It appears that Apple’s failure to meet their promised late October deadline for their upcoming iTunes Match service may have been for technical reasons, as the company has now seeded developers with another iTunes beta – iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 – in order to continue testing of the service. In addition to the new iTunes beta, Apple has also begun testing the new iTunes Match service on the Apple TV.
iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 is now available and includes a number of important stability and performance improvements. iTunes Match is also now available for testing on Apple TV.
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, computer and now your Apple TV.
In order to subscribe to iTunes Match, or continue using your existing subscription, please upgrade to iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2. Once upgraded, turn on iTunes Match on each computer, iOS device or Apple TV you own. In iTunes on your computer, choose Store > Turn on iTunes Match. On your iOS device, tap Settings > Music, then turn on iTunes Match. On your Apple TV, choose Music > Turn on iTunes Match.
Please remember to backup regularly and do not delete the music you add to iCloud from your computer.
As usual, Apple notes that developers testing iTunes Match should keep their music libraries backed up, as the company will be wiping all iTunes Match libraries at the end of this latest beta.
iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 includes a variety of bug fixes and improvements to help polish the iTunes Match experience. The update is available now for registered developers, and can be obtained through the Apple Developer Portal. Apple has provided no new launch estimate for the iTunes Match service.