Posts tagged with "itunes"

Apple Launches iTunes Match

Apple today released iTunes 10.5.1, a software update that enables iTunes Match, a new music service integrated with iTunes in the Cloud that allows customers to “scan & match” their local music libraries, and store their songs and albums in Apple’s cloud. iTunes Match is currently available to U.S. customers only, and it costs $24.99 per year via iTunes subscription; iOS 5.0.1 and iTunes 10.5.1 are required to use iTunes Match.

Unlike other cloud music services, iTunes Match uses a scan technology that enables Apple to match songs in a user’s library with the ones the company already has on the iTunes Store, whilst the ones that aren’t recognized in the scanning process are directly uploaded to Apple’s servers. Because the iTunes Store offers more than 20 million songs, Apple believes most user libraries will be matched in seconds with the catalogue Apple already has, thus avoiding uploading an entire music library, which could take weeks on an average Internet connection. Furthermore, while the songs that aren’t matched with Apple’s iTunes Store are uploaded “as they are” (the exact file that a user has on a computer), matched songs are automatically upgraded to 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality, even if the original copy was of lower quality.

iTunes Match isn’t a streaming service like Spotify and Rdio in that it requires users to go through a “scan & match” process before they can start using the service. It is, however, deeply integrated with OS X and iOS 5: on the desktop, iTunes can download and play songs from iTunes Match, and the native Music app on iOS device is capable of downloading any song or album stored in your iCloud account, provided you’ve enabled iTunes Match in the Settings. iTunes Match doesn’t come with a huge catalogue of artists and genres available for streaming right away, but it allows users to scan & match their libraries, and download their songs (matched or not) at any time, on any device, with deep system integration.

At the moment of writing this, iTunes 10.5.1 includes iTunes Match but the service is still mentioned as “beta” within iTunes:

We will have a complete overview of iTunes Match later today on MacStories. iTunes 10.5.1 is available now on Apple’s website or through Software Update.

Apple Releases iTunes 10.5.1 with iTunes Match

Apple has just released version 10.5.1 of iTunes, which has been in testing with developers for some weeks to test the new iTunes Match music service. iTunes 10.5.1 is available now on Apple’s website and Software Update. It’s still unclear whether iTunes Match will open to the public today, and we’ll update this story as soon as we know more.

Update: It appears iTunes Match is indeed launching today as confirmed by Apple on the iTunes webpage.

Screenshots from the iTunes 10.5.1 installer and iTunes 10.5.1, still showing iTunes Match as “beta”. More information about iTunes Match available here.

An Overview Of PC Free In iOS 5

A core focus of iOS 5 is the introduction of iCloud (be sure to read our overview of it here), and one could say that the fundamental goal of iCloud is to free the iPhone and iPad from its reliance on a Mac or PC, making them more independent and powerful devices. iCloud goes along way in achieving this and reducing the need to sync devices (through features such as Photo Stream, iCloud Backup, iTunes Match etc.), but it doesn’t completely remove the requirement of syncing - particularly for those in regions that don’t yet have iTunes Match or don’t have Internet speeds capable of utilising iCloud Backup.

To fully accomplish this goal of making the iOS devices independent, Apple has added two additional features that complement iCloud, even if they aren’t technically deemed to be a feature of iCloud. These features are PC-Free and Wi-Fi syncing with iTunes; jump the break to view our full overview of these features.

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Apple Launches ‘iTunes Movie Trailers’ for iOS

No, not a website! Apple has released an app to preview upcoming movies in the vein of Movies Now. Featuring the same previews you’d find at iTunes Movie Trailers on the web, the iOS app allows you to preview beautiful movie posters, find movies at local movie theaters (either by theater or by movie), and check on upcoming releases by previewing a built-in calendar. Per trailer, movie details can be reveleaed that contains the cast and synopsis for the films you’re interested in seeing. You can tweet or email to share, or add the film to your favorites for later recollection.

You can download the universal application from the iTunes App Store for free. More screenshots past the break.

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Apple Releases iTunes 10.5

Apple today released iTunes 10.5, a new version of its media manager that adds a number of improvements and official support for devices running iOS 5. The next major version of Apple’s iOS is coming out this week on Wednesday, October 12th, and iTunes 10.5 will be required to sync devices that will be upgraded to the new software. For iOS 5 devices, iTunes 10.5 brings WiFi Syncing, a new feature that will allow owners of an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to sync apps and media wirelessly through iTunes.

iTunes 10.5 was originally seeded to developers in June, when Apple also released the first beta version of iOS 5. Since then, we noted iTunes 10.5 included some minor graphical updates to the interface; this summer Apple also rewrote iTunes’ codebase to take advantage of Lion with full 64-bit support, and this new version of the app includes the changes we originally reported here. iTunes 10.5 also adds support for iCloud, Apple’s new cloud service that allows users to store digital purchases in the cloud, and re-download them at any time on any device. This functionality was previously activated as “beta” and called iTunes in the Cloud; as Apple notes, “iTunes in the Cloud is now part of iCloud”, but that doesn’t change the way songs and apps have been able to be pushed across devices since last June. iCloud will also be officially launched on October 12th alongside iOS 5.

As we detailed in June with the release of “iTunes in the Cloud” as beta for iOS 4.3 and iTunes 10.3, iCloud support in iTunes allows users to re-download all previously purchased songs, TV shows, apps and books at no additional charge. In the new Purchased section of iTunes, users will find a link to browse previous downloads and re-download them at any time. Another option to automatically fetch all new downloads from any device and save them on a Mac or PC – called Automatic Downloads – is also enabled with iCloud on iTunes 10.5.

The ‘Purchased’ screen is a really handy feature to easily and quickly find a previous purchase and instantly download it or even download all of your previous purchases with just one click. The feature, which is also included in iOS 5, is part of Apple’s iCloud, which was unveiled at yesterday’s WWDC keynote. The ‘Purchased’ screen also gives you some fairly powerful tools to find the exact purchase you want, either from just searching, only displaying items not downloaded to your iTunes library or just list the purchases alphabetically.

You can download iTunes 10.5 from Apple’s website, or directly on your Mac through Software Update.

Update: Full changelog of iTunes 10.5 below.

What’s new in iTunes 10.5

  • iTunes in the Cloud. iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes them available on your devices anywhere, any time, at no additional cost.
  • Automatic Downloads. Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices.
  • Download Previous Purchases. Download your past music, TV, app, and book purchases again, at no additional cost. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store.
  • Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 5.
  • Wi-Fi Syncing. Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network.

Update #2: It appears iTunes Match has been removed from this public version of iTunes 10.5 – iTunes Match is still developer-only and launching at this end of this month.

The (Big) Numbers Apple Touted At Their iPhone Event

At yesterday’s iPhone event, Tim Cook took to the stage and as he has done at previous events, he gave the audience an overview of Apple’s business. He ran through various statistics of how the iPhone, iPad, Mac and other aspects of Apple’s business are doing. The numbers he gave were clearly chosen very carefully to shine the best possible light on Apple and were an important premise to the first Apple keynote in which he presides as CEO. But regardless of how carefully chosen, its clear that Apple is doing exceptionally well, virtually across its entire business.

We’ve reviewed the keynote and laid out all the key statistics he showed off into each of Apple’s product categories, so make sure to jump the break to view them all.

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“Let’s talk iPhone” Keynote Video Now Available for Streaming [Update: Download Too]

As usual after every keynote, Apple has posted a first video of the event, available for streaming on Apple’s website. You can reach the video here, or by pasting this link in your browser’s address bar: apple.com/apple-events/october-2011. Apple notes “streaming video requires Safari 4 or 5 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Lion, Safari on iOS 3 or later, or QuickTime 7 on Windows.”.

A downloadable version of the keynote should be made available on iTunes in a few hours.

Update: The October 4th keynote is now available for download on iTunes through Apple Keynotes’ feed.

“App Rentals” Coming to iOS?

According to a series of code strings found in the latest iTunes beta by The Tech Erra (via 9to5mac), Apple may soon introduce support for app rentals – allowing users to rent an app for a limited time, test it and, eventually, buy it at full price. A string in particular seems to suggest app rentals may soon be available:

Apps are automatically removed from your iTunes library at the end of the rental period.

The mention of an “iTunes library” also seems to suggest that this functionality may be related to iOS apps, which are stored in iTunes on desktop computers. The lack of trials/demos for iPhone and iPad apps has always been a popular argument against Apple’s App Store ecosystem, especially considering recent competitors like Microsoft have introduced support for trials in the Windows Phone 7 marketplace. Rentals would obviously be different from free trials, but they’d allow users to better consider a purchase before clicking the Buy button; it’s not clear if “app rentals” would simply be time-based, or also allow developers to exclude certain functionalities from the rental version. The use of “Do you want to start playing the app…” in the code reference is interesting, too.

Apple’s iCloud will allow users to instantly push new app purchases across devices, but the company has been unwilling to tackle the App Store demo/rental idea so far. If these strings are of any indication, there’s the possibility Apple will announce new app rental features at its media event tomorrow.

“iPhone 4S” Name Found In Latest iTunes Beta

Apple has apparently included the “iPhone 4S” name in a file inside the latest iTunes beta seeded on Friday, 9to5mac reports. As shown in the screenshot above, two strings report “iPhone 4S” in the description, with a link to the same image used by iTunes for the older CDMA iPhone 4. Whilst the iPhone 4 had separate references for colors (black/white) and carrier variations (GSM/CDMA), the “4S” name in iTunes 10.5 beta 9 is only differentiated by color.

Speculation surrounding the next-generation iPhone initially described the “iPhone 4S” as the lower end model with improved specs over the iPhone 4, although recent rumors have suggested the “iPhone 5” may end up being the 4S itself, thus contradicting reports of two different models, one being “completely redesigned”.

The iPhone 4S name recently appeared on packaging for third-party cases and it also supposedly hit Apple’s internal inventory system with the codename N94. The CDMA image associated to the 4S in the iTunes beta may be a placeholder, but the 4S was previously rumored to have dual CDMA-GSM capabilities.

Apple will hold a keynote in Cupertino on Tuesday, October 4th, where it’s widely expected to unveil the next-generation iPhone.