Today, iTunes Match went live exclusively for the developers as a part of iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1 release earlier. For those who aren’t aware, iTunes Match allows you to upload your entire mp3 collection that you have either purchased or have ripped it from your CDs at a price of $24.99 for 12 months. The subscription will renew automatically and can be cancelled anytime. All the music is stored at Apple’s iCloud servers which can be accessed from anywhere using for iPhone, iPod touch or iPad in addition to a Mac or Windows based computer. The service is currently in beta early and is available only to enrolled Apple developers from USA. As a bonus, these developers get to test the iTunes Match beta service free for 3 months in addition to their yearly paid subscription.
For those who already have access to a developers account and have updated to iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1, here is what you need to do in order to subscribe to iTunes match and enable it on your iOS device:
Important: Before you get started, it is recommended you make a backup of your complete iTunes library. You can find your iTunes library inside /Music/iTunes in your Home folder.
How to: Subscribe to iTunes Match:
1. Download & iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1 on your Mac.
2. Open iTunes and choose Turn On iTunes Match from the Store menu.
3. Click the Subscribe for $24.99 button and follow the onscreen instructions. Once
complete, your Music library will include songs on your computer and in iCloud.
How to: Enable & Access iTunes Match library from your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad:
1. Tap Settings > Music > and turn iTunes Match to ON. This will disable syncing music with iTunes.
2. Press the Home button and tap Music.
Apple has also published a list of known issues with iTunes Match beta:
• Songs in unsupported formats will not be uploaded to iCloud at this time.
• Some songs that are available in the iTunes store may not be matched correctly.
• Some songs may match to a different version of the same song on the iTunes Store.
• You will not be able to add music to iCloud from more than one computer at a time.
• You may experience playback issues on iOS, such as slow performance, incorrect track
playing, or songs being shown as unavailable when they are available.• Playback over cellular data connection will occur when Wi-Fi is not available, despite
this option being turned off in Settings > Store
Should you run into any problems, don’t hesitate to notify us in the following comments section!
