It’s Christmas in October. Lots of people are getting new iPhones, but the rest of us have plenty to celebrate, too, as Apple rolls out iOS 5, iCloud, Mac OS X 10.7.2 and, of course, iTunes 10.5 — the glue that sticks it all together.

Fire up Software Update because the mothership has a freebie for you. iTunes 10.5 (download) brings a lot of good things — features we’ve all been wanting for years — to your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac:

• iTunes in the Cloud: iTunes now stores music and TV purchases in iCloud, making them available anywhere, any time, at no additional cost

• Automatic Downloads: Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices

• Download Previous Purchases: Download your past music, TV, app and book purchases again, at no additional cost

• Sync with your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iOS 5

• Wi-Fi Syncing: Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network

See also:
— iTunes 10.5 for Windows (64 bit) (Download)
— What’s new in iOS 5
— iPhone 4S: ‘Siri-ously awesome’
— iPhone 4S: Am I eligible for the upgrade price?
— A5 processor packs more powerful graphics, too

Unlisted in the bullet points is a user interface tweak to the Podcast sidebar that more accurately displays the current update status — waiting, downloading, in process — of individual podcasts after you click Refresh.

iTunes’ sidebar icons are sadly still rendered duly in grayscale — a situation that can be remedied.

Whereas iCloud will surely be an improvement over MobileMe if for no other reason than it’s “free,” the feature I’ve been wanting for many, many moons is wifi syncing. Yes, there are third-party solutions that address parts of the issue, we’re finally getting the whole enchilada (with salsa, guacamole, sour cream, chips and a little sprig of that green stuff) — yeah!

Made in heaven?

Perhaps the most heralded feature in iTunes 10.5 is Match. For $25 a year, Apple will validate all of the songs you pirated via peer-to-peer back in the day.

In fact, Apple will give you high quality versions of the crap 56Kbps MP3s you got off Napster back in ’99, which it must be said is a relatively good value for the money.

However, I’m just not buying into pay forever music. I love Pandora, Spotify and internet radio in general, but paying for the privilege on a recurring basis strikes me as, well, stupid.

What are you liking in iTunes 10.5?