Apple has finally released the last piece of the iCloud puzzle?iTunes Match. For $25 annually, this new service will store any digital music you own on Apple's servers and make it available to any iTunes-capable device or computer. If Apple already has your music in its cloud, you don't even have to upload it, as you do with other services like Amazon's Cloud Player or Google Music (Free, 3.5 stars). This comes on the heels of another cloud feature?iTunes in the Cloud, which ironically, removes some of the need for iTunes itself. Users of iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches will no longer need to sync to a PC running iTunes in order to sync music, Apps, or e-books. And if iDevice users still do want to sync to a computer, iTunes finally lets them do so over Wi-Fi. Though you can play music and video in other apps, iTunes remains the media software to beat.
Part of the reason for this is that Apple just keeps improving on iTunes. Version 10 added Apple TV integration, TV show rentals, better app management and Ping, a Facebook-like music-oriented social network that lives inside the media player software. Version 10.2 added support for the iOS 4.3 operating system on iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad 2 ($499-$829, 4.5 stars), along with support for Home Sharing's streaming video to those devices. The wireless streaming feature, AirPlay lets you send music to compatible third-part audio devices?which are finally showing up. In version 10.3, Apple added the piece of iCloud called iTunes in the Cloud, which makes downloading music, apps, and books to multiple apps easier.
Other recent innovations still worthy of note include Genius playlists and Genius mixes. They automatically create playlists based on song styles and moods. iTunes LP is another, giving you liner notes, photos, and video to go along with an album. Its DJ feature lets you create a live mix in which friends can make requests and vote on songs. This is in addition to what other players give you?an equalizer, Internet radio, and podcast subscriptions.
Setup and First Impressions
iTunes is, of course, available for Mac OS X (version 10.5 or later), as well as Windows 7, Vista, and XP. If your PC is running a 64-bit version of Vista or Windows 7, you'll need to download the separate 64-bit installer. By default, the installer makes iTunes your default player for audio files, though you can uncheck this if you prefer Windows Media Player (Free, 4 stars), Winamp (Free, 4 stars), or another player.
After you install the software on a Mac, a setup assistant asks you questions that help it customize your installation. The Windows version asks you whether you want to add all songs, audio, and convert and add Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. You can also have iTunes organize your library by renaming files and moving them to the folders that match. A final privacy check asks if you want the app to download album art.
After you first launch iTunes, you're offered nine tutorials that cover topics ranging from the Ping service to iTunes U; these offer a good, simple way to get you started with unfamiliar features. One disappointment in starting up and signing into iTunes is that there's no easy way to switch among multiple accounts.
Apple doesn't add new file format support with this release, but I should note that the player software no longer requires a separate QuickTime installation to play media. You're still more likely to be able to play that difficult file in the excellent VLC media player (Free, 4 stars) media player, which supports over 20 video formats alone, compared with iTunes' seven.
iTunes in the Cloud
With its inclusion of iCloud, one of the most frustrating things about iTunes has been rectified. I can't tell you how many times I've tried getting some music from one iDevice to another, only to be thwarted by Apple's rules about what can be moved where. iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match put an end to much of this hassle, letting you download your music to up to ten other devices. But you'll have to pay $24.99 a year for iTunes Match if you want to include your non-iTunes-purchased songs in that capability. The service can also sync any new music you purchase to any device you're logged into with the same Apple ID.
With iTunes in the Cloud, this "download to any of your devices" goes for Apps and iBooks as well as music. On your iOS devices, you'll see a Purchased choice in the iTunes, iBooks, and App Store apps, from which you can download the content you've already bought on another member of your iTunes/iOS ecosystem. You can even have some of this content downloaded automatically to all devices or iTunes, regardless of on which device the content was purchased. Under Preferences/Store Preferences, you can choose automatic downloads for Music, Apps, and Books.
iTunes Match is a componenet of iTunes in the Cloud/iCloud that implements one of the cleverer cloud ideas around: If the company already has a song stored on its servers, you needn't upload it to get everywhere access. And if Apple's copy (always AAC 256Kbps iTunes Plus quality) is of better quality, you'll get that better version next time you download the song. This even applies to music acquired through other means than iTunes.
The $24.99-a-year fee allows a maximum of 25,000 songs. Setting up Match involves a three-step setup process: Gathering information about your iTunes Library, matching your music with songs in the iTunes Store, and uploading the remaining music and album art. In my testing, since I only had to upload music not in Apple's huge store, the cloud-ifying process was much quicker for iTunes than for Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music. On the downside, those competing services let you play the music from any web browser, while Apple's offering requires either iTunes installed or an iOS 5 device.
After this all music will appear on all iOS devices or computer's copies of iTunes that your account is logged in to?up to ten devices total. A cloud icon shows up next to songs that need to be downloaded. One issue with the process though, is that when you enable Match on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, the device's music library will be completely replaced by the Matched library. But that's not an issue if you Match the iTunes library that you were already syncing the device to. On other computer logged into the same iTunes account, you can stream any Matched music without having to download it onto your hard drive.
Ping?The Walled Music Social Network
Ping is a music-oriented social network that lets you follow (in the Twitter sense) performers and other iTunes users, meaning you'll see which songs they "liked, purchased, or commented on." It also lets users indicate concerts they plan to attend, and offers to find you tickets, too. Really, it's just a direct link to TicketMaster's page for the event. The activity stream looks a lot like Facebook's, down to the blue theme.
You're very limited to what you can post to Ping, as compared with Facebook?no photos, links, or videos, and the lack of a Web version means that Ping lives strictly within iTunes' walled garden. Sure, Apple claims over 160 million iTunes users as potential Pingers, but do users want to open a particular app to take part in a vertical social network, when vertical social networks have pretty much fallen by the wayside anyway?
Privacy is well handled in Ping. You can choose to manually designate which actions to share with your followers, require your approval before anyone can follow you, or not allow others to follow you, if you just want to see what other musicians and fans are up to. If someone you want to follow has protected their posts, you'll get a request-to-follow message box. For more on Apple's social network, read my Apple iTunes Ping: Hands On.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/U9po12iTxl4/0,2817,2368917,00.asp
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