Mossberg likes iTunes Match

WALT GIVES MATCH A THUMBS-UP: Reviewing the new iTunes Match storage service ($24.99 a year), Wall Street Journal tech guru Walter Mossberg concludes that it “delivers on its promises, despite some limitations and glitches, several of which Apple told me it will remedy via software updates… In my tests, I scanned and matched the iTunes libraries on several computers containing all my music—about 5,500 songs, a number Apple says is fairly typical for iTunes users. The process took under an hour... Some of my songs weren't accepted by iTunes Match, and were marked with cryptic icons that Apple doesn't adequately explain. A handful were declined because of an unspecified 'error.' Apple later told me these files were corrupted, sometimes so subtly that it didn't affect playback. Others were declared 'ineligible.' Mostly, these songs had been imported from CD years ago at a quality rate of lower than 128 kilobits per second… Apple says a new version of iTunes coming soon will be more liberal about disqualifying a song… In all, I like iTunes Match, and can recommend it to digital music lovers who want all their tunes on all their devices. It's another nice feature of iCloud, priced reasonably.” (12/1a)