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A Clear Explanation of iTunes Match

Does iTunes match not allow MP3s downloaded from Youtube? I get
"This item is not eligible for iCloud."

On some songs from youtube
 
I have a question about this.

If you use this to uprate the bitrate of your songs. Do the uprated songs still keep the play count of the old songs? Or are they considered new songs added to your list with zero plays?

This does matter to me. Cause I want to uprate all of my songs but don't want to lose the "number of times played" on them all.
 
will i be able to access from my work computer?

part of apple's selling point was that libraries would be available through the cloud. i know i can access this one my mobile device, but i'd like to be able to stream my itunes library on my work computer.

i suppose i'll find out in a few hours when i get to my office, but thought someone might know the answer to this. will be majorly bummed if i can't do this - huge part of why i signed up for the service.
 
iTunes Match Outside US

woodywyatt said:
Yes it requires a valid US credit card for subscription.
I haven't tried this method, but I'm pretty sure it'll work to set up a US account with a US Billing address and prepaid credit card - https://www.usunlocked.com/blog/
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I've had a US iTunes account for years (for my iPad) before its release in UK. But they require a valid US card that I don't have-pay with dollar gift tokens from eBay.

Snag with Unlocked is they give you a US address & that requires another iTunes account-I guess that would work, but just make life a bit complicated to have 3 different iTunes accounts!
Thanks anyway.
 
rogerram said:
Thanks for this. I've had a US iTunes account for years (for my iPad) before its release in UK. But they require a valid US card that I don't have-pay with dollar gift tokens from eBay.

Snag with Unlocked is they give you a US address & that requires another iTunes account-I guess that would work, but just make life a bit complicated to have 3 different iTunes accounts!
Thanks anyway.
Click to expand...

Yes I did think that myself, but maybe instead of creating a new account in iTunes, I think that you could just change your location via your account settings?
 
found my own answer

the8thark said:
I have a question about this.

If you use this to uprate the bitrate of your songs. Do the uprated songs still keep the play count of the old songs? Or are they considered new songs added to your list with zero plays?

This does matter to me. Cause I want to uprate all of my songs but don't want to lose the "number of times played" on them all.
Click to expand...


this is part of the metadata, right? assuming so, it should keep your play counts...
 
found my own answer

astewes said:
part of apple's selling point was that libraries would be available through the cloud. i know i can access this one my mobile device, but i'd like to be able to stream my itunes library on my work computer.

i suppose i'll find out in a few hours when i get to my office, but thought someone might know the answer to this. will be majorly bummed if i can't do this - huge part of why i signed up for the service.
Click to expand...

Nevermind - found my own answer :)

How Do I Play My iCloud Library on Another Mac or PC?
I recommend starting with a completely empty library on the second computer. That’s because iTunes Match will insist on using that computer’s library as a basis for iCloud matching and uploads. To cut down on any confusion, I suggests using an iTunes installation with an empty library. This way you can use your Mac or PC’s iTunes installation as if it were an iOS device.

Ensure iTunes 10.5.1 or higher is installed on the computer and go to Store > Turn On iTunes Match. Enter your Apple ID and Password, and you will receive a dialogue box that say “iTunes Match is matching a library from another computer.” Click “Match this computer”. iTunes Match only allows for one library to be matched at a time, that’s why I suggest starting with an empty library. You will then be able to access all of your iCloud Music library on the secondary computer. I recommend not adding any music to this computer, and using it strictly as a “jukebox” device. Please see the video walkthrough for more details.
 
KillerTree said:
Does iTunes match not allow MP3s downloaded from Youtube? I get
"This item is not eligible for iCloud."

On some songs from youtube
Click to expand...

That song would be pirated, so I don't think there is anything you can complain about.


baryon said:
Why do people who pirated 25 000 songs get to upgrade them to legal, high quality versions, while people who have 2 ripped CDs only get to have those 2 CDs worth of songs?
Click to expand...

They may get high quality versions, but not _legal_ versions. Pirated songs are just as illegal after iTunes Match as they are before. And iTunes Match keeps all metadata from your computer, so if the metadata is evidence of piracy, then the evidence will still be there after iTunes Match.


ksgant said:
These are CD's that were ripped into iTunes through iTunes. I can understand maybe if it's an entire album it doesn't Match...but why match some songs on an album yet upload other songs on the same album that was Ripped at the same time on the same CD? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Some things are probably just weird. In your case it could be that the one matched song was on some compilation CD that is on iTunes, and the rest wasn't. In one case I bought a box set of CDs, and the identical box set was available on iTunes with a few songs missing. So when that gets matched, I would expect a few songs not to match.
 
Last edited:
Everything finished and I'm perplexed as to what it matched and didn't. I bought the Beatles Mono remasters when they came out on CD a few years ago...before they were on iTunes. Now, when I turned on Match, it would say it's matched some of the songs on a CD, but then upload other songs that are on the same fricken CD. Why didn't it match those?

These are CD's that were ripped into iTunes through iTunes. I can understand maybe if it's an entire album it doesn't Match...but why match some songs on an album yet upload other songs on the same album that was Ripped at the same time on the same CD? :rolleyes:
 
one thing that has rubbed me the wrong way is that customers are telling me that itunes match has scenarios where it only partially "matches" albums...

it should be an all or nothing effort to match albums... or give the end-user the choice to set all or nothing for matching albums... not just on a song by song basis

----------
ksgant said:
These are CD's that were ripped into iTunes through iTunes. I can understand maybe if it's an entire album it doesn't Match...but why match some songs on an album yet upload other songs on the same album that was Ripped at the same time on the same CD? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

basically, i'll wait for iCloud until it at least serves movies... movies cant be screwed up... but maybe they'll do something like upgrade your matched movies to 1080p (when they finally support movies in icloud)

if the Audio iCloud cant resolve partial matches (for albums that they have every song for in the itunes store), i dont see the point in having music playing on different bitrates...
 
gnasher729 said:
Some things are probably just weird. In your case it could be that the one matched song was on some compilation CD that is on iTunes, and the rest wasn't. In one case I bought a box set of CDs, and the identical box set was available on iTunes with a few songs missing. So when that gets matched, I would expect a few songs not to match.
Click to expand...

But for like AC/DC's "Back in Black", they have the album on iTunes, the entire album, and it matched the song "Back in Black", but uploaded "Shook Me All Night Long". Dunno why.

The whole point of the matching with iTunes is so we wouldn't have to spend all this time and bandwidth uploading songs like we would have to do with Google or Amazon (for an existing library with Amazon). I went with this service for $25 bucks (granted, not a huge amount) for this very reason and I ended up having to upload half of my library...and it looks like 95% of that I uploaded is available right there in iTunes. :mad:
 
Match Statistics

How are people getting to the report of percentages of uploaded/matched/tough luck (error) of the match process.

Some of my error songs seem like they should be easily matched.
 
They may get high quality versions, but not _legal_ versions. Pirated songs are just as illegal after iTunes Match as they are before. And iTunes Match keeps all metadata from your computer, so if the metadata is evidence of piracy, then the evidence will still be there after iTunes Match.
Click to expand...
Only the original copy. The iCloud version is actually legal.
 
I dont know if this is going to help anyone, but I've been playing with the service all night and these are some things that I feel are unclear that need to be cleared up

-There is a 25,000 song limit, but no space limit. I've got 40GB that didn't match (4,000 our of 15,000 songs), and it's currently uploading. I think many people assume that the 5GB iCloud limit counts and that you will have to purchase more space if you have more than 5GB that needs to be uploaded. This is not the case.

- Whatever metadata you have for a song is what is copied. For instance, iTunes 'matched' the Metallica song "Nothing Else Matters" which was in 96kbps. I promptly deleted the original, but the song stayed and a button appeared to d/l the 256k version. My original file didn't even have the artist name, only "nothing else matters" in the title portion. Upon d/l the new file all metadata stayed exactly as it was. Very few files in my library have such relaxed metadata, but I think it's amazing that iTunes is able to recognize the file either way.

- The process took my library (15k songs and 120GB) roughly 5 hours to scan and match. It's still uploading, and I expect it will be for at least a day or so even though I have a fast connection. The servers are slammed.

- I haven't used it on my iOS device yet, but I imagine it'll work just fine

- I've already upgraded a ton of old files, even old DRM protected iTunes purchases from 7 years ago. It's already paid for itself

- I love how on my laptop, i had a farily empty library, but as soon as I turned on match on the laptop, all of my files from my main library appeared (except the one's still uploading [those show faded out and 'waiting']). All the playlists appeared. If I add a playlist to the laptop, it gets auto added to the desktop which is my main library.

This produce in my eyes is truly incredible! Once all of my filed upload I'll never have to worry again about losing my music with a failed hdd or not having a song on my devices or computers. it is seamless and perfect for keeping everything organized. The playcounts and ratings, etc all transfer as well. It is as if you have only one library, even if you have many. It is truly incredible and I would expect nothing less of Apple.
 
ksgant said:
Everything finished and I'm perplexed as to what it matched and didn't. I bought the Beatles Mono remasters when they came out on CD a few years ago...before they were on iTunes. Now, when I turned on Match, it would say it's matched some of the songs on a CD, but then upload other songs that are on the same fricken CD. Why didn't it match those?
Click to expand...

I'm surprised it matched any, as they aren't on iTunes.

Or are they in the US?

----------
maroontiger2k9 said:
one thing that has rubbed me the wrong way is that customers are telling me that itunes match has scenarios where it only partially "matches" albums...

it should be an all or nothing effort to match albums... or give the end-user the choice to set all or nothing for matching albums... not just on a song by song basis
Click to expand...

I don't see what that would achieve. It may as well match those tracks that it can and save some uploads.
 
KeithJenner said:
I'm surprised it matched any, as they aren't on iTunes.

Or are they in the US?
Click to expand...


You know, in this one case you probably hit the nail on the head. It's true, they don't have the mono versions of the Beatles albums on iTunes, even though it matched some. But whole albums like Sgt. Pepper's it uploaded...since there are no Mono versions on iTunes. So that explains those few albums. But doesn't explain why some albums like "Back in Black" are split into some songs being matched and some being uploaded.
 
Another way to think of how bad a deal this is is to use an extreme example. What if your library was only 100 songs? You'd be much better off buying 25 songs each year and truly up-converting your songs to purchased in Apple's eyes (and up-converting the quality). If you did iCloud, you'd pay for those same 100 songs forever, ultimately generating many times more revenue than you normally would.

This $25 fee is doing nothing for you other than giving you access to Apple's storage locker and giving you access to some better quality songs if you want to take the time to up-convert quality (which directly negates one of their biggest selling points - speed). You'll also be paying for that forever if you want to continue to have access to their cloud. Again, you'd be better off actually buying 25 songs per year.

This isn't a cloud service. This is an up-conversion service that locks you in. Im a huge Apple fanboy but Google and Amazon offer a much better deal.

EDIT - Or as was mentioned above, it is also an off-site storage which admittedly could be useful if something happened to your HD. This is the only positive I see.
 
I apologize as I haven't been able to read all 10 pages but I'm also in the camp that is getting an entire CD matched except ONE song, or half a CD matched and the others uploaded, etc. IS there a way to make iTunes "try again"? Like can I check the metadata and then force it to retry matching?
 
vtstarck said:
EDIT - Or as was mentioned above, it is also an off-site storage which admittedly could be useful if something happened to your HD. This is the only positive I see.
Click to expand...

And well worth $25 if you want your music accessible remotely on phones/laptops without filling up their memory.

If someone only had 100 songs then this wouldn't be for them. Most people have a lot more than 100 songs though.
 
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