A lot of people seem to post that aging seems to be a necessary and crucial part of brewing... And that, in fact, somehow, through the mysteries of aging, you will stumble upon the shangri-la of alcoholic beverages.
This is not necessarily so.
Sure, you should plan for some time after your primary fermentation for your yeast to settle out and your flavors to meld, but it's not always the months and years that some people seem to state.
A lot of it has to do with personal preference and... Believe it or not, ABV.
If you're just taking straight cider and brewing it straight, no additives, it has a much shorter shelf life than, say, a wine or a mead, or a fortified cider. Tops, you''ll only need to age a few weeks to a month for this low alcohol cider.
For something fortified, and with an ABV of say... 12-18%, you can start deciding to age longer, possibly for as much as a year or two. (Typically wine tends to mature some time within that period, and then afterward, it gets tricky and depends on many many many factors, and bottle to bottle it may even age differently. Eventually though, you WILL hit a point of diminishing returns...)
If you were jacking your liquor, or distilling (which is illegal), THEN you start considering aging for multiple years.. (5-10 much like many whiskeys)... But that's for really really high ABV liquors (excess of 75%)
Even today, most of the info you'll find on wine and aging/storing will tell you that most of the stuff produces is meant to be consumed ASAP, and my guess would be that, honestly, it applies just as much for home brewed liquors as well.
Anyhow... Here's some sources to read through
A great quick overview on how long some wines can age and what the attributes that help them age are
The wiki article on the effects of aging wine
And one article talking of aging/storing wines (note the first line...) Considering it's "wine cellar insider" and THEY are telling you not to bother...
and a Wine Spectator article about it.
And I know.. Some wise ass is going to say, "But that's WINE!!!! My cider is so amazingly awesome wonderful that it will be able to age 60 years and be perfect!!!"
To that I say, get over yourself. Ciders and meads share all the techniques used in wine making, and for the longest time have not been elected for aging. The concept of aging these beverages is relatively new, and probably stem from the fact that in the market, there's many wines that are 100+ years old valued at obscene amounts of money (it's taste is not a factor, but the age and vintage are the factors, as well as overall rarity. These wines are probably even terrible tasting as vinegar by now), and the fact that, distilled spirits, are, in fact, aged 5-10 years and benefit greatly from it. (but again, the ABV and general chemical makeup of these spirits is VASTLY greater and different respectively).
So back to aging... Age how long you'd like, and if your brew has some flaws, aging might help, but really, once bottled a few weeks to a month (to sort itself out from bottle shock) is about all you ever really need.