iTunes 10.5 Beta 6.1, includes iTunes Match

Apple has seeded iTunes Beta 6.1 to developers in the US, it includes a new feature you should be on the look out for, iTunes Match. iTunes match allows users to upload music to Apple's beta service of iCloud. This will allow users to store their entire collection online in the iCloud for $25 per year. It also has something quite nifty, say you own an album and it's on your computer - but this album is also on the iTunes servers, it will shift it from the servers to your iCloud account. This saves valuable time and most importantly, bandwidth.

This also allows you to get access to the 256kbps AAC version from within the iCloud, even if your copy was in lower quality. Does this mean people can rip Apple off? How would you do that? Well, if you had an illegally obtained album of music, you could sync it with iTunes and iCloud and have it in your account. How would Apple tell between your illegal music and purchased music? Considering they're making $25 per year from potentially hundreds of millions of customers, are Apple supporting piracy?

If you want to get your mits on iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1, you'll need to be an Apple developer which is a $99 per annum fee.