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iTunes Match: more winning...
"In the fall, Apple will launch its iCloud service for Macs and iOS devices. It includes two iTunes-related services: free access to previously purchased songs via any authorized device, as well as a $25 per year option to store up to 25,000 songs in iCloud. The latter feature, dubbed iTunes Match, will scan a user's library and give immediate iCloud access to any song that "matches" a corresponding track in the iTunes Store library. Songs that don't match will be uploaded to a user's iCloud storage.
The benefit of iTunes Match over competing services from Amazon and Google is that users with libraries that consist of the most popular content will only have to upload a small percentage of music. This makes the process much faster than uploading each and every track, especially given the relatively anemic upload speeds available to most US broadband users. The US iTunes Store boasts over 18 million tracks, so if your tastes don't depend heavily on obscure, independent, or foreign music, there's a good chance that a significant proportion of your library will match up."
There are paranoid concerns that Apple will like, reveal that data to labels or use it personally to attack its users.
On that topic, Chicago-based intellectual property attorney Evan Brown says "opacity will go a long way toward protecting users from anti-piracy snooping, and being the targets of subpoenas. The opacity of one's collection, plus the good faith hope that Apple will abide by its own privacy policies should give reasonable assurances of safety, even if there may be a few tracks up there with questionable provenances."
Ask Ars: will iTunes Match be used to chase down music pirates?
"In the fall, Apple will launch its iCloud service for Macs and iOS devices. It includes two iTunes-related services: free access to previously purchased songs via any authorized device, as well as a $25 per year option to store up to 25,000 songs in iCloud. The latter feature, dubbed iTunes Match, will scan a user's library and give immediate iCloud access to any song that "matches" a corresponding track in the iTunes Store library. Songs that don't match will be uploaded to a user's iCloud storage.
The benefit of iTunes Match over competing services from Amazon and Google is that users with libraries that consist of the most popular content will only have to upload a small percentage of music. This makes the process much faster than uploading each and every track, especially given the relatively anemic upload speeds available to most US broadband users. The US iTunes Store boasts over 18 million tracks, so if your tastes don't depend heavily on obscure, independent, or foreign music, there's a good chance that a significant proportion of your library will match up."
There are paranoid concerns that Apple will like, reveal that data to labels or use it personally to attack its users.
On that topic, Chicago-based intellectual property attorney Evan Brown says "opacity will go a long way toward protecting users from anti-piracy snooping, and being the targets of subpoenas. The opacity of one's collection, plus the good faith hope that Apple will abide by its own privacy policies should give reasonable assurances of safety, even if there may be a few tracks up there with questionable provenances."
Ask Ars: will iTunes Match be used to chase down music pirates?
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