“For his ‘one last thing’ announcement at Monday’s WWDC, Steve Jobs unveiled iTunes Match, a service that copies any music you have on your computer that wasn’t obtained through iTunes–ripped, or it appears even illegally downloaded–and puts it on your iCloud account, a replacement to MobileMe,” Parmy Olson reports for Forbes. “(Apple could not be reached for comment by phone or email to explain how iTunes Match worked with pirated music, but a number of reports suggest it will.) Apple then automatically puts that music on up to 10 devices that are wirelessly connected to the same MobileMe account, bypassing the fiddly USB process. Crucially, the service costs $25 a year.”

Olson reports, “Why does that $25 matter? Because Apple is reportedly splitting that money with copyright holders, many of whom have lost out on potential revenue because so many are downloading songs from bittorrent sites like The Pirate Bay. Some say this means Apple is not only legitimizing pirated music, it’s monetizing it too. Needless to say, the folks at the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) which represents the recording industry worldwide, really like iTunes Match.”

Full article, which confuses iTunes Match and iCloud with a music-streaming service (which it is not), here.