iTunes Match

[guineapiggie101 0]

I know it is a new service that just came out from Apple. It costs $24.99/yr and is supposed to store the music you have on your comp in iTunes (purchased music AND music that you backed up from CDs and stuff), into somewhere where you can access it with all your Apple devices (iPad, iPod, MacBook, etc).

Personally, I think it is a cool way to store music and have access whenever, without having to copy stuff over. Price is not bad either.

Anybody use it yet? If so, whatcha think of the service?

[danielcroft 2]

Yep, I got it but only after I read the fine print saying that even after you stop paying for the service, you still get to keep the files you have.

[guineapiggie101 0]

Do you like the service? Is it worth it?

[danielcroft 2]

The vast majority of the music I have is legal, I have a bunch of music that I ripped off CDs which isn't in iTunes. I feel like it works pretty well in that it pulled everything up that it didn't have and gave me back better quality version of what it did. I've noticed a couple of issues with iCloud (the two are one and the same) in that it thinks I have duplicates and wants me to remove them but then tells me that they're missing from my library.

There are some things it won't take up like movies, digital booklets and audio CDs btw.

I think the main benefit of Match is that you can make most of your library legal and if you don't re-up, your library is still legal so if you have a bunch of music you don't technically own, it's a great deal and a smart thing to do. I didn't but still think it was worthwhile as now I can stream my library from the cloud to my work computer. So, for me, yes, I think it's worth it. Not sure I'll keep it but for now I'm happy with it.

[theonlyski 3]

Quote

The vast majority of the music I have is legal, I have a bunch of music that I ripped off CDs which isn't in iTunes. I feel like it works pretty well in that it pulled everything up that it didn't have and gave me back better quality version of what it did. I've noticed a couple of issues with iCloud (the two are one and the same) in that it thinks I have duplicates and wants me to remove them but then tells me that they're missing from my library.

There are some things it won't take up like movies, digital booklets and audio CDs btw.

I think the main benefit of Match is that you can make most of your library legal and if you don't re-up, your library is still legal so if you have a bunch of music you don't technically own, it's a great deal and a smart thing to do. I didn't but still think it was worthwhile as now I can stream my library from the cloud to my work computer. So, for me, yes, I think it's worth it. Not sure I'll keep it but for now I'm happy with it.

Is the media it downloads protected? There will be a day when I would transfer my music to a new media player, and I'd be pretty pissed if it was all DRM'ed.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[headoverheels 291]

My random thought on your post's title was a combination of Itunes and Match.com (which is where I met my wife), where you would be matched up to people by the hit rate of joint music interest.

[murrays 0]

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Is the media it downloads protected? There will be a day when I would transfer my music to a new media player, and I'd be pretty pissed if it was all DRM'ed.

No.

From Apple's Web site:

"A match made in iCloud.
With iTunes Match, even songs you’ve imported from CDs can be stored in iCloud. And you can play them on any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC — whenever you want and wherever you are, without syncing. iTunes Match is just $24.99 a year.2

Here’s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to iCloud for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 20 million songs in the iTunes Store, chances are, your music is already in iCloud. And for the few songs that aren’t, iTunes has to upload only what it can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it to any of your devices. Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality."

--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

[theonlyski 3]

So the music is just available while online, as it's not actually downloaded to your device?

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[murrays 0]

Quote

So the music is just available while online, as it's not actually downloaded to your device?

No. From the quote referenced in my original message:

"Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it to any of your devices."

For example, In order to get music onto an iPod Classic it has to be on the computer that the iPod is linked to.

--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

[danielcroft 2]

Both. I have copies on my desktop of all my tunes. On my work laptop, I access my tunes over the net and don't have to download them. As far as DRM goes, they're all DRM free, however, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of songs left that haven't had the DRM removed, I know I still have some. It really depends when the work the licensing out.