In the process of writing a WWDC recap post that is admittedly a little late to the party, I kept expanding the paragraph on iTunes match. I found myself adding clarification based on the information presented in the keynote and made available on Apples iTunes match page in order to clear up some of the confusion presented on many of the popular Apple podcasts and blogs. I decided to scrap that entire post and expand that single paragraph into an entire article trying to answer some of these recurring questions about iTunes in the cloud.

What is iCloud?

The music portion of iCloud or iTunes in the cloud is a service that makes music available on what ever device you have in front of you. In stark contrast to Google and Amazon’s cloud music offerings, iCloud will not require you to upload your entire music library. All of the tracks in your iTunes library will be matched to a corresponding track on the iTunes store without any of the waiting that comes with uploading tons of data. All iTunes purchased tracks, previous and future, are available in iCloud for free while any other song in your library, ripped or imported, is available for $24 a year. Tracks that cannot be matched to a corresponding track on iTunes will be uploaded so that everything in your library is made available on the cloud.

What is the point of iTunes in the cloud?

Once a song is marked in your iCloud account you can download a DRM free 256 bit MP3 copy of the song on to any other device in its entirety from the iTunes store. So if you are using another autorized Mac, PC, or iOS device that doesn’t have a song that might be in your iTunes library at home you can download a high quality copy of that song for free directly to your device. You can even upgrade all your low quality ripped or imported songs to a 256 bit MP3 copy of that song with all the correct meta data (artist, album, track number, year, composer, album artwork, etc) for free.

Will iTunes match constantly scan my library for new tracks or is this a one time scan?

Apples hasn’t answered this question but I believe that it will work in a similar way to the genius feature or when iTunes grabs artwork for an imported track. I think it will be looking at everything in your iTunes library and making the corresponding changes in iCloud as your buy, rip, and import new music.

What happens if I don’t keep paying for iTunes match?

Many bloggers and podcasters seem to think that after the first year is up all of the upgraded music that you have downloaded to your devices will stop working requiring you to pay for another year to access your music. This is just false. All the tracks are DRM free, meaning that they are just normal MP3 files that will play on any compatible device and wont ever stop working. What you lose when you stop paying for iTunes match is the ability to download ripped and imported music from iCloud. Essentially Apple un-marks all of those track from your account leaving only iTunes purchases available for download.

Who cares about downloading, why didn’t Apple make a streaming/subscription service?

First, I think it is important to differentiate streaming and subscription music services. Streaming a music file is the same as downloading a file with the small difference that when you stream it you can begin listening before the download is finished. This is just how home sharing on your local network currently works. I can select any song, movie, or TV show and play the file as it is being downloaded to my device. Streaming is also different because after playing is complete the file is the deleted from your device rather than it sticking around taking up space. Even though there was no mention of streaming audio from your iCloud account at the WWDC keynote I believe that music will stream when iOS 5 and iCloud are released publicly in the fall. The move to separate music and video apps on iPhone and a redesigned music app on the iPad lead me to believe that playlists in addition to the tracks themselves will all stream from iCloud directly to your device without having to download individual track via the iTunes app.

Apple has not announced a subscription service. The $24 a year you pay for iTunes match gives you access to your music wherever you are, not every song in the iTunes music store. Apple is still emphasizing your ownership of the individual tracks you have purchased regardless of their location (local hard drive, burned CD, or iCloud) which lines up with their business model to sell $0.99 songs rather than monthly subscriptions. Subscription services like RDIO, Spotify, or Rhapsody don’t worry about the ownership of the files. You pay a monthly fee, usually $10, and have access to every song the respective service has in its catalog. Once you stop paying for the service you lose access to all that music. This is not Apples business model and this is not what iCloud is trying to do