How to upgrade your music to 256kbps AAC DRM-free quality with iTunes Match

Guides

  • May 1, 2012 at 1:29 pm

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Apple iTunes Match

So you’ve signed up for iTunes Match and you’ve been enjoying access to all your music from the cloud, but did you know that there was another great benefit from the service?

You can easily upgrade all your lower audio quality locally stored music to iTunes-quality 256kbps AAC files. As long as an audio file has been matched and made available on iCloud you can get yourself a spanking high-bit-rate quality copy.

In this guide we’ll show you how you can quickly and easily upgrade your entire local music library with iTunes Match by first batch-deleting all low-bit-rate files and then downloading 256kbps tracks from iCloud. Note that iTunes will not overwrite any of your tags, the new high quality files you will download below will maintain all your original metadata and even play counts.

Everything we’ll be doing in this guide happens inside iTunes, so first fire up the software and read on.
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What do all the new cloud icons in iTunes mean about iTunes Match and your iCloud library and how-to troubleshoot errors

Guides

  • November 15, 2011 at 7:54 am

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iTunes Match subscription email

If, like us, you were anxious to try out the new iTunes Match service offered by Apple, you’ve downloaded the latest version of iTunes, and subscribed to the $25/month service — more info on that here. You’ve run iTunes Match and your library is now fully accessible from iCloud. Note that running iTunes Match does not affect your locally stored files, also if you’ve painstakingly edited the meta data (i.e. Artist name, Album etc.) of your files, these will be transferred to the iCloud copies, even if the files are just matched and not uploaded.

So now you could be presented with a new set of icons in iTunes which show the status of each song in iTunes Match and iCloud. Apple has created a handy table to guide you through these cryptic new cloud figures, which however tell you a lot about the status of your library:
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iTunes Match is finally here, access your music from the cloud in high quality, US only for now

News

  • November 14, 2011 at 1:46 pm

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Apple iTunes Match

Although Apple missed its own end-October deadline for the release of iTunes Match, the $25 per year service is now available as a public beta for people living and breathing in the US.

The service basically uses iTunes to scan your music collection and gives you access to the same songs in high quality 256Kbps AAC on Apple’s servers. That is, unlike other cloud services, you don’t need to upload your files directly. It’s a neat idea since, it saves you the time and effort to upload files and gives you access to better quality rips, irrespective on the quality of your own files, accessible from all your iOS 5 devices. Of course if a file is not matched with one in Apple’s servers then it will be uploaded the old-fashioned way.

Because iTunes Match is in beta you get three free extra months on the annual subscription. Be warned that demand has been so high initially that Apple has suspended sign-ups temporarily. Those from other countries will have to wait unfortunately as Apple is still negotiating licensing deals outside the US.

To get started you need to download the latest version of iTunes (link after the break) 10.5.1 on your Mac or Windows PC. After installing, you can subscribe to the iTunes Match service from inside the iTunes Music Store — a link with iTunes Match will be highlighted on the right side of the main store page. After you sign-up and scanning and syncing is complete, on your iOS 5 device, go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Music’ and slide the iTunes Match switch to On.
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The Criterion Collection brings art house cinema to iTunes

News

  • November 9, 2011 at 1:29 pm

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The Criterion Collection on iTunes

If you are a film lover it’s almost certain you’ve come across The Criterion Collection. Established in 1984, The Criterion Collection is a video distribution company known for its amazing archive of important classics and contemporary art house cinema. They take great care in restoring film and presenting it in the best way possible. They helped to standardize the letterbox format and with their special editions regularly release extended directors’ cuts and include bonus features such as interviews, trailers, film critic commentary, in a sort of fun film school in a box.

Besides of their amazing quality I love Criterion releases for their incredible cover art.

Criterion had recently began offering online viewing of its masterpieces, with 57 titles on offer, and now the company has started testing the waters with iTunes. It has made pretty much the same collection of 46 world, American Indie and art-house movies available for you to rent or buy from iTunes. Each film costs $2.99 to rent (less than the $5 Criterion demands on its own website) and $14.99 to buy. Prices aren’t surprising as Criterion usually charges high prices leveraging on the niche and quality of its flicks.
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iTunes 10.5 up for download, becomes part of iCloud, paves the way for iOS 5 and iTunes Match

News

  • October 11, 2011 at 2:53 pm

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iTunes 10.5 becomes part of iCloud

The latest update for iTunes is now available for download, and it should make iTunes fans very happy, especially those anxious to update their iOS device(s) (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) to iOS 5 tomorrow.

Version 10.5 brings Wi-Fi syncing for all iOS devices and iTunes in the Cloud, which means that all your Apple Store music and video purchases will be available on all your computers running iTunes. Most importantly the latest update paves the way for iOS 5; if you want to update your device starting tomorrow, you must be running the latest version of iTunes to do so, so our advice is to get downloading.

Finally the update should allow you future access to Apple’s $25 a year iTunes Match service, coming by the end of the month. iTunes will scan your library and give you access to high quality copies of your local music stored in Apple’s servers, accessible anywhere.

If you already have iTunes installed, click on “Check for Updates” within iTunes or the ‘Apple’ logo and “Software Update” on a Mac. You can also get it from this link.

Just a heads-up, that tomorrow is a big day for Apple related services and software with the, as mentioned, release of iOS 5, iCloud and an update to OS X Lion 10.7.2.
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Guide: How to transfer you data and settings to the iPad 2 from an original iPad

Guides

  • March 15, 2011 at 6:22 pm

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iPad 2 Mail app

So you were already sporting the original iPad but you just had to have the latest and greatest, so you already picked up the iPad 2. Now you want to have all your data and settings copied over to your new iPad 2 so you can just continue where you left off.

Transferring your data is actually a pretty simple process and should take you only a few minutes, depending on the amount of information you have. Just follow this simple guide and you should have your iPad 2 all setup:
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iTunes 10.2 available for download with iOS 4.3 syncing

News

  • March 2, 2011 at 6:09 pm

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iTunes 10.2 released bringing iOS 4.3 syncing

Hot on the heels of a new iPad and mobile operating system, Apple has just released iTunes 10.2, which is available now to download. The update allows devices running iOS 4.3 to sync with iTunes, although you’ll have to wait until March 11th to get your hands on the new iPad 2.

Specifically the new version allows you to:

  • Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.3.
  • Improved Home Sharing. Browse and play from your iTunes libraries with Home Sharing on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.3.
[Apple iTunes]