Could not bring myself to renew iTunes Match

It wasn't the money--it's only $25 for the year--but since not really using my iPhone I don't need it.

Meanwhile minutes after getting my Nexus 4 all of my iTunes music, and playlists, were available to me through Google Play. I didn't even actively use Google for music. I just set it up when it first came out and it had been silently working and uploading all my music since then.

So it felt strange to see the reminders coming in from Apple that my iTunes Match subscription was about to expire when I was already using something else--and it was free. Not only free, but it actually worked right from the get-go. I didn't trust iTunes Match because at times it would either fail to play a track or take forever to start (even with a good net connection). So I ended up loading music on my iPhone 4S the old fashioned way.

Couldn't help thinking about that Apple tax article from reuters. I didn't pay it. Now all my iTunes Match music in the cloud--unless I purchased it from Apple--is gone. Boo hoo.





Michael

Jibbajabba said:

Maybe I missunderstand something there, but surely iTunes Match' purpose is not just to give you streaming abilities but also the replacement of your current music library with better quality tracks ..

As in, you upload an album you ripped in bad quality but you receive a download / stream of the same album in better quality, which I believe Google Music does not provide ?

Don't get me wrong, i Love google music .. especially since all tracks (I searched for anyway) seem cheaper on google than on itunes ..

Click to expand...

The replacement aspect of iTunes Match is already done. I only used it on tracks I ripped years ago at low bit-rates--compared to today--that I did not feel like re-ripping. Those tracks are now downloaded in better quality. Don't need to do it again.

So once you have re-downloaded any old tracks why would you need that feature again? Anything I buy or rip today will already be in a format that is as good or better than what iTunes Match delivers.

Or am I missing something?



Michael

Jibbajabba said:

You merely compared two completely different products, saying one is free, the other isn't.

I simply pointed out that both products don't do the same . Google simply puts your music library online, iTunes Match replaces lower quality tracks with higher ones.

You cannot compare apples with oranges..

Click to expand...

I think it's a little strange to say they can't be compared. Both products play music from the cloud. Both products sync from iTunes including playlists. They do the same exact thing.

The ability to download tracks in higher quality is irrelevant to the actual experience of using the product. Moreover, once that is done, if it is even needed, you certainly won't need to use that feature ever again. Any music I buy or rip now is going to already be at or better than the quality I would download from iTunes Match. At this point it's not even a feature, it's more of a drawback. Regardless, this has little to do with using the product on a day to day basis. So using that as a reason to say they cannot be compared is to me just silly.



Michael