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Apple's iPhone 4S, iOS 5 and iPod roundup: details, specs and release dates
Phew, what a day! Apple's done its fair share of introducing today, and now it's on us to distill everything down into something understandable by folks who don't have the time to pore over every single morsel of iPhone and iOS 5-related news oozing from Cupertino. You can relive our liveblog right here -- for everything else, get schooled below. iPhone 4S iPhone 4S officially announed, lands October 14th in sizes up to 64GB Sprint iPhone announced, getting both iPhone 4 and 4S Meet the new iPhone 4S AirPlay Mirroring coming to iPhone 4S iPhone 4S hands-on iPhone 4S vs. the smartphone elite iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4 Post-event live broadcast iPhone 4S event video posted online iPhone 4S makes its way through the FCC Upgrade to AT&T iPhone 4S: there's an app for that iOS 5 iOS 5 will be available October 12th, iCloud launches the same day Cards app for iPhone introduced Find My Friends announced iTunes Match hits US 'end of October' for $24.99 Apple brings Siri voice recognition iPod / Mac / other news Six million copies of Lion downloaded since launch Macbook Pro and iMac are the best selling notebook and desktop in the US 16 billion iTunes songs downloaded, 300 million iPods sold 250 million iOS devices sold, 18 billion apps downloaded iPod Touch available October 12th in black and white, maxes at 64GB / $399 iPod nano now $149 for 16GB and $129 for 8GB iPhone 3GS 8GB is free, iPhone 4 8GB $99 AppleCare+ debuts for $99, covers accidental damage for a fee
iTunes Match hits US 'end of October' for $24.99
We already had the details on iTunes Match, but now we've got a ballpark release date. According to Apple, the iTunes service will make its debut by the end of the month in the great U S of A, and it can be yours for $24.99 a year. Here's hoping Apple's got a nice, clean (DRM-free 256kbps AAC file) version of Monster Mash floating in the cloud for your Halloween listening pleasure.
Apple seeks international licensing for iTunes Match, iCloud
According to a report from CNET, Apple is actively negotiating with music labels to secure international licensing for both iTunes Match and iCloud. Currently, iTunes Match only functions for US-based developers; iTunes in the Cloud, which auto-syncs purchases across devices, is also a US-only affair. CNET believes the service may be able to roll out internationally and debut at Apple's October 4 press event if negotiations can be completed in time. CNET's sources have said the service may roll out to the UK, France, and Germany initially. Hopefully it won't take too much longer for licensing deals to enable service across all nations with access to the iTunes Store. iCloud and iTunes Match are both expected to debut this fall, possibly soon after Apple's media event next week. The services will likely launch alongside the public release of iOS 5 and OS X Lion 10.7.2.
iTunes Match beta data to reset on Monday
Late last night, Apple registered developers who are participating in the iTunes Match beta were notified that their test data will be zapped from orbit. Apple's email to devs was brief and to the point: To continue to improve the overall quality and reliability of iTunes Match, it has become necessary to delete all current iCloud libraries. All iCloud libraries will be deleted on Monday, September 26th at 9AM PDT. To prepare, please turn off iTunes Match on all of your computers and iOS devices. On your computer, choose Store > Turn off iTunes Match. On your iOS device, tap Settings > Music, then turn off iTunes Match. Of course, beta is beta, and unless those participating in the test have actually deleted their music files from their computers in favor of cloud storage only, they won't lose anything but sync time. This sort of mass reset may foreshadow the wider introduction of the Match service. Hat tip to Aaron, Brian and everyone who sent this in.
iTunes Match 'streaming' reportedly removed from iOS 5 beta 7
When the beta of iTunes Match launched to developers, a semantic debate ensued over whether certain behaviors within the service counted as music "streaming" to devices or not. The question has been rendered largely moot as of iOS 5 beta 7 according to Appleinsider and several other sources. Apple has altered iTunes Match and caused the service to automatically download songs onto users' devices when playback is initiated over iCloud. Music files downloaded to a user's device can of course be manually deleted later, but anyone who was hoping to use iTunes Match as a true streaming music service will undoubtedly be disappointed by the change. When launched to the public, iTunes Match will cost US$24.99 per year. The service is expected to launch this fall.
Apple confirms iCloud won't offer iTunes streaming to iOS
The iTunes Match beta opened up to developers yesterday, and in case you were somehow under the impression that it actually offered streaming of music to your iOS device, you're mistaken. Apple has confirmed, because apparently there was confusion, that iTunes Match doesn't stream music. Instead, the $24.99 a year that you will pay for the service means that any music you download from anywhere will get "activated" as purchased in iTunes, and then you can download that music to any iOS device or Mac that you happen to have. That's still an actual file that will need actual space on the hard drive. Apple says that purchased music can be listened to while it's being downloaded, but it's not like you can have your iPhone full of apps and then still listen to streaming music. In that sense, iTunes Match is more of a sync-ing service than an actual streaming setup. It's too bad -- I'd much rather have Pandora-like access to my music library from anywhere without having to haul all of those files around on my app-filled iPhone. And while you think that distinction might be the issue of some record company's legal text, it's actually an Apple decision, according to the record companies. Apple apparently wants this music to be tied to iTunes, and thus to actual files on your devices. A streaming service could too easily be brought out to other mediums like browsers (which is where Pandora started, incidentally), and thus separated from Apple devices in general. That seems sort of selfish on Apple's part -- I would hope the ideal is that I have access to my music on iTunes all the time, not just when I'm on Apple devices. But for now, this is the way it's done. If you pay up for iTunes Match, you still get all of the service's benefits, but you don't get streaming of your files to or from anywhere. Update: There's some confusion over the word "streaming" here. Streaming, as we're using it, means listening to music without actually downloading it on to your device. This is possible on a Mac with iTunes using the new iTunes Match service (just like it is while sharing a library on Wi-Fi). But it is not possible on an iOS device, even with iTunes Match -- you must download the song to listen to it. You can listen to it while it's downloading, but there will be a file that will take up space on your iOS device.
Daily Update for August 30, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
iTunes Match goes live for iOS developers (updated)
Enrolled in the iOS developer program and interested in iTunes Match? Better point that browser towards Apple's dev portal, as Cupertino's just flipped the switch for its upcoming music laundering service. There you'll find iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1 with iTunes Match which'll let you sign up for a yearly $24.99 fee. Hopping on the bandwagon early has extra rewards too -- early birds get three months (on top of their yearly sub) for free. A tipster also provided us with a screencap (after the break) of his iPod touch running the current iOS beta, which now magically has a toggle for the service under the Music section of the Settings app. Taking the plunge? Let us know how you fare in the comments. [Thanks, Matt] Update: Looks like the initial signups have stopped, but Apple plans to expand the number of testers "over the next days." So, keep compulsively checking iTunes if you want in on the next round.
iTunes Match beta now open to developers
iTunes Match, Apple's answer to the "online music locker" service, has just entered beta according to an email sent out to members of the Developer Program. iTunes Match will store users' music libraries in iCloud, allowing anywhere/anytime access to the entire library from any device. iTunes Match is now available to US-based developers, and subscribers will receive iTunes Match service both during the beta period and an additional three months beyond the beta period for free. Concurrent with the iTunes Match beta is a new beta version of iTunes 10.5, beta 6.1. Developers must download this newest beta of iTunes in order to enable iTunes Match. Apple encourages developers to continue maintaining backups of their iTunes libraries, as iCloud libraries may be reset periodically during the beta. iTunes Match will cost US$24.99 per year when it launches. Its public release is expected to concur with that of iOS 5, iTunes 10.5, iCloud, and possibly OS X Lion 10.7.2, all of which may debut in either September or October.
Former EMI boss says Limewire users were major iTunes customers
Douglas C. Merrill used to work for record label EMI, one of the biggest members of the RIAA. He was forced out just a year later, but now he's sharing information from inside the company. And some of that information points to an interesting conclusion about music pirates: they often end up being some of the music industry's best customers. Speaking at a conference in Sydney, Merrill said that a profile they'd conducted of users of the LimeWire music sharing service portrayed them as some of the biggest spenders on iTunes. "That's not theft, that's try-before-you-buy marketing and we weren't even paying for it," Merrill said at the show, "so it makes sense to sue them." That last part is sarcasm, we're pretty sure. Of course, most record companies saw illegal downloading as purchases that just didn't happen, and thus lost revenue. But this conclusion hints that "pirates" aren't taking away from music sales -- they're just download music to fill out their already big purchased collections. That's the kind of premise that the upcoming iTunes Match seems to be banking on, where users will be able to pay a subscription fee to verify any music downloaded outside of iTunes as official iTunes purchases. It would certainly end up being ironic if it turned out that the very same customers the RIAA attacked and sued back during those early days of filesharing were some of the same customers ringing in the digital music age that's now keeping record companies afloat. [via Boing Boing]
Best Buy puts your music in the cloud, goes where others have gone before (updated)
Google, Amazon, and Apple have been hogging the headlines when it comes to storing your tunes in the internet ether. That doesn't mean there isn't room for another musically inclined cloud contender -- or at least, that's how Best Buy sees things. The big blue box has rolled out its aptly (if uncreatively) named Music Cloud service that lets you upload your audio to its servers and stream it wherever you go. You can also save songs locally, plus there are apps for Androids, Blackberrys, and iPhones to manage and play your music. There are two flavors of Music Cloud, Lite and Premium. The former is free, while the latter costs $3.99 a month, though Best Buy hasn't said what the difference is (other than price) between the two. The catch? It's currently only capable of grabbing songs from iTunes, so no uploading from file folders. Let's hope that's only a temporary problem. Update: Turns out the Lite version only lets you listen to the first 30 seconds of each song -- you gotta pony up for the Premium service if you want your full tunage to go.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me merge my music accounts
Dear Auntie, Half of my music collection was purchased with an old Apple ID, using a defunct email address. I can play music from both accounts on my devices, no problem. But when iCloud comes out, I wonder how I'll be able to have it sync both accounts as one cloud in the iCloud? I wish I could merge accounts and be done with the old one. Best to you and your hat maker, Your loving nephew, Dan Dear Dan, This is where iTunes Match really can jump in and make your life easier -- with one small catch. For US$25, it gives you access to all your music. If your music is not DRM protected, you can just throw it into your normal library and Match will enable it in the cloud. The problem comes in with older purchases made before the iTunes Plus switch away from DRM. Auntie isn't sure that music from your older account will transfer over to the cloud -- and Apple hasn't clarified how iTunes will treat music that's authorized to play on your computer but DRM'ed to another account. Unfortunately, Apple does not allow you to merge accounts. They don't do it for partners getting married; they don't do it for transfer from MobileMe; they just don't do it. You are not alone in this -- Apple has resisted account merging for years. So as far as Auntie can tell, your only problems may arise with those older purchases. Otherwise, iTunes should not be able to differentiate between music copied from your old account and music purchased or ripped in your new one. (And if it does, there are any number of metadata stripping utilities you can google for.) Hugs and good luck, Auntie T.
Music label Numero Group opts out of iTunes Match
Chicago-based music label Numero Group is the first record label to publicly opt out of Apple's iTunes Match service, which lets users redownload any songs they have in their iTunes library to any device they own. In a short blog posting, Numero Group said that "we feel that a great risk is being taken by Apple and the major labels that have accepted the terms of this new product wholesale with not a thought beyond the 150M those so-called 'big four' will probably divide and pay to their top executives. By that, we mean that laws that protect compositions and copyrights for songs are, more or less, being trampled under these agreements." In an interview with Ars Technica, Numero Group co-owner Rob Sevier explained that, for small record labels like his, there's not much benefit to allowing Numero tracks on iTunes match. Sevier told Ars that iTunes Match effectively "legitimizes" piracy and easily turns people into "pirates" for a one-time fee of $25. For a small record label like his, which may only sell 10,000 copies of a song, the potential for people to download pirated copies and then turn them into "legitimate" copies via iTunes Match isn't worth the risk. "We are primarily a physical goods company," Sevier said. "Because of that, we don't get too bogged down in bootlegging; we just can't stay up all night and worry about it. But for Apple to say that all your bootlegs are welcome, it just bothers us." Sevier also discounts the notion that iTunes Match is a way for smaller labels to take part in revenue sharing, which would potentially make up for any illegal music matched on iTunes. He says that the potential revenue from iTunes Match won't make up for the increased rate of piracy, which could be as high as 1000 percent in his estimates. "It's not going to be enough to matter. I don't think that any of this will even filter down to artists. It doesn't matter what kind of label it is, it's just going to be an administrative mess dealing with all these micropayments. There's no way it's going to cover the hourly wage of someone working in the accounting department to even deal with." Servier expects some of his customers to be unhappy about not being able to have their songs matched on iTunes, but he feels that someone needs to protect the smaller artists, songwriters, and producers. He also states that he could have quietly opted out of iTunes Match, but decided to blog about his decision in hopes that his decision will spur other labels in the industry to fully think out what joining iTunes Match may mean for the artists they represent.
Shazam Encore updated with lyrics, how about iTunes?
Shazam has released another update for its paid Encore app, this one adding full lyrics of over 25,000 songs on the service from provider LyricPlay. It lets you stream the lyrics in real-time as the song plays, so you can sing (or even just read) along. It's not exactly a reason to shell out for the US$5.99 app -- I'm still using the free version to identify music that I listen to, and it works just fine for that purpose. But it's a nice addition to the Encore functionality, and it's good to see that someone has worked out how to make song lyrics available to listeners in a simple and easy way. In fact, this makes us wonder just where iTunes is on this issue. We've seen rumors for a long time that iTunes has been trying to add a lyrics feature (and there are plenty of ways to just do it yourself if you'd like to do that). But especially now that Apple has figured out something as complicated as iTunes Match, surely lyrics shouldn't be that hard to do, right? Unfortunately, the RIAA is still against it, and they've actually shut down any relatively easy solutions for quickly bringing lyrics into iTunes. It's a real shame -- especially for any music purchased from the iTunes Store (and because of the way iTunes Match works, all of your music will probably come from the App Store soon), we should really have access to the lyrics as the songs play.
How iTunes Match solves my obscure downsampling problem
I have a longstanding audio quality problem with iTunes -- but iTunes Match will finally resolve it for me. Hurray! Hopefully this post will help others in the same situation. It all starts with the sad fact that I'm a perfectionist idiot about audio quality, so I still buy CDs and rip them myself using Apple's lossless codec -- I can't quite bring myself to (usually) pay more on iTunes for a lower quality file. The lossless codec achieves about 50% compression, yielding files about three times larger than the iTunes Plus 256-kbps AAC setting that most people rip in and the iTunes Store uses. It is, however, a complete bit-for-bit copy of the original CD. Note that its not so much that I can hear the difference; more that I don't drive myself mad wondering if I can. I have occasionally, but admittedly not often, picked up the odd rough-sounding cymbal splash in iTunes Plus files when listening on decent headphones; but I am by no means one of those audiophiles who believes in spending thousands on speaker cables and $2000 on a power cord that defies the laws of physics. Still, though, by using only Apple lossless audio codec (ALAC), I know that I can avoid even thinking about sound quality issues. That's the appeal for me. Even if you're unconvinced by my reasoning here (and I admit it has more to do with my own eccentricities than strict logic), there's another reason to prefer ALAC format ripping -- down the road, if I have to change to alternative music formats, I won't need to rip the CDs again. I can turn the ALAC files back into pure WAV format and then transform them into any other format without any further loss of quality. I do this occasionally when I want to put more music on the USB stick that I keep plugged into my car radio, which will play mp3 and WMA files but not AAC. In contrast, running a lossy encoded format file like AAC through the encoding process to another one like mp3 results in a really muddy, horrible sounding file. However, whilst ALAC is fine for use on my Mac where disk space is cheap and for streaming around my house's Ethernet network where bandwidth is plentiful, it's not really much use for syncing to my iPhone, because it's too darn big. I'd prefer to compromise quality a little on the iPhone in order to fit a decent amount music in and because I mostly listen to the iPhone when walking the dogs or in my noisy day-job office, neither of which demand the highest fidelity. Sadly, iTunes really doesn't want to work with me. It has the "convert higher bitrates" option, which is teasingly close to what I want, but it's irritatingly locked to only output 128 kbit/sec AAC. That really is too low -- I can definitely hear annoying compression artifacts. So, for a long time, I've been maintaining two iTunes libraries. One is full of ALAC and I use it for playback in the house; the other is full of AAC and I use it to sync my iPhone with. Hence, when I rip a CD, I have to rip it twice (or do a second pass of conversion from the ALAC files to AAC), and if any track names, album art, or other metadata need adjusting, I need to adjust it twice. This is tedious and annoying. Enter iTunes Match, which might just solve this problem for me at a stroke. I'm hoping it will allow me to rip once as an ALAC file, and upload that converted file to iCloud. Apple says that: [A]ll the music iTunes matches plays back at 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality -- even if your original copy was of lower quality. which implies to me that even ALAC files going in come out at the lower quality 256 kbit/sec setting. I wouldn't even need to cable my iPhone to iTunes to get new music any more, let alone rip CDs twice or juggle multiple iTunes libraries. For $25 a year, I'm in, although it seems that we'll be waiting until 2012 to get iTunes Match in the UK. Although this problem is fairly obscure, I have seen others people post about this problem from time to time (one, two, and many of the comments below). I hope this post will reach those folk and prompt them to look at this little side-effect of iTunes Match more closely.
iTunes Match not coming to the UK until 2012?
Music collectors in the US will be able to subscribe to Apple's iTunes Match service this fall, but it looks like our friends across the pond will have to wait a little longer before lofting their libraries up to the cloud. According to sources within the British recording industry, licensing negotiations between Apple and the country's major labels have only just begun and likely won't be concluded until 2012. A spokesman for the Performing Right Society, an organization that protects the rights of musicians and songwriters, likened the situation to the launch of iTunes, which only spread to international markets some 14 months after launching in the US. Speaking to the Telegraph, Forrester Research vice president Mark Mulligan echoed these predictions, while offering some insight into the industry's approach: "Apple's cloud music service will not launch in the UK until at least quarter one of 2012. These types of negotiations take a long time... For one thing the UK arms of all the major record labels are biding their time and waiting to see how the service affects download sales in the US before they sign up to anything." Neither Apple nor any of the major labels have commented on the negotiations, but if things drag on we'd be willing to share our cloudy iTunes in exchange for a crack at Spotify.
UK won't get music portion of iCloud until 2012
This is sure to disappoint our UK readers, but it looks like you'll have to wait until "at least" the first quarter of 2012 to take advantage of the music portion of Apple's iCloud service, according to a spokesman for the Performing Right Society (PRS). The spokesman told The Telegraph that Apple was in a "very early stage" of talks with major UK record labels, thus the iTunes Match feature of iCloud that Apple announced on Monday wouldn't be coming to the UK this year. PRS represents UK composers, songwriters and music publishers and makes sure they are paid fairly for their work. "The licensing team at the PRS have started talks with Apple, but are a long way off from any deals being signed...It is very much the early stages of the negotiations and is similar to the launch of iTunes -- which began in the US and took a while to roll out to other countries," the spokesperson said. Adding to the PRS comments, a music executive at a major UK label told the Telegraph that "Tentative talks have begun between the major labels and Apple in the UK. However, all talks are at the really early stages and no one expects to see the cloud music service live on this side of the pond until 2012." Waiting for iTunes Match in the UK will cause early adopters to grumble, but at least they can use the rest of iCloud's features, like email, address book, calendar and document sharing, and redownload of removed apps the day all those features are available to US users.
Editorial: Engadget on iCloud and iTunes Match
Today, Steve Jobs revealed a great many things, but the biggest bombshell was this -- Apple's iCloud, which promises to sync all your content, automatically, even wirelessly, to Apple's new server farms... for free. All that processing power in the picture above can't have been cheap, and multiplied by the entirety of those data centers... well, let's just say it's a heck of a promise and we've got somewhat mixed feelings about how it'll play out. Hit the break to see what we thought of Apple's play for cloud storage.
Apple unveils iTunes Match for $25 per year
Apple introduced its iTunes in the Cloud solution, which lets users access their iTunes music purchases in the cloud and share them among devices. That's all well and great, but what happens when you have a song that you ripped and did not buy from iTunes? Thanks to the new iTunes Match service, you can scan and match the songs on your computer. If a match in iTunes is found, the cloud service will automatically add it to your library. It does not upload the song, it just pulls it from the online library of iTunes music. If iTunes cannot find a match, you can upload the song manually. All songs are upgraded to 256kbps AAC DRM-free as part of this process. The service will cost $24.99 per year and will require iOS 5 on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, iPad 2, a Mac with OS X Lion or a PC with Windows Vista or 7. Uploads are limited to 25,000 songs, but iTunes purchases do not count against this limit.
Apple announces iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Match
Apple has just announced its long-awaited cloud-based music service: iTunes in the Cloud. While not a streaming music service as some had speculated, it will let you download any music you've purchased to all of your devices at no additional charge -- something Steve Jobs notes is a first for the music industry. All new music you purchase can also automatically be downloaded and pushed to up to ten different devices -- and, as with the other apps that make up the broader iCloud service, it's completely free, with a beta version available today (in the US only, unfortunately). What's more, Apple has also announced a complementary iTunes Match service that will let you put your existing collection of ripped CDs in the cloud. That's done by scanning your library and matching songs to the versions Apple already has (a DRM-free 256kbps AAC file), rather than uploading everything -- a process Apple notes takes "minutes," not "weeks" -- although songs will be uploaded in cases where there is no match. It will run you $24.99 a year (for up to 25,000 songs, apparently), and promises to give you all of the "same benefits as music purchased from iTunes" when it launches sometime this fall.
