iTunes 10.5 Released

**..:sunil:..** · 12-10-2011, 08:55 PM

Apple today released iTunes 10.5, a new version of its media manager that adds a number of improvements and official support for devices running iOS 5. The next major version of Apple’s iOS is coming out this week on Wednesday, October 12th, and iTunes 10.5 will be required to sync devices that will be upgraded to the new software. iTunes 10.5 also enables iTunes Match, a new music service by Apple based on iCloud; iTunes Match, however, will publicly launch in the United States only at the end of October.

iTunes 10.5 was originally seeded to developers in June, when Apple also released the first beta version of iOS 5. Since then, we noted iTunes 10.5 included some minor graphical updates to the interface; this summer Apple also rewrote iTunes’ codebase to take advantage of Lion with full 64-bit support, and this new version of the app includes the changes we originally reported here. iTunes 10.5 also adds support for iCloud, Apple’s new cloud service that allows users to store digital purchases in the cloud, and re-download them at any time on any device. This functionality was previously activated as “beta” and called iTunes in the Cloud; as Apple notes, “iTunes in the Cloud is now part of iCloud”, but that doesn’t change the way songs have been able to be pushed across devices since last June. iCloud will also be officially launched on October 12th alongside iOS 5.

As we detailed in June with the release of “iTunes in the Cloud” as beta for iOS 4.3 and iTunes 10.3, iCloud support in iTunes allows users to re-download all previously purchased songs, TV shows, apps and books at no additional charge. In the new Purchased section of iTunes, users will find a link to browse previous downloads and re-download them at any time. Another option to automatically fetch all new downloads from any device and save them on a Mac or PC — called Automatic Downloads — is also enabled with iCloud on iTunes 10.5.

The ‘Purchased’ screen is a really handy feature to easily and quickly find a previous purchase and instantly download it or even download all of your previous purchases with just one click. The feature, which is also included in iOS 5, is part of Apple’s iCloud, which was unveiled at yesterday’s WWDC keynote. The ‘Purchased’ screen also gives you some fairly powerful tools to find the exact purchase you want, either from just searching, only displaying items not downloaded to your iTunes library or just list the purchases alphabetically.

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 PC 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.