> Maybe you guys could release alpha releases as well after one would sign an online waiver

That's not going to happen. As soon as a build is considered "safe" then a public beta is released. If we get through 4 or 5 betas before a consumer release - and if you guys want to download them - then we're happy to let you have them.

We're not happy to let you have Alphas, for a number of reasons, primarily that during intensive testing periods there are new releases almost daily (and we don't have the bandwidth for 1000 people to get them every day, even if you were willing to do so) and those releases sometimes have serious bugs.

As an example, earlier in the alpha phase of 2.0 we discovered a bug which would scrap all of your music after synchronising a certain number of times. Luckily we caught it after the first couple of reports - alpha testers are well aware of the risks, but others may not be.

Finally, alpha testers get to see things which have not been announced. They are under NDA for this purpose. Sometimes the code they test (new CODECs for example) is under a development licence and cannot be distributed more widely.

So, sorry folks, but most of you will have to wait for 2.0-beta1.

Rob