Yesterday, we noted that the music component of iTunes in the Cloud was rolling out to Japanese users, allowing them to freely download any music content previously purchased from the iTunes Store. But as now summarized by 9to5Mac, various reports in the Japanese media reveal that the additions have been much more extensive and have brought Apple's Japanese iTunes Store offerings nearly on par with most of the company's other major markets.


Highlighting some of the changes, Apple has posted a What's New page [Google translation] for iTunes on its Japanese site. The new additions include:

- 3G downloads: Music downloads from iOS devices had previously been restricted to Wi-Fi only, but users can now access content over 3G networks.

- iTunes Plus: The Japanese iTunes Store now supports the DRM-free 256 kbps iTunes Plus format, up from the previous 128 kbps versions carrying usage restrictions. Labels will need to upgrade their content to the new standard, so it may take some time for all music to become available in iTunes Plus format.

- Ringtones: Music ringtones are now available for purchase in the Japanese iTunes Store.

- Mastered for iTunes: Rolling out on a worldwide basis, Apple is now featuring songs and albums that have been specifically mastered for the iTunes Store to provide the best sound quality for the format.

- Complete My Album: Users who previously purchased individual tracks from an album can now purchase the entire album for a discounted price based on a credit for their individual-track purchases.

As for iTunes Match, Apple's subscription service currently available in 37 countries that allows users to either match or upload their entire music libraries regardless of source for access from any iCloud-enabled device, the company is reportedly planning to bring the program to Japan during the second half of 2012.

Continuing their close relationship with the iTunes Store following a landmark deal to launch their music in the store in late 2010, The Beatles today announced the release of their first official ringtones, available exclusively through the iTunes Store.

Beginning today, fans around the world can, for the first time, purchase ringtones for the Beatles’ 27 UK and US #1 hits, exclusively on iTunes.

The 30-second ringtones are priced at $1.29 each, and the full list of available ringtones includes: "Love Me Do", "From Me to You", "She Loves You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "Can't Buy Me Love", "A Hard Day's Night", "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday", "Day Tripper", "We Can Work It Out", "Paperback Writer", "Yellow Submarine", "Eleanor Rigby", "Penny Lane", "All You Need Is Love", "Hello, Goodbye", "Lady Madonna", "Hey Jude", "Get Back", "The Ballad of John and Yoko", "Something", "Come Together", "Let It Be", and "The Long and Winding Road".


Apple and The Beatles have an extensive history together, dating back to disputes over the Apple name that The Beatles have long used for their business ventures. As Apple moved into the music business, the two sides came into conflict over the trademark, eventually leading to a 2007 agreement that saw Apple obtain all rights to the trademark and license it back to The Beatles for their specific uses.

Following the November 2010 addition of The Beatles to the iTunes Store, Apple has prominently featured the band's music at times. The Beatles published an exclusive free animated e-book of Yellow Submarine on the iBookstore last year, and Apple accompanied that release with a dedicated television commercial of its own focusing on The Beatles.

It has been just over a month since Apple's last round of expansion for its iTunes Match service, but it appears that the company may be preparing to add Japan to the mix.


As noted by Macotakara, the "iTunes in the Cloud" music component has gone live in Japan, with the "Purchased" tab within the desktop iTunes Store and the iOS music application now allowing users to access their previously-purchased iTunes Store music. The iTunes in the Cloud service has until now been limited to apps and books in Japan.


Apple's iTunes Match service that allows users to match or upload their entire libraries of music acquired from any source to Apple's iCloud is a step further than the music re-download service just now rolling out. There are, however, currently no other countries in which Apple offers iTunes in the Cloud music capabilities without also offering iTunes Match. iTunes Match is currently available in 37 countries, and if iTunes in the Cloud music downloads are now appearing in Japan it seems that iTunes Match may not be far behind there.

Earlier today, we noted that iTunes Match had begun going live in Netherlands, following last week's news of an agreement between Apple and Dutch copyright oversight group Buma/Stemra.

But as Apple now details on its iTunes Match availability page, the service actually launched in 19 new countries today, focusing on Latin America, the Baltic states, and the Netherlands.

The full list of new markets includes Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Guatemala, Honduras, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.

Today's additions bring the total number of countries with iTunes Match availability to 37, with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Netherlands also gaining iTunes in the Cloud compatibility with music and music videos for the first time.

The Latin American countries seeing iTunes Match debut today already had the iTunes in the Cloud functionality, which allows users to re-download purchased content any number of times to devices associated with their iTunes Store accounts.

Following last night's premature access to iTunes Match some users in international markets were able to achieve through their iTunes Store account pages, the service now appears to officially be going live in several countries.


iTunes Match link on front page of UK iTunes Store
MacRumors readers in a number of countries have been reporting over the past few hours that they are being presented with updated terms and conditions for the iTunes Store mentioning iTunes Match. And now prominent links to iTunes Match have appeared on the front page of the iTunes Store in at least Canada, Ireland, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Users in those countries are reporting successful sign-ups for the service, and we're waiting to hear confirmation on whether it is indeed fully functional at this time.

Update: We're also receiving reports of iTunes Match links going live on iTunes Stores in Australia, France, New Zealand, and Spain.

Update 2: Users are reporting that the iTunes Match does appear to be working in the new countries, with subscribers' libraries being matched.


Canadian user's library being matched

Apple today released iTunes 10.5.2, an update bringing improvements to iTunes Match and fixes for an audio distortion issue experienced with certain CDs.

About iTunes 10.5.2

iTunes 10.5.2 includes several improvements for iTunes Match and fixes an audio distortion problem when playing or importing certain CDs.

The download is currently available via Apple's downloads page and the dedicated iTunes download page. It should begin rolling out to Software Update shortly. The full download weighs in at 102 MB for Mac, 66.13 MB for 32-bit Windows, and 68.01 MB for 64-bit Windows.

Apple launched iTunes Match in the United States with the release of iTunes 10.5.1 in mid-November.

Coming several weeks late, Apple has just now officially launched iTunes Match to customers in the United States. The iTunes Match launch is facilitated by the release of iTunes 10.5.1, which now allows users to subscribe to the $25/year service offering cloud-based matching and upload of users' complete iTunes libraries. iTunes 10.5.1 is available via the iTunes download page and should be rolling out to Software Update shortly.

Apple had apparently initially intended iTunes Match to launch by mid-October as part of iTunes 10.5 as seen in a number of developer betas, but the company removed the feature from iTunes 10.5 for the public release, giving it a few more weeks to complete work on the service. Even so, Apple missed its stated launch target of "end of October" and did not provide an updated timeframe for the iTunes Match debut once the target was missed, although the company continued testing with a new developer beta of iTunes 10.5.1 just this past weekend.


iTunes Match is a U.S.-only service for the time being, although the company is reportedly working hard to secure licensing to details to expand availability to other countries. iTunes Store users in a number of countries have been greeted with a "coming soon" tag on iTunes Match promo listings in their country-specific stores, suggesting that Apple is optimistic regarding expansion of the service in the relatively near future.

Update: Demand of iTunes Match subscriptions has overwhelmed Apple's systems, and the company has halted new signups for the time being.

New iTunes Match subscriptions are temporarily unavailable.

Due to overwhelming demand, iTunes Match is not accepting new subscriptions at this time. Please check back in an hour.

Update 2: Despite Apple's notice about overwhelming demand still showing on the iTunes Match subscription page, subscriptions do now appear to be going through.

Update 3: iTunes 10.5.1 is now available in Software Update.

At its "Let's Talk iPhone" media event early last month, Apple announced that it would be launching its iTunes Match service in the United States at the "end of October". That launch date was itself apparently a slight delay from Apple's original plans given that support for the feature had been built into developer builds of iTunes 10.5, which was released in mid-October to support iOS 5 and iCloud.


Eddy Cue announces "end of October" launch for iTunes Match (Source: This is my next / The Verge)
But with Apple apparently pushing back the iTunes Match launch slightly, the feature was removed from the public release of iTunes 10.5 and moved to a new iTunes 10.5.1 that was released for developer testing.

Sources have indicated that Apple is close to a launch of iTunes Match, with retail store staff having been briefed on the service in preparation for its debut. But with the calendar now having turned to November, Apple has missed its public launch target for iTunes Match. The company has not yet commented on the status of iTunes Match, leaving some questions about its plans even though a launch still seems near.


iTunes 10.5.1 beta expiration notice (Source: @dmoren)
One group that may have been caught off-guard by the delayed iTunes Match launch is Apple's developers, who have been testing the service for a number of months. Apple has repeatedly wiped users' iTunes Match libraries during the beta testing process, with the most recent wipe occurring last Thursday.

But those developers who have continued testing the service are now discovering that their iTunes 10.5.1 betas have expired, leaving them unable to launch the application as of today with no public launch and no new beta release. Apple routinely advises developers to only install beta builds of its software on machines dedicated to development, but some users undoubtedly have installed iTunes 10.5.1 on their primary machines and may now be experiencing difficulties.

One of the iCloud features launched immediately in the United States upon the service's announcement back in June was "iTunes in the Cloud", offering users the ability to re-download music previously purchased from the iTunes Store to any registered device. The service allows users to forgo storing their entire iTunes-purchased music library on every device and only download tracks to a given device as needed.

With the full iCloud service set to launch today, we have begun receiving reports from international users that iTunes in the Cloud has already begun going live for them. Reports have come in from Canada and the United Kingdom so far, but it is unclear whether additional countries will be included in the initial round of launches.


UK iTunes Store with new "Purchased" tab
The changes add a "Purchased" tab to the iTunes Store app in iOS, offering users access to an iCloud-hosted list of all of their purchased tracks, allowing for easy download. iTunes in the Cloud also supports automatic downloads, allowing users to purchase content on one device and have it automatically appear on other devices associated with the user's account.

Apple had reportedly been working hard to secure international iCloud music rights in time for last week's iPhone 4S media event, with sources indicating that Apple had indeed secured such agreements by that date, with the UK set to see the first expansion of the service in Europe.

Update: We've now received reports of iTunes in the Cloud being live from the following additional countries: Australia, France, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, and Spain.

With Apple having pushed iTunes 10.5 out to the public earlier today, the company has already seeded developers with a beta version of iTunes 10.5.1 to continue testing of its forthcoming iTunes Match service.

iTunes 10.5.1 beta 1 includes several performance enhancements and bug fixes, and is a required update for all subscribers to iTunes Match beta. iTunes Match is not included in the iTunes 10.5 GM release.

As with previous builds testing iTunes Match, Apple notes that iCloud libraries will be deleted at the end of the beta testing period.

iTunes Match was initially part of iTunes 10.5 and appeared set to debut alongside iOS 5 and iCloud, but at Apple's media event last week the company announced that iTunes Match would not launch until the end of October. The last beta version of iTunes 10.5 still had some remaining issues with iTunes Match functionality, and Apple has given itself a few more weeks to address those problems by pulling the feature out into a separate iTunes 10.5.1 release.

iTunes Match is a $24.99/year service that allows users to have their music libraries matched to Apple's database of over 20 million tracks, making those songs available for use on any iCloud-enabled device associated with the user's accounts. Songs not available in the iTunes Store can be uploaded to Apple's servers and also made available across devices. iTunes Match will be a U.S.-only feature at first, but Apple is apparently working to extend it to other countries soon after its initial launch.

Apple today released iTunes 10.5, bringing support for iOS 5 and iCloud as well as new Wi-Fi syncing capabilities. iOS 5 and iCloud are set to launch tomorrow, and today's launch of iTunes 10.5 sets the stage for those releases.

What's new in iTunes 10.5

- iTunes in the Cloud. iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes them available on your devices anywhere, any time, at no additional cost.
* Automatic Downloads. Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices.
* Download Previous Purchases. Download your past music, TV, app, and book purchases again, at no additional cost. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store.

- Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 5.

- Wi-Fi Syncing. Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they're both on the same Wi-Fi network.

iTunes 10.5 brings compatibility with iOS 5 and iCloud, as well as the paid iTunes Match portion of iCloud. iTunes Match is a $24.99/year service that allows users to have their music libraries matched to Apple's database of over 20 million tracks, making those songs available for use on any iCloud-enabled device associated with the user's accounts. Songs not available in the iTunes Store can be uploaded to Apple's servers and also made available across devices.

Apple announced at its media event last week that iTunes Match will launch in the United States by the end of October.

Update: iTunes Match appears to have been pulled completely from the public release of iTunes 10.5. Developer beta users had previously had the ability to turn iTunes Match on and off from the iTunes menu bar, but that option is missing in the public release. Consequently, Apple may need to release an updated version of iTunes to reenable the feature when the service launches later this month.

Update 2: Apple has posted a support document to assist users with troubleshooting the new Wi-Fi syncing feature in iTunes 10.5.

Just days before Apple's iPhone media event where the company is also expected to make the final public introduction of its iCloud services, Apple has seeded developers with the ninth beta version of iTunes 10.5. The release comes three weeks after Apple seeded the previous beta.

The beta 9 release is a required update for all developers testers of the company's forthcoming iTunes Match service, although the company continues to note several known issues with the release, including the following:

- "Scan and match" feature is not yet complete. Some users' tracks may not be recognized by iTunes Match even if the tracks are available in the iTunes Store, and those tracks will be uploaded to the users' iCloud storage. Some tracks may also be mis-matched to a different version of the same song on the iTunes Store.

- Music can only be added to iCloud from one computer at a time.

- Updating an iOS device to iOS 5 beta 7 may result in music failing to play. Users should turn off iTunes Match in settings and then turn it back on to restore functionality.

Apple continues to warn developers that their iCloud music libraries will be deleted at the end of the beta, so developers should be sure to maintain local copies of their music libraries.