Apple has sent an email to developers enrolled in the iTunes Match beta informing them that iTunes Match libraries will be wiped today, suggesting that Apple is preparing to launch the service soon. The message instructs developers to turn off iTunes Match on their computers and iOS devices while the libraries are being cleared.
It’s likely that Apple’s actions are in preparation of the public launch of iTunes Match. iTunes Match was initially scheduled to be released on October 4th, but Apple’s recent “Let’s Talk iPhone” media event revealed that the launch had been pushed back to the end of October.
An iTunes match toggle has recently appeared in the Music Settings pane in iOS 5, directing users to use iTunes to subscribe to the service, although Apple has yet to publicly release an update to iTunes supporting the service.
iTunes Match is a $25 per year subscription service from Apple that will grant you access to your iTunes library through iCloud. Apple’s description of the service from their iCloud page is as follows:
Here’s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library. Since there are more than 20 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it on any of your devices. Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.
