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koppie644

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 4, 2011
132
1
The options used to be there in iOS5 but deceased in iOS6.0

Now in iOS6.1, we can again download a single song, or delete a song that has been downloaded. A small fix, but important to iTunes Match users, especially those with 16GB devices. If seems that if you play a song but don't explicitly download it, it is streamed from Apple and won't be kept in the device.
 
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jhfenton

macrumors 65816
Dec 11, 2012
1,176
802
Cincinnati, Ohio
The options used to be there in iOS5 but deceased in iOS6.0

Now in iOS6.1, we can again download a single song, or delete a song that has been downloaded. A small fix, but important to iTunes Match users, especially those with 16GB devices. If seems that if you play a song but don't explicitly download it, it is streamed from Apple and won't be kept in the device.
Yes. They finally got it exactly right. I hated that aspect of 6.0.x.

I still wish they made ratings easier to manage on the iPad. The whole Music app interface is the worst part of iOS. There's room for a lot more data and manipulation on the iPad screen than they give us, especially in landscape mode.
 

fenderbass146

macrumors 65816
Mar 11, 2009
1,449
2,490
Northwest Indiana
Yes. They finally got it exactly right. I hated that aspect of 6.0.x.

I still wish they made ratings easier to manage on the iPad. The whole Music app interface is the worst part of iOS. There's room for a lot more data and manipulation on the iPad screen than they give us, especially in landscape mode.

Can someone confirm this. I currently am putting my base playlist on my phone and it won't be done syncing for hours.
 

Mobile923

macrumors 6502
Sep 20, 2007
297
25
New York, NY
Okay, maybe I'm a little lost here:

(using iPhone 5, Verizon LTE, 32GB, iOS 6.1 with iTunes Match)

So you can tap to play a song, or tap the cloud to download it to the device and one has nothing to do with the other, right?

So it SHOULD be streaming if you just tap to play... but after playing a few songs, I checked Settings>General>Usage for the Music app and the cache has been growing... from 20MB originally, now to 130MB after a short shuffle through a playlist.

While on LTE, I had turned off Settings>General>Cellular>iTunes and the songs that were supposedly "streamed" were still able to be tapped, along with it's download button still next to it... as opposed to songs that haven't been played yet were still shaded out.

I force quit the Music app to see if that would automatically clear out the cache, and so far the data is still there under Usage...

So... does iTunes stream or not?
 

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,929
3,677
Okay, maybe I'm a little lost here:

(using iPhone 5, Verizon LTE, 32GB, iOS 6.1 with iTunes Match)

So you can tap to play a song, or tap the cloud to download it to the device and one has nothing to do with the other, right?

So it SHOULD be streaming if you just tap to play... but after playing a few songs, I checked Settings>General>Usage for the Music app and the cache has been growing... from 20MB originally, now to 130MB after a short shuffle through a playlist.

While on LTE, I had turned off Settings>General>Cellular>iTunes and the songs that were supposedly "streamed" were still able to be tapped, along with it's download button still next to it... as opposed to songs that haven't been played yet were still shaded out.

I force quit the Music app to see if that would automatically clear out the cache, and so far the data is still there under Usage...

So... does iTunes stream or not?

Presumably it maintains the previous behavior where it will cache a certain amount of recently listened to music in order to prevent you from having to use extra data.
 

koppie644

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 4, 2011
132
1
Okay, maybe I'm a little lost here:

(using iPhone 5, Verizon LTE, 32GB, iOS 6.1 with iTunes Match)

So you can tap to play a song, or tap the cloud to download it to the device and one has nothing to do with the other, right?

So it SHOULD be streaming if you just tap to play... but after playing a few songs, I checked Settings>General>Usage for the Music app and the cache has been growing... from 20MB originally, now to 130MB after a short shuffle through a playlist.

While on LTE, I had turned off Settings>General>Cellular>iTunes and the songs that were supposedly "streamed" were still able to be tapped, along with it's download button still next to it... as opposed to songs that haven't been played yet were still shaded out.

I force quit the Music app to see if that would automatically clear out the cache, and so far the data is still there under Usage...

So... does iTunes stream or not?

I played a song, for example, "Like a Rolling Stone" and then played another song. I switched to flight mode and "like a Rolling Stone" is not in the library. Maybe if you are using cellular, it will download and play; but under WiFi, it will stream?

I checked storage, it was 941MB before I played a song which was not stored locally, it stayed the same 941MB after the playback
 
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jhfenton

macrumors 65816
Dec 11, 2012
1,176
802
Cincinnati, Ohio
No, from my experience it never has.
It never has before, but it seems to stream now, at least over wifi, as koppie644 said. All of my family's devices are wifi-only iPads or iPad minis, so I don't have a cell-enabled device to test.

I haven't been diligent about checking the Music app's data storage, so it may cache at certain times, but it doesn't automatically treat a streamed song as "downloaded." When the song is finished playing, the "Download from Cloud" icon reappears where the "Now Playing" speaker icon had been.

John
 

Defender2010

Cancelled
Jun 6, 2010
3,131
1,097
It never has before, but it seems to stream now, at least over wifi, as koppie644 said. All of my family's devices are wifi-only iPads or iPad minis, so I don't have a cell-enabled device to test.

I haven't been diligent about checking the Music app's data storage, so it may cache at certain times, but it doesn't automatically treat a streamed song as "downloaded." When the song is finished playing, the "Download from Cloud" icon reappears where the "Now Playing" speaker icon had been.

John

This is the bug that causes confusion. It still downloads the track even though afterwards, the download arrow is still there! It allows downloading, even though the track has already done so...this bug has existed forever. If you are diligent about the data storage, check! What I'm telling you is true...
 

jhfenton

macrumors 65816
Dec 11, 2012
1,176
802
Cincinnati, Ohio
This is the bug that causes confusion. It still downloads the track even though afterwards, the download arrow is still there! It allows downloading, even though the track has already done so...this bug has existed forever. If you are diligent about the data storage, check! What I'm telling you is true...
It was true, but it doesn't appear to be now. When I got to work this morning, I had a reported 19.1GB of music on my iPad (3rd gen, wifi), with 50.1GB total used and 7.1GB available. I left it plugged in in my office for half a day to play randomly through my iTunes match collection of 5,000+ songs, only 2,300+ of which (my 4-and-5-star rated songs) are "downloaded." And now that I check it, it reports 19.1GB of music, 50.1GB total used, and 7.1GB available.

I do note, though, that when I turn airplane mode on, the last few songs "streamed" still show as available. So it is doing some limited caching. But it's either not keeping enough to add up to 0.1GB or it's not marking the storage with the cached songs as used.

Either way, I'm happy. It's not the 5.x behavior in which "streaming" it would result in it being "downloaded." And it's not the 6.0 behavior, in which everything streamed was cached and subject to being pushed out when the storage was needed. iOS 6.1 now maintains a distinction between those I've "downloaded," that is marked for permanent local storage, and those that I've merely "streamed."

John

Edited to add: I noticed that the cached songs can be swipe-deleted just like "downloaded" songs, even though there's nothing to denote that they're cached once I switch back from airplane mode.
 

Dwalls90

macrumors 603
Feb 5, 2009
5,426
4,391
I never understood why they removed this functionality from iOS 5 to iOS 6 in the first place.
 

Defender2010

Cancelled
Jun 6, 2010
3,131
1,097
It was true, but it doesn't appear to be now. When I got to work this morning, I had a reported 19.1GB of music on my iPad (3rd gen, wifi), with 50.1GB total used and 7.1GB available. I left it plugged in in my office for half a day to play randomly through my iTunes match collection of 5,000+ songs, only 2,300+ of which (my 4-and-5-star rated songs) are "downloaded." And now that I check it, it reports 19.1GB of music, 50.1GB total used, and 7.1GB available.

I do note, though, that when I turn airplane mode on, the last few songs "streamed" still show as available. So it is doing some limited caching. But it's either not keeping enough to add up to 0.1GB or it's not marking the storage with the cached songs as used.

Either way, I'm happy. It's not the 5.x behavior in which "streaming" it would result in it being "downloaded." And it's not the 6.0 behavior, in which everything streamed was cached and subject to being pushed out when the storage was needed. iOS 6.1 now maintains a distinction between those I've "downloaded," that is marked for permanent local storage, and those that I've merely "streamed."

John

Edited to add: I noticed that the cached songs can be swipe-deleted just like "downloaded" songs, even though there's nothing to denote that they're cached once I switch back from airplane mode.

Cached / Downloaded what's the difference? The cached content stays on the phone too, until the device is almost full, then it will delete them when it needs space. Same difference I feel.
 

westonm

macrumors member
Jun 19, 2007
77
50
I dislike having a cloud icon next to every one of my songs. As such I wish they would have included a toggle to revert to the 6.0 behavior.
 

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
Cached / Downloaded what's the difference? The cached content stays on the phone too, until the device is almost full, then it will delete them when it needs space. Same difference I feel.

Incorrect, downloaded wont be delete unless you do it manually. Cached will automatically delete when space is required.
 

jhfenton

macrumors 65816
Dec 11, 2012
1,176
802
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cached / Downloaded what's the difference? The cached content stays on the phone too, until the device is almost full, then it will delete them when it needs space. Same difference I feel.
I don't care if they're cached, as long as it deletes them when it needs space. That's not a bad feature--though they should probably have a little "save from cache" icon to indicate that status, as opposed to the default "download from cloud" icon.

But I don't want my downloaded music ever deleted without my intervention. I have a playlist with 700+ 5-Star songs and a playlist with 2,300+ 4-or-5-Star songs. I want those to stay put, no matter what. iOS 6.0 eliminated that option and made it impossible to know what I had stored locally. And if I lost track of my storage with my old 32GB model--now my wife's--cached songs could be purged to make room for something else. (I was only keeping 5-Star songs then.)
 

Defender2010

Cancelled
Jun 6, 2010
3,131
1,097
Incorrect, downloaded wont be delete unless you do it manually. Cached will automatically delete when space is required.

Yes, I know this...but it fills up the device with music, where that space should be free for photos, videos etc. it would be much better if there was a "stream only" option, it would save this constant debate. Same way as iTunes does.
 

koppie644

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 4, 2011
132
1
Yes, I know this...but it fills up the device with music, where that space should be free for photos, videos etc. it would be much better if there was a "stream only" option, it would save this constant debate. Same way as iTunes does.

As far as I have found out, in iOS6.1, unless I download a song explicitly, it is just streaming over WiFi. The space usage does not grow and I cannot find these songs (just played) in my library if I turn on the flight mode

Over 3G/LTE, I do not know. I did sign an iphone5 with a data plan, but they forgot to add it and I am not being charged either
 

jhfenton

macrumors 65816
Dec 11, 2012
1,176
802
Cincinnati, Ohio
Yes, I know this...but it fills up the device with music, where that space should be free for photos, videos etc. it would be much better if there was a "stream only" option, it would save this constant debate. Same way as iTunes does.
Since I have a wi-fi only iPad, I agree. But it's undoubtedly a data-saving feature for the iPhone/"cellular iPad" crowd. Why stream a song twice if you can cache it and save the data?

Regardless, I'm happy enough now with the iTunes Match track management, that I can focus my complaints on the horrible overall user interface in the iPad Music app. There's so much wasted real estate and potential. In particular, if I have a list of songs up, either a playlist or an album, I want the ratings visible and editable. Currently, you have to switch into the separate playing album mode, switch to the track list, and you can see the rating for the current track only. And each time a new track starts, it switches to the album cover and you have to switch back. I still have fewer than half my library rated, and it's tedious doing it on my iPad.
 

Defender2010

Cancelled
Jun 6, 2010
3,131
1,097
As far as I have found out, in iOS6.1, unless I download a song explicitly, it is just streaming over WiFi. The space usage does not grow and I cannot find these songs (just played) in my library if I turn on the flight mode

Over 3G/LTE, I do not know. I did sign an iphone5 with a data plan, but they forgot to add it and I am not being charged either

Wrong. Search the many other threads regarding this....capacity decreases with every song played. It has done since Match was released. Play a song, check, settings- usage. Then play several songs, go back and check again, song increase tally grows, device capacity decreases. I have tested this many times on my and friends devices.
 

MozMan68

macrumors demi-god
Jun 29, 2010
6,052
5,126
South Cackalacky
Wrong. Search the many other threads regarding this....capacity decreases with every song played. It has done since Match was released. Play a song, check, settings- usage. Then play several songs, go back and check again, song increase tally grows, device capacity decreases. I have tested this many times on my and friends devices.

Correct...and it is right on Apple's site.

Streaming - only on computers

IOS - Downloads (yes...DOWNLOADS) every time you play and stays on there so you can play even when you do not have a connection.

The only thing that has changed is the ability to manually download individual songs while you have a connection.
 

Mobile923

macrumors 6502
Sep 20, 2007
297
25
New York, NY
So, true streaming looks to not be the case...

At this point, what I'd like is to be able to see my entire library, option to shuffle only downloaded songs on cellular but still be able to stream or download individually chosen songs. The main idea is shuffling downloaded-only music when not on wi-fi.

-Show All Songs: check.
-Option to disable cellular use: check.
-Option to download a song still in iCloud via cloud button, while cellular is still disabled: half-check, a pop up warning comes on for every song, but the download still proceeds once dismissed
-Shuffle through downloaded songs only, while Show All Songs is enabled: half--check, hitting the "previous" button restarts the song, instead of playing the last song
-Delete individual songs off device while in Playlist view: miss
 

Defender2010

Cancelled
Jun 6, 2010
3,131
1,097
Correct...and it is right on Apple's site.

Streaming - only on computers

IOS - Downloads (yes...DOWNLOADS) every time you play and stays on there so you can play even when you do not have a connection.

The only thing that has changed is the ability to manually download individual songs while you have a connection.

Thanks for agreeing. SO many users here claiming it is streaming only to devices,,,the whole thing is a bit confusing...but, after testing many times it does indeed download each track when played (some call it caching, I call it downloading!) :)
(and here is the text from Apples site...http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/itunes-match/ )

"Does iTunes Match stream or download songs?
On a computer, any songs stored in iCloud will stream over the air when played, though you can download them at any time by clicking the iCloud download button. iOS devices will start playing tracks from iCloud as they download and will store them so that you can listen to them later even if you don’t have a network connection. Apple TV only streams songs."
 
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jhfenton

macrumors 65816
Dec 11, 2012
1,176
802
Cincinnati, Ohio
Thanks for agreeing. SO many users here claiming it is streaming only to devices,,,the whole thing is a bit confusing...but, after testing many times it does indeed download each track when played (some call it caching, I call it downloading!) :)
There is one difference between "downloading" and "caching." When a song is "streamed" and "cached," you have no guarantee that it will be there later. "Cached" songs are subject to purging. "Downloaded" songs are not subject to purging.

My problem with 6.0 was that it *only* "streamed" and "cached." When I had a 32GB iPad 2, I was always bumping up against my storage limit, and some of my music would get purged if I unwittingly installed one app too many. I recently picked up a 64GB 3rd Gen, so it's not much of an issue right now. (But I still like to see what I have "downloaded.")
 

digitalgopher

macrumors newbie
Mar 15, 2011
11
2
just to add to this, I just tried this on my iPhone 5 over LTE and it did download the songs as confirmed by the song count under the About section in Settings.

Bummer. Hopefully one day they'll allow for streaming at least as an option.
 
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