iTunes Match Released with iTunes 10.5.1

Apple has finally managed to bring iTunes Match to the market. The service made its debut as a part of iTunes 10.5.1. iTunes Match give users the power of iTunes in the cloud. For a low price, Apple customers get to access and download their music from the cloud. iTunes Match works for music that one may have purchased from stores other than iTunes. It is going to set you back $24.99 a year. It searches through your music collection to figure out which one of your music files are available on the iTunes store (matching).

If you happen to have music titles that are not available on the iTunes music store, you can always upload your files and access them in the cloud. What’s so exciting about iTunes Match is the idea of upload once, access anywhere. It works like a charm for those who have multiple iOS devices. This service allows users to upgrade their music (to 256Kbps AAC DRM-free). While Apple has been a bit late with the launch of iTunes Match, it does seem to have hit it out of the park (for the most part). The service is drastically more useful than Amazon Cloud Drive and most other competing cloud music services we have seen so far.

Let’s make no mistake about it. iTunes Match does have its shortcomings. The fact that it accepts pirated music may cause Apple trouble in the future. The matching process is quite fast though. If you hate iTunes, you will probably not going to enjoy Apple’s iTunes Match. It will be interesting to see how iTunes Match matches up against Google’s upcoming music service.