Java Edition Beta

Beta is the current development phase in Minecraft. It was announced on Notch's blog on December 11, 2010 and released nine days later, on December 20, 2010. As well as some minor updates, the transition from Alpha saw a 50% price increase (therefore making the cost 25% off the full price), a change in the disclaimer (Notch removed the line that said "all future updates will be provided free of charge", though the statement still applies to users who bought Minecraft before Beta was released.) and minor updates to the main website.

Features
Some of the major changes in the beta release that tops the Alpha releases include:
 * New Minecraft logo and launcher.
 * Achievements and Statistics.
 * Server-side inventory.
 * Weather.
 * Smooth Lighting effects.
 * New mobs including squids and tameable wolves.
 * New mechanics (Redstone Repeaters, Note Blocks, Power Rails, Detector Rails).
 * New blocks and recipes, such as Sandstone and the Lapis Lazuli Block.
 * Changed many of the older crafting recipes, like Ladders and Pressure Plates
 * Beds for skipping through the night and resetting spawn point.
 * More variety in trees.
 * Wool Dyes.
 * Charged creepers
 * Pigs get struck by lightning and become Zombie pigmen.
 * Maps
 * Trapdoors
 * Tall Grass in some biomes.
 * Pistons and Sticky Pistons
 * Shears

For full changes, see Beta version history.