A Clear Explanation of iTunes Match

[phpmaven]

All I want to know is if I can stream the music to my 4S without downloading it. I got the small 16Gig phone because I thought I wouldn't have to store any of my music in the device. If they make you download the songs you stream, it kinda defeats the purpose of storing music on the cloud.

No you can't.

 

[xizar]

What happens when iTunes is a moron and uploads files they already have?

My version was recorded from a casette, which is part of why I was so eager to get on this train.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Ah, this is helpful:

From this: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4124

So, large files (>200MB) or less than 96kbps are not eligible.

 

[Tony DiNozzo]

I tried it on my iPod (Settings, Music, Turn iTunes Match On) and every song in my library started to fade, and then the Cloud icon appeared, allowing me to download the songs I wanted.. Then I turned off iTunes Match and I had 0 playlists, and only a few songs left on my iPod. I had to sync with iTunes to get all of my songs back.

wow that sucks i have like 2,400 songs on my phone but i downloaded them all from the cluod any so ill just do it again. thanks

 

[gblog]

So, what happens is it deletes your "Library" file on your device, not the actual songs. That is so you can have access to all of your playlists on the device instead of just the ones you synched. When your iCloud library is downloaded (the one the matches the playlists on your PC) you do not have to redownload songs that were already on the device.

I had a lot of worries about this prior to it going live. Most of it is misinformation. Basically I now have access to all of my songs and playlists on all of my devices including metadata. I'm happy and I did not expect to be.

For example, I had this playlist called 'Workout' on my iPod before turning iTunes Match on.. After I turned it on, the playlist got deleted.. A few minutes later, all of the playlists on my computer appeared (including 'Workout' the one I 'physically' had before turning iTunes Match on) but the cloud icon appeared next to every song in that playlist.. meaning that the songs in your device do get deleted.. If the songs weren't erased from your iOS device then why would the cloud icon appear next to a song in a playlist that I already had before turning Match on?

 

[MurphyM]

What happens when iTunes is a moron and uploads files they already have?

My version was recorded from a casette, which is part of why I was so eager to get on this train.

The album in your screenshot (Bridge Over Troubled Water) was the first album I matched. (I started with an empty library for testing and added some songs from another computer.)

Anyway, Bridge Over Troubled Water matched for me. I'm sure we'll figure out before long what makes certain files match and others fail. Mine was ripped from the CD.

 

[Nunyabinez]

Wow, quite a few snooty folks on here who have apparently never downloaded a free song. I say snooty because you are acting that way. And I assume you have never downloaded a song illegally because you are talking down to those who have.
A few people asked what will happen with songs they got via torrent or otherwise and you people look down your noses at them?? Take it easy big shots. There was a time when people used Napster freely and it wasn't looked at as being "illegal."
Basically, try to understand that even though you drive exactly the speed limit and have never downloaded a song from one of the various places, that doesn't mean that everyone else has been as perfect as you.

I won't lie, I have a few items in my library that aren't completely kosher. However, part of the terms of service for match are that you legally own any material that use the match service on. But nobody, including Apple or the RIAA is expecting that people won't have a few songs that they don't really own. But that is a different question than someone who has thousands of songs that came from torrents. It makes me uncomfortable when people begin to openly discuss flagrant copyright violations.

I doubt that anyone here is perfect, but that doesn't mean we feel ok discussing in an open forum how to do things that people have ended up in court over.

And I hope people don't think that they can use match to cover their tracks. Prosecution happens when they can link your IP address to an illegal file transfer. Possession of the file (or non-possession) usually is not enough to make a difference in court. So, if you think you can go on a download spree and hide your tracks with match, you may find the RIAA knocking on your door.

 

[KeithJenner]

The album in your screenshot (Bridge Over Troubled Water) was the first album I matched. (I started with an empty library for testing and added some songs from another computer.)

Anyway, Bridge Over Troubled Water matched for me. I'm sure we'll figure out before long what makes certain files match and others fail. Mine was ripped from the CD.

We know why this one failed. It was taken from a cassette, so I'm sure the checks that iTunes does will not have worked.

I have a couple of hundred tracks which are from vinyl rips. They won't work either.

 

[Don'tBeJ]

Lion Required

Here's something nobody seems to be talking about. Even though you can run iTunes 10.5.1 with older versions of Mac OSX, you have to have 10.7 to run iTunes Match. I was pretty bummed out when I realized this.

I installed the new version of iTunes on my G5 PowerMac and bought iTunes Match (I was pretty excited because I have a ton of music on my PowerMac and would like to be able to easily access it from my iPhone 4 and MacBook). During step 1 of the matching process, iTunes kept stalling and crashing. So, I go to the apple.com support page and find out that Lion is required for iTunes Match! So pissed.

As there will never be an upgrade to Lion available for my powerpc Mac, I guess I'm just stuck.

 

[skottichan]

I still have 238 "protected" tracks that never have shown up in iTunes plus for me to upgrade. Anyone experimented with iTunes Match and what happens when it finds a low-bitrate Fairplay protected file?

I dunno if it's been answered yet, but yes, if you delete a Protected 128, you can redownload a Matched 256. I tested it on one of the old protected iTunes Sampler tracks, worked like a charm.

 

[wwchris]

For example, I had this playlist called 'Workout' on my iPod before turning iTunes Match on.. After I turned it on, the playlist got deleted.. A few minutes later, all of the playlists on my computer appeared (including 'Workout' the one I 'physically' had before turning iTunes Match on) but the cloud icon appeared next to every song in that playlist.. meaning that the songs in your device do get deleted.. If the songs weren't erased from your iOS device then why would the cloud icon appear next to a song in a playlist that I already had before turning Match on?

All I can think is maybe you turned it back off before it had finished downloading the library and so it deleted the songs. I turned it on and the songs previously on my device stayed on there, the ones I did not have on the device previously were now available for download.

The only other possibility I can think of is that my songs were set to 128K when synching to save space on my iPad. Maybe it didn't delete them because of that, but I'm more inclined to think it is the on and off switching.

Also worth noting is that the library update takes a while because it downloads all of the cover art as well (even for songs you don't have locally on the device.)

 

[Alonzo84]

So I've got 4 songs from 4 different albums that are "Not Eligible" even though all the other songs from those albums were matched. I've also got 345 songs out of around 2700 that had to be uploaded. Three of my playlists say "playlist not eligible because iCloud playlists can only contain music", even though the playlists contain nothing but music.

And how do you obtain the "matched" version of the tracks? Is the only way to delete them and then re-download them from iCloud?

 

[gblog]

All I can think is maybe you turned it back off before it had finished downloading the library and so it deleted the songs. I turned it on and the songs previously on my device stayed on there, the ones I did not have on the device previously were now available for download.

The only other possibility I can think of is that my songs were set to 128K when synching to save space on my iPad. Maybe it didn't delete them because of that, but I'm more inclined to think it is the on and off switching.

Yeah, I hope you're right.. I mean, I paid 25 bucks to have access to all of my songs at anytime.. Im gonna give it a go in a couple of days.

 

[MurphyM]

I won't lie, I have a few items in my library that aren't completely kosher. However, part of the terms of service for match are that you legally own any material that use the match service on. But nobody, including Apple or the RIAA is expecting that people won't have a few songs that they don't really own. But that is a different question than someone who has thousands of songs that came from torrents. It makes me uncomfortable when people begin to openly discuss flagrant copyright violations.

I doubt that anyone here is perfect, but that doesn't mean we feel ok discussing in an open forum how to do things that people have ended up in court over.

And I hope people don't think that they can use match to cover their tracks. Prosecution happens when they can link your IP address to an illegal file transfer. Possession of the file (or non-possession) usually is not enough to make a difference in court. So, if you think you can go on a download spree and hide your tracks with match, you may find the RIAA knocking on your door.

I'm no expert, but I have to assume that part of Apple's deal with the labels is that the RIAA won't petition Apple for information from Match. Which leaves the RIAA to use the same tactics they've been using to identify illegal music sharing.

I agree, Match doesn't make the initial acquisition of illegal files legit. Not much different than stealing a car and getting it painted.

 

[Explorz]

I still have 238 "protected" tracks that never have shown up in iTunes plus for me to upgrade. Anyone experimented with iTunes Match and what happens when it finds a low-bitrate Fairplay protected file?

Yes, once it shows as matched, just delete the song. The reference to the song will remain in your library with a cloud and a download arrow. Click on that cloud and you will download a 256 kb version of the song.

 

[Somian]

what does that mean "permanently yours"?

when i get a subscription for one year, match all my stuff and then cancel the subscription, can I still download my matched music?

 

[Explorz]

Just out of curiousity, has anyone found a place to view what songs you've uploaded to iCloud? I tried "previous purchases" but that seems to be only actual purchases from iTunes.

It's not a problem, I just want to see the status of all the ones I've uploaded.

Enable the column "iCloud status" in your library and sort by that column. It will show you what songs uploaded.

 

[MurphyM]

what does that mean "permanently yours"?

when i get a subscription for one year, match all my stuff and then cancel the subscription, can I still download my matched music?

Download it? No. But if you download before the year is up those songs are permanently yours. The downloaded files are permanently yours, the ability to download them is not.

For me there's value in that because I don't want to have to re-rip a couple thousand songs from CDs I own - because when I ripped most of them in 2004 I didn't rip them at the quality Match offers. And I don't want to lose my metadata.

 

[wwchris]

All I can think is maybe you turned it back off before it had finished downloading the library and so it deleted the songs. I turned it on and the songs previously on my device stayed on there, the ones I did not have on the device previously were now available for download.

The only other possibility I can think of is that my songs were set to 128K when synching to save space on my iPad. Maybe it didn't delete them because of that, but I'm more inclined to think it is the on and off switching.

Also worth noting is that the library update takes a while because it downloads all of the cover art as well (even for songs you don't have locally on the device.)

Under the music prefs, you can turn off show all songs to save on the art but that kind of defats the purpose. My cover art file alone is 2 gigs, but I want access to all of my music so I guess I will leave it on. Hate giving up that space though, my 64 gig iPad and iPhone 4s are full.

 

[ltb7]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8L1)

still wondering about music I have that is acoustic and/or live? will it match it to a regular version then could u lose you original acoustic? like what about some dead music....like there must be 1000 different versions of scarlet begonias for an example...any thoughts?

 

[jclardy]

what does that mean "permanently yours"?

when i get a subscription for one year, match all my stuff and then cancel the subscription, can I still download my matched music?

No, you are paying the $25 for the ability to continue to match and redownload music on any device.

The files that you download to your computer (256kbps AAC) to replace lower quality versions are DRM free and will not expire if you don't resubscribe next year.

 

[iPI]

Stream and Download



So does anyone know why Apple decided to do it this way? Why would anyone wanting to stream their music also want to download it onto their devices? It really makes no sense to me. So, every time I think I want to hear some obscure song in my library, I can listen to it, but then I have to delete it so i don't fill up my device!?#@%$ Ugh. What is the point?

 

[brygruver]

But what happens if you have 92,000 songs in your library like I do?

Do they they tell you that you have too many songs and you have to select 25,000?

Or do you have to create a whole new library with just 25,000 songs in it?

And then what happens if you do you not renew your Match after one year? Can you keep the upgraded songs in your library?

I'll find out in a few days I guess when I experiment with it. I do not want to mess with it while their servers are getting slammed.

Stop being a music hoarder. Reduce the size of your library. You'll never listen to 25,000 songs, much less 90k+. Subscribe to a streaming service.

 

[Jefferyd32]

Still confused

How exactly will this work on my iPhone 4s? I don't necessarily need access to all my music, and I don't want to pay the data rates to download it all the time. I only want a portion of my music, and would like to be able to shut off downloads for "streaming" (at least non-wifi). Can I still choose a portion of my library to physically have on my phone? I also don't really want to wade through my entire library on my phone, I'd rather just see what is physically on my phone. Is this still possible? I really want to sign up, as syncing between computers will be nice, and at least some mobile access to my entire library would be nice at times, but I am afraid of unknowingly using too much data just to listen to music.

 

[JW008]

What happens when iTunes is a moron and uploads files they already have?

My version was recorded from a casette, which is part of why I was so eager to get on this train.

Are you sure it actually uploaded it instead of matched it? Some of the ones it didn't initially match for me (i.e. wasn't matched initially, made it to the third step and had "Waiting" under the iCloud Status) were eventually matched. Out of the 8000+ songs it said it had to upload, I'm about halfway through it and only five songs have "Uploaded" under the iCloud status.