iTunes Match Libraries Being Wiped Once Again - Launch Imminent

[Akshay Masand]

Apple has sent out yet another email informing beta users of the iTunes Match cloud library service that current libraries will be wiped ahead of the service’s launch. The new scheduled time for the wipe is November 12th at 10:00 AM Pacific Time.

As you probably already know, Apple missed the launch of iTunes Match by the end of October and still hasn’t announced the new launch date. With the current libraries being wiped once again and Apple’s choice of words in the email to developers, the launch doesn’t seem that far off. As of right now, no one is sure as to what Apple's plans are as the company sent out the same email previously and everyone was expecting the service to be launched by now but it still hasn't surfaced. It is quite apparent that Apple wants to make sure they have everything (or most things) ironed out before releasing the service to the public.

The email to developers can be found below:



I personally rather wait for the service to be refined for the masses than for Apple to release a service filled with bugs. How do you feel about the whole ordeal? Are you planning on purchasing the iTunes Match service? Share any thoughts below!

Source: Apple

[duromega]

Yes I will purchase this service, having my music backed up and anywhere on earth it's priceless

[feidhlim1986]

Yes I will purchase this service, having my music backed up and anywhere on earth it's priceless

I have that already. It's called having your music on a music player and the library backed up on your PC/Mac. I can restore everything too without needing an Internet connection.

It's not accessible anywhere on earth if you need an Internet connection though is it?

[N0KIA]

Yes I will purchase this service, having my music backed up and anywhere on earth it's priceless

Actually it's not priceless, it's $25/year.

[s0ulp1xel]

actually it's not priceless, it's $25/year.

[goodluck4287]

With my whole library being accessible from my iPhone and do so from anywhere... I think it's time to make my 2 year old MBP go SSD to be just like a brand new Mac. Cloud storage (and cloud computing) kick ***, I just wish you could get a T1 connection everywhere.

[politicalslug]

With a limit of 25K songs its not priceless, it's worthless. Match isn't required to download iTunes purchased music over the air. Match sounds great if you have a huge library that can't fit on a single device but limiting that size to 25K means that Match is only for people with a library larger than their iDevice can carry, but not too large. I guess match is only for those with "medium" size libraries, but worthless to those with small and large libraries alike. It's my experience that people either have small libraries (at most 100 ripped CDs) or very, very large libraries (>25K songs). The "medium" size music collection is like the intermediate sized black hole and mama bear's bed: it sounds great but it's just not real.

I suppose I'll just have to keep on using Audiogalaxy.... for FREE.

[DaLsim]

Yea. For people that want to pay and make apple richer, and not help the homless... There's other FREE thing that the same, But not apple own. FU.K apple

[stevelucky]

Yea. For people that want to pay and make apple richer, and not help the homless... There's other FREE thing that the same, But not apple own. FU.K apple

"Sent from my iPhone 4 or iPod Touch or any other electronic device that I paid for with money that didn't go to help the homeless. FU.K me. "

The "medium" size music collection is like the intermediate sized black hole and mama bear's bed: it sounds great but it's just not real.

I have about 17,000 "real" songs in my library.

[spice_weasel]

With a limit of 25K songs its not priceless, it's worthless. Match isn't required to download iTunes purchased music over the air. Match sounds great if you have a huge library that can't fit on a single device but limiting that size to 25K means that Match is only for people with a library larger than their iDevice can carry, but not too large. I guess match is only for those with "medium" size libraries, but worthless to those with small and large libraries alike. It's my experience that people either have small libraries (at most 100 ripped CDs) or very, very large libraries (>25K songs). The "medium" size music collection is like the intermediate sized black hole and mama bear's bed: it sounds great but it's just not real.

I suppose I'll just have to keep on using Audiogalaxy.... for FREE.

You do know that if the song exists on iTunes, it doesn't count against the 25k songs you are allowed. Do you really have over 25k songs that aren't sold on iTunes?

[stevelucky]

You do know that if the song exists on iTunes, it doesn't count against the 25k songs you are allowed. Do you really have over 25k songs that aren't sold on iTunes?

I don't think that's accurate. I've never seen that anywhere. Everything that I've ever read points to a 25k limit. In fact, my developer friend tried to sign up with about 30k (many of which are available on iTunes) and it wouldn't let him because he was over the limit. Can anyone else confirm this?

[talon1995]

I received the >25k error when I was attempting to use match. The way that I interpreted the message was that there is a 25k song limit on songs not purchased through iTunes directly. Songs that you purchased through iTunes do not count toward your limit, only non purchased iTunes songs. I have about 700 songs purchased through iTunes and, until I cleaned out some that I do not ever listen to, about 25,200 non iTunes purchased songs. I removed a bunch of music that I do not ever listen to, and match worked. My library, through Match, sits at 25,517 right now. The Match part of this just means you do not have to upload your music to the cloud, it does not mean they do not count against your total. Of the songs I have, I've had to upload 4,427 songs.