Apple executive Eddy Cue reveals that subscribers to the company's iTunes Match will soon be able to increase their 25,000 song-library in iCloud up to a massive number of 100,000 songs. Moreover, all subscriptions to Apple Music will also include iTunes Match.
The new feature will coincide with the upcoming launch of iOS 9 which is slated towards the latter part of the year. Knowing that the service was launched in 2011, it's about time that subscribers get an upgrade four years later since the service was introduced.
"@karlfranks @robmsimoes 25k for launch and working to get to 100k for iOS 9," tweeted Cue.
Using this new feature will allow users to save as much as $25 on their iTunes Match subscription. Cue said that Apple Music will have the same capabilities of iTunes Match. This means that Apple Music users will also be able to fill in any missing streaming music with their own personally chosen set of tracks.
Apple Music is launching on June 30 and will be offered as a free streaming service for the first three months. It will also initially feature a 25,000 song limit. However, it promises to provide support to 100,000 songs when the upcoming iOS 9 formally arrives in Fall.
When the free period of three months is over, Apple Music will start charging $9.99 a month. In the meantime, Beats 1 will arrive on July 1, just one day following the launch of Apple Music.
Cue added that users of the Beats Music service who would like to migrate to Apple Music should not at all worry with the whole process as it will be an absolute no-brainer. Users ought to know that the Beats app is getting an update which will help them transition their playlist to Apple Music.
According to the iTunes Match support page, "iTunes Match stores all of your music in iCloud, even songs you've imported from other sources such as CDs, and gives you access to it from all of your devices, at any time. iTunes Match is an annual subscription."
Integrating the two services, Apple Music and iTunes Match, and offering a more stretched song limit of up to 100,000 will definitely make Apple a strong contender against Google Play Music which offers up to 50,000 songs that can be uploaded and streamed from their library. However, Google's service has no subscription charge while iTunes Match charges an annual cost of $24.99. Beats Music offers two payment options. One is a monthly subscription worth $9.99 and the other is a yearly subscription of $99.99. Both options offer an access to more than 20 million songs.
