iTunes Match Launches In Italy [Update: Coming To Greece, Portugal, Austria and Slovenia Too]

Earlier today, Apple updated its Terms and Conditions for the Italian iTunes Store to include information about iTunes Match, the company’s music service powered by iCloud. Launched in November 2011 in the United States (here’s our original hands-on), the service was later brought to more countries on December 15 and January 17, including South America, the UK, and other European countries.

Lei può abbonarsi a iTunes Match pagando un canone annuale. Per abbonarsi Lei deve aver registrato una carta di credito valida nell’archivio di iTunes. L’abbonamento non è rimborsabile (salvo richiesto dalla legge applicabile), e si rinnoverà automaticamente per periodi di un anno finché Lei non lo cancellerà. Il Suo account sarà addebitato non più di 24 ore prima della scadenza del periodo di abbonamento corrente. Lei può annullare il rinnovo automatico modificando le impostazioni dell’account iTunes Store sul Suo computer. Lei non sarà più in grado di accedere ai Suoi Contenuti iTunes Match su iTunes Match dopo la scadenza del Suo periodo di abbonamento.

Back in March, it was reported that Apple was holding a series of meetings with SIAE – the Italian association that represents “artists and editors” – to get the green light on launching iTunes Match in Italy.

According to Apple’s official support document about iTunes Match and iTunes in the Cloud availability, Italy still isn’t listed among the countries with support for Match and iTunes in the Cloud; as of today, iTunes Match is available in 37 countries worldwide.

Whilst the update of iTunes’ terms and conditions to include additional iTunes Match certainly confirms the company has made progress on obtaining rights to launch the service, it should also be noted that, back in February, Japan was rumored to be getting support for iTunes Match soon. In the case of Japan, however, only support for iTunes in the Cloud was spotted (and was eventually launched), whilst today’s updated agreement specifically mentions iTunes Match in Italy.

Update: Greek iPhone reports the updated terms and conditions including iTunes Match information have gone live in Greece today as well.

Update #2: We’re getting reports that iTunes Match is showing up alongside iTunes in the Cloud in Austria, Slovenia and Portugal as well. Here’s a screenshot from the Austrian iTunes Store courtesy of @kronawetter.

Update #3: iTunes Match is now live in Italy, with yearly subscriptions priced at €24.99. You can activate iTunes Match in Italy by following this link.

As for iTunes in the Cloud, the Italian Store now has a Purchased section to re-download previously purchased music, apps, and books. Automatic Downloads, however, have only been enabled for apps and books.

Update #4: As of 3 AM local time (May 1), iTunes Match started working in Italy, and Apple began promoting the new service on the Italian iTunes Store homepage.