A couple of q's about iTunes Match

[Tyler23]

Hi all, just have a couple of questions before I subscribe for iTunes Match:

1) How much data can I expect the service to use each month? I currently have a 2 GB / month plan, and typically use about 1-1.5 GB per month. I listen to music while driving and walking on campus. Will data usage be the MB size of each song file streamed? If so I feel like that'd add up very fast..

2) Will my music files still be stores locally on my computer and on iTunes? I have a lot of time on my computer where I cannot connect to wifi and would like to listen to music on my computer.

Thanks in advance if you can help me out!

 

[arjen92]

I don't think it deletes the files you already have.

Here's a link to how it works: http://www.apple.com/itunes/itunes-match/

 

[Tyler23]

Thanks for your response

I think I understand how it works for the most part. Mainly wondering about the data usage aspect of it

 

[Stooby Mcdoobie]

Taken from the link posted above:

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.

So it will download the songs to your device once and won't use up any of your data while playing thereafter.

 

[Tyler23]

So if I stream a song on my iOS device, it automatically downloads? I can't just stream and not download? hmm, then what, just delete the song if I don't want to listen to it anymore?

 

[decafjava]

Hmm what I'm wondering is how do smartplaylists update with this?

 

[zhenya]

So if I stream a song on my iOS device, it automatically downloads? I can't just stream and not download? hmm, then what, just delete the song if I don't want to listen to it anymore?

Yes, it downloads and you can then delete it.

Honestly, I like iTunes Match a lot, but I am very disappointed with the streaming service. I cannot really listen to music that has not yet been downloaded while driving, for instance - even on AT&T 3g it's just not fast enough - and the streaming protocol is not robust - if it is interrupted it is very hard to get it to start again. This is not a network problem as I can listen to Pandora or Spotify on high quality with little issue (and they both handle interruptions fairly well).

As for how much data you'll use, that depends on how much you listen. Songs are 256kbps, which is about 112 megabytes per hour.