In the wake of the announcement of iOS5 and all it’s groovy new features, there was one announcement I found quite interesting. While the main features of the new cloud-based version of iTunes (iCloud) revolve around buying content from the iTunes store, Apple storing it for you and wirelessly pushing it to all your iOS devices, I’m more intrigued by the iTunes Match feature. According to Apple:
iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 18 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. And all the music iTunes matches plays back at 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.
It sounds almost too good to be true, and very Christian of them…in acknowledgement of your repentance as a pirating rapscallion in your youth, you are hereby absolved of your sins on the condition that you provide a modest $25 per year offering in perpetuity unto Apple. As a demonstration of good faith, we will carry the burden of these cumbersome files, scrub them to a glossy 256 Kbps sheen and allow you access from anywhere on earth. Amen.
As of now though, that does appear to be how it’s planned to work. The one significant fine print item on the features page:
1. Limit 25,000 songs. iTunes purchases do not count against limit.
I’m still 6,000 songs short of that mark, but we’re talking about the future here…hopefully the next phase will have options for larger libraries.
I’m not all that concerned over letting Apple pick through my music files. Although they weren’t all purchased from iTunes/Amazon/eTunes or ripped from my own discs, they’re all something I purchased or traded for with friends. I don’t get into BitTorrent, so I haven’t looked into what problems might result from handing over torrented tunes to Apple. At the very least, I’d say that the iTunes Match Apple Terms of Service document will be the first that I actually read beyond the “I Accept” button. My expectations are that it’s going to be a very successful service and a fine addition to the other great features in the iOS5 release this Fall.
[via gizmodo]
[images via Apple]
Neither did I. One day quite a while ago, I really wanted to do this and searched everywhere for how. At that time, from everything I read, it was not possible. I’m not sure in which version of iOS they finally included this feature, but it sure is nice to know.
[via lifehacker]
I just discovered, after reading this article, that you can (and possibly should) quit suspended apps in the iPhone multi-tasking queue. Apple’s official stance is that these apps are in suspended animation and have no effect on your phone’s performance or battery life, but this article indicates that your battery may be affected if there are a large number of apps in this state. The example they use had 40 apps running, and reported an increase in battery life after quitting them. I didn’t even know how/if you could quit them, so I had over 50 running. It’s 7:35pm the following day and my battery is at 74% after a day of normal use…better than I normally see. May be worth your time to give it a shot.
Clear out your multitasking queue by double-tapping the home button, pressing and holding an app in the queue, and then tapping the “-” in the app’s corner.
[via lifehacker]
