iTunes in the Cloud is part of Apple’s iCloud offering—allowing you to download music you’ve already purchase to and from your other authorized devices (up to 10) at no additional charge. As the case with other applications that compose the iCloud service, iTunes in the Cloud is free and the beta version is available today for US residents only.
In addition to iTunes in the Cloud, Apple unveiled iTunes Match, a service that lets you put your existing music collection (e.g. those albums or songs you ripped from a CD) in the cloud. Rather than having to upload each song to the cloud, Apple will use fingerprinting technology to identify those songs that Apple already has in the iTunes Store and automatically add them to your account. Where Apple is unable to identify a song match, that song will have to be uploaded. To store songs that Apple is unable to recognize as existing in the iTunes Store (in the case you purchased them elsewhere or ripped from a different source), Apple will charge $24.99 a year for up to 25,000 songs.
The service will be made public this Fall.
[via: Apple]
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