iTunes Match: $24.99/Year, Matches Ripped Tunes, Offers Them In The Cloud

Today, in addition to Lion, iOS 5 and the other iCloud features, Apple rolled out iTunes in the Cloud. The service is free for songs purchased through the iTunes Store, while a new “iTunes Match” service priced at $24.99/year extends the program to ripped music.

iCloud will attempt to ease the burden of syncing — at least for songs purchased through iTunes. Previously-purchased songs will show up in a purchase history and any music purchased can be re-downloaded to any device at no additional charge. According to Steve Jobs, this is the “first time we’ve seen this in the music industry.”

Using the new Automatic Downloads feature, content purchased via iTunes is pushed (not streamed) to mobile devices and vice versa. Users will consequently have all of their songs, automatically, wherever they are, on up to ten devices. The service is free for songs through the iTunes Store.

As far as ripped music, iTunes has 18 million songs in the music store and Apple will use a feature called iTunes Match to give users the same benefits on ripped songs matched to iTunes songs, as with purchased tracks. A user’s library is scanned and matched and any songs that remain unmatched can be uploaded for syncing. Songs that are matched are upgraded to 256KBps, AAC, DRM-free, with all the benefits above, including push syncing and all the rest.

iTunes Match is priced at a flat rate of $24.99 per year, even for “20,000 songs.”

iTunes 10.3 Now Available for Download

Yesterday, we noted that Apple had begun promoting availability of iTunes 10.3 on its main iTunes site but that the actual download page was still serving up iTunes 10.2.2 and that Software Update had yet to begin offering the new version to users.

A few hours later, iTunes 10.3 did in fact become available for download, bringing compatibility with some early iCloud features making their way to iOS devices.

What’s new in iTunes 10.3

Introducing iTunes in the Cloud beta. The music you purchase in iTunes appears automatically on all your devices. You can also download your past iTunes purchases. Where you want, when you want.

- 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 purchases again at no additional cost. Your purchases are available in the iTunes Store on your Mac or in the iTunes app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store.

iTunes 10.3 also adds Books to the iTunes Store, where you can discover and buy your favorite books on your computer and automatically download them to iBooks on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

This version also allows you to use Automatic Downloads with apps and books or download previously purchased apps and books from your computer or iOS device.

iTunes 10.3 is available in a Mac version for systems running Mac OS X Leopard or later, as well as in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Windows.

A separate iTunes 10.5 release will ultimately bring full support for iCloud and iOS 5 later this year, and an initial beta of that version has been seeded to developers for testing alongside the other forthcoming software offerings.