Want To Be Ready for iOS 5 Tomorrow? Get iTunes 10.5 Now

If you’re not already running on the developer build of iOS 5 (whether you’re an actual developer, or a cough-cough-yeah-for-sure-I’m-totally-a-”developer”-shut-up-and-give-me-iOS-5), tomorrow’s the big day. After roughly 4 months of Beta builds, iOS 5 is finally launching to everybody.

Before you can dive in, though, you’ll need iTunes 10.5 — anything less just won’t do the trick. Looking to ensure that their servers don’t eat it too hard with tomorrow’s launch, Apple has opted to make the iTunes bit of the equation available this morning.

It’s been a while since 10.5 began rolling out in Beta capacity, so here’s a quick recap of the big new features:

• iTunes Match: For $25 a year, iTunes Match will give you legal digital access to any songs you own (be it through legal means or not). Match won’t actually launch until late October, but support is built into 10.5.
• Patches a number of Windows-specific security issues
• WiFi syncing support (when paired with iOS 5)
• Purchase history (for books, apps, etc) through iCloud

If you’ve got a beta build of iTunes 10.5 already up and running, you’ll need to reinstall manually to move to the final release (the Beta considers itself “Up to date”, though it’s set to expire in around 3 days.) Otherwise, you can update iTunes through the usual means, or by downloading it manually here.

Crunchbase

• APPLE

Company: Apple

Website: apple.com

Launch Date: April 1, 1976

IPO: NASDAQ:AAPL

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...

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