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How to Use iTunes Match
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Yes, this is actually something I really love about this service compared to Amazon or Google. I have my main iTunes library at home. I then use iTunes Match on my work computer, my laptop and my phone. I use custom comments to manipulate my smart playlists. The smart playlists work perfectly on all my devices and I can make changes to comments or ID tags on say my work computer and it will update my songs at home and change my playlists. Changes get propogated out across all devices.
I can rip songs at home and they show up at work, and I can rip songs at work and they show up at home. I even added some rips someone gave me from a vinyl album for something never put on CD. Match got it propogated to my work computer and phone no problem. I then listened to it at work and made genre, rating and comment changes at work and they showed up at home and on my phone.
I love the service and have not found one that offers the same convenience.
If you listen to mostly popular mainstream stuff I guess it would work out well. But start getting off the beaten path of mainstream music and no streaming service is going to be able to help you.
I'm using iTunes for the forseeable future. It's still the best music organization app out there.
I'm also using Spotify for albums/songs I don't want to buy, but would like to listen to. I still buy the best of what I like from iTunes. I have to use two apps for my music, but it works. On one hand, I can listen to everything that I want to hear on Spotify, but not necessarily pay for. The other hand I still have MY library of music on iTunes that I can listen to on any device, without internet and without monthly fees.
I grew up in the CD era, so buying full albums is my thing. It's a more personal collection and connection with the music since I have to consciously make a choice of what to buy. Sometimes I buy the wrong stuff (what I thought would be good, but I didn't really listen to much). Spotify keeps me from buying the wrong stuff.
I'm also using Spotify for albums/songs I don't want to buy, but would like to listen to. I still buy the best of what I like from iTunes. I have to use two apps for my music, but it works. On one hand, I can listen to everything that I want to hear on Spotify, but not necessarily pay for. The other hand I still have MY library of music on iTunes that I can listen to on any device, without internet and without monthly fees.
I grew up in the CD era, so buying full albums is my thing. It's a more personal collection and connection with the music since I have to consciously make a choice of what to buy. Sometimes I buy the wrong stuff (what I thought would be good, but I didn't really listen to much). Spotify keeps me from buying the wrong stuff.
Nah, hipster music they have plenty of. Try finding composers who do not make blockbuster American Hollywood movies.
Thanks westrock2000 for your helpful answer.
Since it seems you know the service, did you find any issue when matching vinyls, remastered editions or extended cd with bonus tracks? For instance, if you have both an original cd and a newer remastered edition do both albums appear on itunes match or it just shows and streams the latest one (or the one available from apple)?
Also, did you find any case with incorrect match or where you may lose some of your metadata?
I have not noticed any mix ups yet. The only vinyls I have done are ones that are not available in digital (CD or online).
Custom metadata has been preserved, but I have noticed that when it downloads the song from Match it ADDS "purchased by" information to the song regardless of if you purchased it or not. Working on a way to fix that.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1829012/
The metadata was a major reason I left Amazon Music. When you downloaded the song all the comment and rating fields were wiped out. iTunes Match preserves that, and that's important to me.
iTunes Match for me is a 'hit' and 'miss'
if it doesn't hand a fingerprint, then quite often it can't find it, if there is not enough meta-data to go by, or it find an the song/album, yet its the wrong one (eg if its a mix or remix) are the worse...
And when iTunes Match finds a match (this is done across all stores), even if your viewing the wrong one....
I found it out by accident, since some of my songs were matched, yet they were not in the store... Didn't make me long to realize i was viewing the wrong store....
You would think when you click "Show in iTunes Store" on the track, it should take you not only to the match, but also change to the correct sore automatically, when required, instead of seeing an ominous message "Not available" which only leads you to scratching your head wondering.
I switched over to using MusicBrainz on Mac with API key... Much better.. TuneupMedia i also found was a total waste, as they have their caching server, which alters the results coming back, yet they do not want to tell you that.
if it doesn't hand a fingerprint, then quite often it can't find it, if there is not enough meta-data to go by, or it find an the song/album, yet its the wrong one (eg if its a mix or remix) are the worse...
And when iTunes Match finds a match (this is done across all stores), even if your viewing the wrong one....
I found it out by accident, since some of my songs were matched, yet they were not in the store... Didn't make me long to realize i was viewing the wrong store....
You would think when you click "Show in iTunes Store" on the track, it should take you not only to the match, but also change to the correct sore automatically, when required, instead of seeing an ominous message "Not available" which only leads you to scratching your head wondering.
I switched over to using MusicBrainz on Mac with API key... Much better.. TuneupMedia i also found was a total waste, as they have their caching server, which alters the results coming back, yet they do not want to tell you that.
I still can't figure out what to do since my music collection has exceeded 25k songs. It's lot of work to create new seperate music library. I can't understand why this 25k limitation exists, since we paid for that cloud services
the only advantages I can get is I can simply download music from my iphone through icloud, but again, with limitation
Does anyone ever think that this is apple's trick to
1. get huge library of music data for their own database or survey
2. tight their users to buy from itunes which related to that limitation policy
the only advantages I can get is I can simply download music from my iphone through icloud, but again, with limitation
Does anyone ever think that this is apple's trick to
1. get huge library of music data for their own database or survey
2. tight their users to buy from itunes which related to that limitation policy
They may never know how painful they are when they go offline. I hate streaming service, the only reason is it needs you to stay online, always. For short video, fine. For movie? Oh.
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If ALL your songs are purchased from iTunes, then you can simply delete all of them, then, you can listen to any song you have purchased, at anywhere as long as you are online.
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I have music bought/existed in two regions. If I use match.
1. Before my match end, I may NEVER be able to switch between stores.
2. I have full confidence that iTunes does not have ALL of my songs stored in my current library.
3. I may not be able to update apps purchased in other store.
All in all, I don't want to use this service. I would better slowly accumulate my library from iTunes store, from ripping CDs, etc.
That would work, but just a subscription for iTunes Radio (like $3.99) is what I'd like.
Hi everybody. Longtime reader and first time poster (be gentle).
I've been to a lot of different websites and forums, but none of them seem to explicitly answer the few questions I have regarding iTunes Match. I feel like these questions are somewhat pertinent considering the new Apple Music service may very well operate similarly to iTM vis-à-vis uploading files to the cloud and whatnot.
First a bit about my iTunes library for context. I've been an iTunes user since way back in the day, and an avid CD collector long before that. A large chunk of my collection comes from CDs. In addition, being a big Rap fan (let's agree to disagree genre-wise) a large part of my library also comes from downloaded free "mixtapes" (read: underground albums) from various sites such as datpiff. Also, I buy quite a bit of music from the iTunes music store. I've edited various fields such as the Album Name, Artist, Album Artist and sorting fields in order to give my collection authenticity and character. Other small edits I've made include moving featured artists from the Artist field to the Title field and various changes to capitalization (i.e. "NaS" instead of "Nas"). Again, I like these small edits.
1. If I subscribe to iTunes Match, after the initial scanning and uploading is complete, will these small edits be removed from my library (on my MacBook Pro)? Will my library be affected in anyway?
2. Will these small edits be reflected in uploads/matches to the cloud?
3. Once downloaded to an iOS device will files retain these small edits?
4. To what extent do these small edits determine what is matched and what is uploaded?
I should probably add that I've already been meticulous in making sure my whole library is in AAC format.
I appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read through this post! Thanks everyone for the help!
(my OS and iTunes are fully updated if that makes a difference)
I've been to a lot of different websites and forums, but none of them seem to explicitly answer the few questions I have regarding iTunes Match. I feel like these questions are somewhat pertinent considering the new Apple Music service may very well operate similarly to iTM vis-à-vis uploading files to the cloud and whatnot.
First a bit about my iTunes library for context. I've been an iTunes user since way back in the day, and an avid CD collector long before that. A large chunk of my collection comes from CDs. In addition, being a big Rap fan (let's agree to disagree genre-wise) a large part of my library also comes from downloaded free "mixtapes" (read: underground albums) from various sites such as datpiff. Also, I buy quite a bit of music from the iTunes music store. I've edited various fields such as the Album Name, Artist, Album Artist and sorting fields in order to give my collection authenticity and character. Other small edits I've made include moving featured artists from the Artist field to the Title field and various changes to capitalization (i.e. "NaS" instead of "Nas"). Again, I like these small edits.
1. If I subscribe to iTunes Match, after the initial scanning and uploading is complete, will these small edits be removed from my library (on my MacBook Pro)? Will my library be affected in anyway?
2. Will these small edits be reflected in uploads/matches to the cloud?
3. Once downloaded to an iOS device will files retain these small edits?
4. To what extent do these small edits determine what is matched and what is uploaded?
I should probably add that I've already been meticulous in making sure my whole library is in AAC format.
I appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read through this post! Thanks everyone for the help!
(my OS and iTunes are fully updated if that makes a difference)
Although I don't want to subscribe iTunes match, I have a few tips maybe helpful to you.
You have a mixed library from iTunes store and cd rip. If I were you, I would not use iTunes Match because this service was reported changing the library metadata without notification.
Plus, you may rip lossless audio from CD to your library while most iTunes music only deliver low quality 256 kbps m4a files.
That's a misunderstanding how iTunes Match works. It doesn't replace the files on your hard drive automatically. You need to locate the files that are matched but have lower quality on your Mac (a smart playlist will do that just nicely), then delete the files from your Mac and download them again. Make sure you read all alerts carefully; you need to delete from your Mac but not from iTunes Match.
iTunes Match doesn't look at your editing at all and won't touch it. It only looks at the actual music.
I have so many songs missing from iTunes Match still. Don't think I'm going to renew it this year.