What you need to know about iTunes Match →
Ars Technica has a nice breakdown with some crucial information on how iTunes Match works. It contains nothing to surprising and is all alongs the lines you’ve come to expect from Apple really.
If you don’t renew the yearly $25 subscription, your iCloud store goes away. iTunes purchases will still be available to all devices, and anything that you have downloaded from iCloud to you devices you keep. This includes iTunes Plus versions you have chosen to replace older, lower quality rips in your main iTunes library. Apple explained that replacing those lower-quality rips is optional.
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A lot of readers asked if Apple shares any information about users’ scanned libraries with third parties. Apple tells Ars “no,” so the RIAA won’t suddenly have a list of every song you ever downloaded or ripped. For the purposes of accounting, though, the company does share aggregate information about which tracks are being added to iCloud via iTunes Match. In other words, EMI will be able to know that 2 million users have Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” in their library, but not which particular users have it.
Unsurprising, unfortunately also means that iTunes Match will not be available outside the US right now. Which is a total buzz-kill. For details check out the article in the link.
