The iTunes Match subscription service was originally set for launch at the end of October, and allows users to scan their entire music library and replace tracks with higher quality ones from iTunes. These can then be streamed from the cloud. It will work on the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Apple TV, Mac, and PC devices.

This will allow users to either stream or download their music tracks anywhere without having to manually sync to iTunes. Trouble is CNN Money are reporting since the service went live this morning it quickly became oversubscribed. Visitors were being met with a message to come back and try again in an hour, but a day or two might be a better idea.

The service will cost users $24.99 per year and will let you replace those tracks that may not be the best of quality depending on where they come from. If you have some tracks that may have been gained in a not so honest way, these will also be replaced. If iTunes doesn’t recognize a track out of its twenty million tracks, it will just upload the track.

It is not currently known when Apple will be launching the service globally, and if the demand in the US is anything to go by it may be a while yet. Have you signed up for iTunes Match?

The iTunes Match service was expected to be released at the end of October in the US and a little later for those in Europe and other countries, but it seems that everyone is still waiting as the 10.5.1 version still hasn’t showed up. While no reason for a delay has been explained as of yet, Apple appear to still be testing the service as they have just released a beta 2 build.

According to BGR reports, the beta 2 went live yesterday, reportedly available to developers for testing on Apple TV, bringing several changes including important performance and stability improvements. iTunes Match allows users to store everything from their iTunes Library in iCloud so they can use the media from it not only on their Apple TV but their computer, iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone anytime, anywhere all for just $25 a year.

The iTunes 10.5 and iOS 5 updates have been receiving great reviews despite the mysterious iTunes Match. The changes include being able to sync any of their devices with iOS 5 to their iTunes account via Wi-Fi, iCloud which lets users store all their purchases in the cloud and being able to purchase an item from any iOS 5 device or computer and download it automatically. What do you think of the changes? Have you had any problems? When do you think the iTunes Match 10.5.1 update will become available?

Apple has now made 10.5.1 available to developers with a beta version, so we should learn within a few days of what they think. There will be a number of bug fixes, as well as enabling that new feature, which will go head-to-head with what Amazon and Google has to offer. Going on price alone Apple has already won the battle, well that and how fast iTunes Match is meant to be.

The reason that this caused much confusion was because during WWDC we were told that iTunes Match would appear in 10.5 along with iCloud and iOS 5, which we have to say, is very impressive. However, MacRumors noted that Apple told us last week that there would be a slight delay. The reason for this was because they still had a few issues that needed to be resolved – we can moan all we like, but better to have it late and working.

The service will be launched in the U.S. first, with the UK and other parts of the world following early in 2012. It’s certainly a pain having to wait, but at least the U.S. can put up with all the teething issues – and there are bound to be some. The price for iTunes Match will be $24.99 per year, which is not much when you consider what you get in return.

This new service from iTunes has a database of over 18 million songs, which are there so that you can scan your CDs so if there is a match you will be able to download the tracks like you would a normal song from iTunes. The best thing is that the process takes just minutes and not weeks like some of the other services out there.

If any songs do not match, then they will then be uploaded automatically for you. However, all those that do will be upgraded to 256Kbps AAC without all the fuss of DRM. As you would imagine there will be a fee for the service, but we are sure that $24.99 each year is not going to break the bank.

What is so good about this is the fact that it does not matter how many songs you have, you will pay just the one price. Engadget points out that if you were to use Amazon to look up 20,000 songs, it will end up costing you $200. Now can you see how Apple is looking to leave rivals behind? Like we have heard in the past, Apple might not offer certain services first, but they sure do it much better.

Are you prepared to pay $24.99 for a year’s subscription to iTunes Match?

Let’s start with MobileMe and iCloud pricing, iCloud storage will cost you nothing and will pretty much replace MobileMe, if you use MobileMe you will be able to access everything until June 30, 2012 but after then MobileMe will be no more, comments on Engadget suggest that people who have already renewed their subscriptions will get refunds.

You can see full details regarding iCloud on Apple’s official website, you get 5GB of storage and what’s great about this online storage solution is that it does everything wirelessly in the background, this means that syncing your personal data with the cloud is effortless and should be very reliable.

iCloud can be configured to suit your needs and an API will allow developers to reap the benefits associated with cloud storage for their apps, you can choose iOS to carry out automatically daily backups to iCloud over WiFi, this can backup purchased music, books, apps, app data, device settings and captured photos and videos.

What impressed us the most is something Apple call Documents in the Cloud, when using new versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote data is automatically pushed to the cloud, this means that it is instantly accessible no-matter which Apple device you are using.

Finally we can squash a rumor which was doing the rounds, we heard that Apple may make iCloud ad supported, this is not the case, however it looks like if 5GB of storage is not enough for you, you will have to pay for more. Also if you want all of your iTunes library to automatically populate to the Cloud so that it is available on your Apple devices you have to pay $25 a year, you can find out more about iTunes Match here.

Will 5GB of data be enough for you?