Apple iTunes 10.5 Released Ahead of iOS 5, iCloud, iTunes Match, iPhone 5

iTunes 10.5 was released Tuesday in preparation for the wider release of iOS 5 on Wednesday. iTunes 10.5 will be part of iCloud, also to be released on Wednesday, allowing iPhone, iPad and iPod users to access and sync music purchased on their Mac, PC or other iOS 5 device with ease.

iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes them available on your devices anywhere, any time, at no additional cost, Apple said Tuesday.

The service will allow content from one device to be sent to another, provided all mobile devices have iOS 5. For example, if you purchase a song from iTunes on your Mac or PC, the song will then be sent automatically to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod.

iTunes 10.5 also keeps track of your purchase history. If you have purchased a song in the past, you can go into your history and download it again to have the song or TV show on your mobile device.

All songs and TV shows can now be synced via Wi-Fi without connecting to a PC or Mac.

Although iTunes 10.5 has been in beta since June, the newest iTunes upgrade was officially released Tuesday. The new iTunes 10.5 Windows edition also includes a number of security patches.

iTunes Match, an optional add-on to iCloud, is set to be released Wednesday. The service will cost $24.99-a-year. It allows users to upload songs they have ripped from CDs or elsewhere to the cloud, which can then be accessed by all iOS 5 devices.

iCloud will be free for all iOS 5-powered mobile devices and for Macs running OS X 10.7 (Lion).

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