Just days after iTunes 10.3 was introduced, Apple has felt the need to release an emergency update, iTunes 10.3.1, to fix critical issues in the program.
Although Apple’s support page doesn’t specify which issues were addressed, but it’s believed to fix the "unknown error (-50)" some users would get while syncing iOS devices. No fixes were found as of this writing, but there’s no reason not to get this free update.
This comes two days after the Cupertino company unveiled iTunes 10.3 at WWDC, which includes support for "iTunes in the Cloud", new online technologies that allow users to have all purchases synced to up to 10 devices on the fly, as well as to individually download past purchases, including apps, songs and e-books. These features are part of iCloud, which will ship in the fall, including photo syncing, and the ability to stream changes to documents on the fly within iWork. Apple has also announced iTunes Match, a $25-a-year service that helps user convert their own songs into 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality AAC files for free. Steve Jobs couldn’t have said it better:
Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices, […] iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it—it all just works.
In addition to iCloud and iTunes 10.3, WWDC attendants also witnessed the unveiling of iOS 5, Apple’s next-generation mobile operating system that includes enhancements such as a better notifications system, similar to MobileNotifier, system-wide Twitter integration, an improved Safari browser with innovations such as a Reader mode, similar to what’s found on desktop versions of Safari; as well as a the final version of Mac OS X Lion, which will ship later this summer, and is slated to include new multi-touch gestures, an enhanced Mail client, an iOS-like application launcher similar to iOS’ Home Screen.
You can get iTunes 10.3.1 from Software Update, if you haven’t already, or Apple’s download page. If you’re running iTunes 10.5, which you can obtain from Apple’s developer site, if you’re a registered member, please don’t install iTunes 10.3.1, or else your iOS 5 device will no longer work.
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