To iTunes Match or not, that is the question…

Apple's iTunes Match service launched at the end of last year, finally bringing their vision of music in the cloud to iTunes and iOS users. But what is it, exactly, and is it worth your investment? Here's a look at how iTunes Match works and if it's right for you.

What Exactly is iTunes Match?

iTunes Match is a service from Apple that allows you to keep a cloud-based music collection for only $25 per year.  iTunes scans the music you already have in your library and tells Apple you've got a copy. Apple then allows you access to any music in their collection, all encoded as 256kbps AAC files with no copy protection. What is cool is that you get these high-quality files even if your files aren't as good, say if you downloaded a poor quality song from Limewire, etc.

The iTunes catalog is pretty substantial, so chances are most of the songs you own are already in it. If they're not, however, iTunes will still upload a copy of your music to store and sync as well.  All your music will be available on other machines running iTunes (both Mac and Windows PCs) as well as any iOS devices such as your iPhone or iPad. This way you'll automatically have all your music backed up in the cloud. If, for some reason, you lose all your music in a hard drive crash, you'll be able to get it all back without issue as long as you are an iTunes Match subscriber.

Should I Buy iTunes Match?

Whether or not you should bother purchasing an iTunes Match subscription is going to depend on your needs. For me, I have an embarrassing amount of music in my collection (over 10,000 CDs.)  The obvious benefits of iTunes Match are easy synchronization, a backup of my music collection, and access to a few music files which have been encoded at a higher bit rate.  The service is pretty affordable, as $25 isn't too much money for an annual subscription.  If you are an Apple junkie and utilize iTunes to manage your music library, plus have an and iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Apple TV, it's one of your best options, in my humbled opinion, for cloud-based music services.

I am currently in the process of ripping CDs to my hard drive, backing them up into the cloud, and then trading them in at some of the local music stores in Knoxville.  It sounds dorky and time-consuming, but by doing this, I have not had to purchase another external hard drive and have also been able to upgrade and purchase re-mastered versions of some of the music in my library.   

In summary, if you're into all things Apple, iTunes Match is likely the best service for you. It's cheap, it keeps your music backed up and synced without the need to upload your entire collection (or possibly any of it), and it'll work seamlessly with all of your i-devices.

-Will Fisher
The Showbiz Kids