grand as iTunes match? Thanks Apple



I'm super excited to give it a try though.

Edit: I just received the email about five minutes after I posted this haha. I wasn't aware of how fresh this news was as I was at woe this evening.

 

[Prodo123]

I watched the WWDC announcement and thought that streaming was part of the service. I thought it was obvious.

What I'm speculating is that it will be a streaming service on Wi-Fi, where it can handle the bandwidth, and a selective syncing service on 3G.

 

[9699624]

question, might be a little noobish of me but I'm still trying the grasp the concept of iCloud and match. When iCloud and match finally release then isn't it a little pointless to have storage then on the iPod? I mean if you can sync between your iPod and your mac your entire library then whats the point? Is it a stream or does it actually download to your device? Once again apologies for the stupid question to those who think so.

 

[The Beatles]

I watched the WWDC announcement and thought that streaming was part of the service. I thought it was obvious.

Whats obvious? There is no streaming as far as I concluded. Also, there is no mention of streaming. Can you please direct me to where apple said you can stream from iCloud?

 

[bluebomberman]

Just to be clear, I have no expectation of being able to put 75 days of music into the cloud; I do have the expectation of being able to select what songs go into the cloud if my library exceeds their capacity. Throwing up an "it's too big, I can't handle it" error message is pretty inelegant.

I'm guessing this is just a Beta thing.

I thought so too, at first. But reading this makes me think twice:

Ok. I have discovered this much.

A. When my iPad is connected to my Mac. It no longer shows music in the iTunes window So I can't "sync" any music or music videos.
B. Music videos on my Mac are now shown on my iPad via the Videos app on my iPad under "shared>user library>music videos.
C. I can play a shared music video that is on my Mac to my Apple TV by way of my iPad or I can play it on my iPad.

[edit]

As a matter of fact now nothing is selected as synced in iTunes.

[/edit]

I guess this matches up with everything else about iCloud: the Mac is depreciated to just another device, and iCloud is The Truth.

Being able to manually divide your library into cloud and non-cloud portions messes with that philosophy. So iTunes Match may, by design, completely balk when presented with more than 25,000 songs.

 

[kenliles]

can anyone verify that Meta Data- free form text in the 'Comments' and user created 'Genres' all transfer and star ratings transfer and maintain in iCloud?

thanks
ken

 

[LaazyEye]

question, might be a little noobish of me but I'm still trying the grasp the concept of iCloud and match. When iCloud and match finally release then isn't it a little pointless to have storage then on the iPod? I mean if you can sync between your iPod and your mac your entire library then whats the point? Is it a stream or does it actually download to your device? Once again apologies for the stupid question to those who think so.

Local Storage will always be around until we have flawless wifi/wireless networks with superior coverage.

...and yes, it will stream and/or download songs you select.

 

[heyyoudvd]

Is there any word on whether or not it backs up information like star ratings?


Star ratings are incredibly important to me and I'm always terrified of losing them when I pick up a new hard drive or when I buy a new computer and have to go through the annoying task of transferring my library over.

My 12,000 song music library and all the associated star ratings and playcounts are extremely important to me and because of that, the single most significant potential iTunes Match feature for me is that it will function as a perfect backup system whereby I no longer have to worry about losing the music itself, the ratings, the playlists, or the playcounts if my hard drive dies or if I get a new computer.

Can anyone tell me if iTunes Match will do that?

 

[samh004]

question, might be a little noobish of me but I'm still trying the grasp the concept of iCloud and match. When iCloud and match finally release then isn't it a little pointless to have storage then on the iPod? I mean if you can sync between your iPod and your mac your entire library then whats the point? Is it a stream or does it actually download to your device? Once again apologies for the stupid question to those who think so.

What about videos, apps (some of mine are pretty huge!), and photos? We’ll always need vast amounts of storage, just maybe not for the music portion any more. Though that’s not to say some people don’t prefer to keep their music on the device and not just streamed/re-downloaded when they want to listen to something.

 

[brock2621]

Ok YES or NO: Does it STREAM?

 

[BlackMangoTree]

only in US for now, maybe it will arrive in brazil in 2026....

Then in Australia in 70923

 

[9699624]

if you take your time to read through this thread then you would find out that yes it does stream and you also have the ability to download it to your handheld or machine

 

[CLWelch]

Whats obvious? There is no streaming as far as I concluded. Also, there is no mention of streaming. Can you please direct me to where apple said you can stream from iCloud?

Tell me where they said it was download only. I watched the event and it only made sense to me if streaming was offered. I can't explain why I drew the conclusion that it was a part of the service. That's just what I took away from the announcement.

The idea of carrying around gigs of music on a portable device when there's a better option doesn't make any sense. The only time you should need to store things locally is when you know you won't have reliable internet access.

 

[brock2621]

if you take your time to read through this thread then you would find out that yes it does stream and you also have the ability to download it to your handheld or machine

I did read it and people are saying they "thought" so, but wasn't sure if it was just technically downloading in the background as fast as they were streaming. After they just "stream," is it now permanently available on their phone?

 

[Steve J0bs]

People are not being straightforward, it streams, yet you keep music on your device too? i am so lost.

 

[cshearer]

People are not being straightforward, it streams, yet you keep music on your device too? i am so lost.

People aren't being straightforward (if they're responsible), because this falls under Apple's non-disclosure agreement.

Patience is a virtue.


Match faster, match faster....