Most of Apple’s new iCloud services won’t be ready for consumption until the fall, when iOS 5 is released. But if you’re anxious to try out the iTunes in the Cloud service, you can get a head start by downloading a public beta version of iTunes 10.3 that’s now available from Apple’s Web site.
[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]iTunes in the Cloud lets you automatically download new music, app and book purchases to all devices, rather than requiring you to manually synchronize content on each iOS device you own. So if you buy a new song or app on iTunes, you can start enjoying it on your iOS device right away, with that content synchronizing over the air.
The beta version of iTunes does not sport iTunes Match, the optional $24.99-per-year service unveiled yesterday that enables you to store your entire music collection in the cloud. That service is coming when iCloud and iOS 5 are publicly released this fall.
I’m gutted iTunes in the cloud is U.S only for now, I really hope Apple will be able to negotiate deals for the rest of the world but knowing how nuts the music industry is I doubt it.
I had no idea this was US only, thanks for the tip off. I noticed the ‘Purchased’ button in the iBooks app, but not iTunes, and that explains why.
Well, for those of us in the US, this is really slick! I’m downloading stuff to my Mac at work now, where I was hesitant to do it before because of the sync issues and authorization of devices. I just de-authorized all my Macs (I was at the max of 5) and now I’m good to go for my Macs at work and home and three more I might want to authorize in the future.
Hope this goes international soon for everyone.
A little fortuitous thing that happened to me in the course of checking out iTunes in the Cloud is that I discovered some albums that I had forgotten I purchased, and I downloaded them in the new higher bit rate format to phone and Mac. Sweet!
So, for the rest of the world, which month do you guys call “Fall”?
Heh. Sep/Oct/Nov.
Looks like not all is there yet. I renamed mi iTunes folder to “nuke” my library. Although I think almost everything is there I do know that the tracks from amarican idol like gokie doing renagade did no re download. There are some others not there but thy may have been free tracks.
Thanks Mr Cohen, that’s quite a wide deadline target to hit, I wish mine were as wide 😉