14 DAY TRIAL // iTunes Match beta testing has been expanded to additional developers, Apple has announced via an email sent out to registered developers residing in North America.
Gone live in August and then closed within hours after the number of sought testers had maxed out, the iTunes Match beta is now open for more U.S. devs, Apple says.
According to people familiar with the matter, Apple’s email reads:
“iTunes Match beta testing has now been expanded to additional developers n the United States.
iTunes Match stores your music library in iCloud and allows you to enjoy your collection from anywhere, any time, on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or computer. Any of your songs, including music you've imported from CDs, that matches with the 18 million songs in the iTunes Store will become available in iCloud and will play back at iTunes Plus quality (256 Kbps DRM-free AAC) — even if your original was of a lower quality.”
Developers are required to download iTunes 10.5 beta 8 from the downloads area of the iCloud developer site and subscribe to iTunes Match by choosing Store > Turn On iTunes Match and clicking “subscribe for $24.99.”
This works only after developers update iTunes to version 10.5 beta 8. Therefore those who are already subscribed to iTunes Match needn’t do anything more than to update iTunes.
Finally, Apple warns that the end of the beta will be marked by a deletion of all iCloud libraries, therefore developers are urged to backup regularly.
It is very important that testers to not delete the music they add to iCloud from their computer, should they not want to lose it.
Developers who enlist their service in this beta will be rewarded with additional free usage of the service once it goes live for end customers this fall.
In a separate announcement, this time on their public Developer web site, Apple is encouraging programmers to get their apps ready for iCloud Backup and Restore.
The Mac maker says developers must make sure their app works with this iOS 5 feature. New iCloud Data Storage guidelines have been set in place. Devs can access the documentation here.