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Music Tracker’s latest iOS update improves large music library scans on older devices

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Music Tracker, an app that tracks your music library’s changes, received an update today that will make it process larger music libraries more efficiently. Ben Dodson outlines in his latest blog post that instead of needing to scan through an entire music library, it could handle the library in batches. Music Tracker keeps users aware of when music that had been added to their music library may have been removed by accident or because of music licensing deals expiring.


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Sony leaks reveal Apple TV and iTunes Store contracts, Sex Tape + Breaking Bad deals with Apple

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Known for publishing previously confidential documents, WikiLeaks has released a large collection of emails from last year’s widely publicized hack of Sony, notably including Apple agreements covering Sony’s Crackle Apple TV channel, video sales through iTunes, and other topics. The leaks include:

  • The terms of Apple’s agreement to add Sony’s Crackle video service to the Apple TV, notably including a 3-year term (starting December 11, 2013), Sony’s retention of 100% of advertising revenue, and a promise that Apple will permit new types of overlaid/display ads on Crackle if it becomes technically feasible and Apple OKs it. Few details were previously known about the business terms between Apple and channel providers for the Apple TV.
  • Apple’s agreements to distribute Sony videos through the iTunes Store, including the original 2007 agreement between the companies covering TV shows such as Charlie’s Angels and Who’s The Boss, term extensions and high-definition amendments, and the addition of iTunes in the Cloud (which Apple originally called “Virtual Storage Locker”).
  • Sales forecasts for Sony games sold in the App Store, as well as charts suggesting that Sony’s iPhone and iPad game revenues far surpassed the amounts made on competing platforms.

The leaks go on to describe Apple and Sony product tie-ups, including the iPad’s “character” role in the film Sex Tape, as well as Sony’s internal reaction to Apple’s “Stickers” ad featuring a Breaking Bad reference, and an apparent effort by Dreamworks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg urging Sony not to collaborate with Apple…

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Latest Apple service outage affecting App Store & iTunes Store “due to scheduled maintenance” (Update: Restored)

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Update: The maintenance lasted about half an hour and is now complete with all services restored according to the system status dashboard.

Apple’s system status dashboard is reporting an ongoing service disruption for multiple store services “due to scheduled maintenance.” Apple’s message says service unavailability may affect all users. Specifically, the maintenance is impacting the App Store, Apple TV, iBooks Store, iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Store, and Mac App Store services.

Unlike recent Apple service outages, the service disruption is intentional as part of scheduled maintenance, although some users are reporting iCloud syncing issues and iCloud Mail delays not acknowledged by the system status dashboard. A widespread outage last month prompted Apple to publicly apologize to customers for the service interruption.
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Apple brings iTunes Match to Japan

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As shown on Apple’s iTunes Match availability page, Apple has now brought its iTunes Match service to Japan. This follows an expansion of iTunes in the Cloud and Apple TV content to Germany, earlier today.

For $30 a year, iTunes Match uploads your entire music library and makes it available across all your devices automatically. Lower quality, or pirated music, is replaced with high-quality 256kbps legal songs.

The service in Japan is priced at 3980 yen.

(via MacRumors)

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Apple seeds iTunes 11.1 beta 2 to developers

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Apple has seeded a second beta of the upcoming iTunes 11.1 to developers. iTunes 11.1 includes Apple’s iTunes Radio functionality, and it will likely be rolled out publicly alongside iOS 7. Today’s update follows the general release of iTunes 11.0.5 with an iTunes in the Cloud fix, so perhaps this iTunes 11.1 beta is the same type of update.


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iTunes 11.0.5 released, fixes iTunes in the Cloud issues

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A new version of iTunes 11 has been released today, fixing issues with iTunes in the Cloud.

This update corrects an issue with iTunes in the Cloud, where some purchases may download or play unexpected items.

This appears to fix the same issue that iOS 7 beta 6 fixed yesterday, although the iOS beta also required users to install a configuration and press a button in settings to completely flush out media on the device. For iTunes 11.0.5, the update does not require any additional configuration.

The iTunes 11.1 beta, which includes iTunes Radio and is only available to developers, has not received an updated beta yet, although it can only be expected as Apple runs through all of its iTunes-related software and fixes the iTunes in the Cloud bug.

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Apple continues international roll-out of iTunes in the Cloud for Movies, adding eight more countries

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Apple today added eight new countries to its iTunes in the Cloud for Movies service, allowing customers to re-download any movies previously purchased from the iTunes Store.

iFun and MacRumors note that the service has been rolled out to Japan, and seven European countries: Austria, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Switzerland.

U.S. customers were first to get movies added to the iTunes in the Cloud service in March last year.

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Apple adds option to download “Later” for movies and TV shows through iTunes in the Cloud

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Download-Later-iTunes-in-the-Cloud-moviesApple has recently added a new option for iTunes purchases on both the Mac and iOS devices running iTunes 11 and iOS 6 or later. Now, when purchasing content that includes a large download, such as movies or seasons of TV shows, iTunes will allow users to complete the purchase and opt to download the file at a later time. As noted by Macworld, Apple outlined the new option, which presents users with a dialog to “Download” now or download “Later”, in a recently updated knowledge base article.

Selecting the new “Later” option will add the purchased content to your “Purchased” tab in iTunes in the Cloud, meaning the feature is only available to those in countries that support iTunes in the Cloud (full list here). According to Apple’s knowledge base article, the option applies to content including: TV seasons, season passes, movie bundles, music box sets, or individual movies and TV episodes. 
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Apple rolls out iTunes in the Cloud movies and TV shows in France, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Sweden & Holland? (Update: Apple confirms)

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Update: TNW confirmed with Apple that a total of 12 countries have received access to movies in the Cloud, while France is the only to get TV shows today:

Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have all received the service, which allows access to previously downloaded movies. Apple confirmed with us by email that France was the only country in this batch to receive iTunes in the Cloud for TV shows.

As first reported by French website iGen.fr, Apple appears to be rolling out iCloud access to TV shows and movies in France. The feature allows users to download content purchased through iTunes to various Apple devices, and it has been available in the United States and elsewhere since 2011. The site first noticed access to the movies and TV show sections in the iTunes desktop app but confirmed the content is also accessible from Apple TV in the country.

As noted by TNW, a small number of users on Twitter are also reporting that access to TV shows and movies in the cloud is also now available in Holland and Sweden.

Other readers have said the feature is also available in Denmark, Greece, and Norway:

It’s not clear if Apple has officially launched the feature or access has mistakenly been opened up temporarily. Apple has yet to update its iTunes in the Cloud availability page to reflect the rollouts.

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iTunes in the Cloud for movies rolling out in 35+ countries (Updated)

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Following the launch of iTunes Match in Poland and Hungary today, Apple also appears to be opening up its iTunes in the Cloud for movies in at least the United Kingdom, Canada, and Colombia, which previously only had access to music, music videos, apps, and books (and TV shows in Canada and the U.K.). There are also various other reports coming from Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland that claim the feature is going live.

Apple’s list of supported countries for the feature has not been updated to reflect the new countries. Let us know in the comments if you notice the feature rolling out in your country.

[tweet https://twitter.com/betterthan/status/226009325544558596]

MacRumors has been tallying the updated list:

Australia, Argentine, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.K., Venezuela, and Vietnam


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Apple officially details international availability of iTunes Match and iTunes in the Cloud

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Apple just posted a document detailing exact availability of iTunes Match and iTunes in the Cloud internationally. There was some confusion leading up to what many reported as the international rollout of iTunes Match, and Apple even began issuing refunds to abroad customers having issues accessing the service.

According to Apple, iTunes Match is now available in the following 17 countries:

Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.

There are some countries not included in Apple’s list of officially supported countries, such as Brazil where users report having access to the service.

Apple also detailed what specific purchased content is eligible to download again through iTunes in the Cloud in each supported country. In other words, certain countries will be limited in the type of content that can be re-downloaded. iTunes in the Cloud is now available in over 120 countries worldwide. Currently only the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom have access to all content including: music, music videos, television shows, apps, and books. All countries on the list do have access to at least apps and iBooks.

Check out the full list below to find out what specific content is available in your country:


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