iTunes Match is quite possibly one of the best moves that Apple has made in the music realm. It is also one of the best uses of Apple’s new iCloud service.  If you are unfamiliar with iTunes Match, here is a quick summary of what it is:

iTunes Match is a feature of iTunes in the Cloud that allows you to access your entire personal music library from any computer with iTunes 10.5.1 or later installed or any iOS 5.0.1 or later device with an active Internet connection. iTunes Match requires an annual subscribtion of $24.99 a year. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of your subscription. Once you have subscribed to iTunes Match and matched or uploaded your eligible music, you will be able to access your music in iCloud directly from within your iTunes Music library, or the Music Player app on your iOS 5 device.

Also, if you are wondering about the specifics about iTunes Match, here ya’ go:

• iTunes Match is limited to 25,000 songs.
• iTunes Store purchases made with the same Apple ID being used for iTunes Match do not count towards the 25,000 song limit.
• Unmatched content will be uploaded as is; upload time varies depending on the amounts uploaded and local network speeds.
• Song files over 200 MB will not be uploaded to iCloud.
• Songs containing DRM (Digital Rights Management) will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud unless your computer is authorized for playback of that content.
• Songs purchased outside of the United States iTunes Store containing DRM (Digital Rights Management) will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud.
• Songs encoded in ALAC, WAV, or AIFF will be transcoded to a separate temporary AAC 256 kbps file locally, prior to uploading to iCloud. The original files will remain untouched.
• Songs encoded as AAC or MP3 with a bitrate lower than 96 kbps will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud.

To turn on iTunes Match

1. Simply download iTunes 10.5.1 or later
2. Choose Store > Turn On iTunes Match.
3. From the main screen, click “Subscribe for $24.99.”
   
4. Once you subscribe to the service, you will see the following screens:

Have you gotten iTunes Match yet?  If so, what do you think about it?  Comment below!

Recorded: October 28, 2011
It’s the all-Apple edition of “New Stuff”, where this month’s panel talks about the new iPhone 4S, the new iCloud strategy, and the life and death of Apple founder Steve Jobs.  The panel also speculates whether residing so close to the North Carolina Apple Data Center gives them any special “insight” into Mac rumors.

Show host Lee Yount (www.catawbacounty.gov) brings together a group of fellow “MESH-Heads” for this month’s episode, including MESH founders Mary-Margaret Baker and Alan Jackson (both from Jackson Group Interactive, www.jginteractive.com) and “Free Range Chicken Thinking” experts Houston Harris and Ryan Carroll (with Pixelspace,www.pixelspace.com).

Listen to the Show

On October 5th, 2011 Steve Jobs passed away after a battle with cancer.  Steve was an inspiration to many and changed the way we thought about technology, and life in general.  He will be missed.

With all the chatter about Flash and HTML5 in the recent days it got me to thinking about these technologies.  Steve Jobs says that Flash is “No Longer Necessary” and that the technology is antiquated now and in future innovations (especially mobile devices).  You can read Jobs’ “Thoughts on Flash” here: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

So now that the world knows what one of the most influential people of technology thinks about Flash, what do you think?  Will HTML5 be the “flash killer” or is there something else on the horizon that will astound us all and change the way we receive that important email or Facebook Status Update?

I attended the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC last year and sat in on a session about HTML5.  Since HTML5 is still very much in a “beta” mode, not all browsers support the all the functionality of HTML5…but that is rapidly changing.  Wonder if your browser supports HTML5…go here to find out: http://html5test.com/.  Also, here is a good resource understanding HTML5 as well: http://diveintohtml5.org/.  From the demos I viewed at the conference, HTML5 looks to be pretty slick.  A few of the things that really impressed me were location based applications, more control of embedding fonts (i.e. not having to create a cool graphic in photoshop just because you want to use that cool font that might not be a “standard web font”), and embedding video directly on the page without a heavy 3rd part client such as Flash.

Ok, so now that you have completely bought in to HTML5 what does that mean for the end user/you?  It means new mobile apps, receive important information faster and easier,  not having to worry about having a player installed on your computer to play video on the web, easier drag and drop support, and more collaboration easier with others.

So share what you think about HTML5 and what sort of things would you like to see come out of this new technology?

Cheers!
Lee