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Apple Activates iTunes Match Setting in iOS 5, Suggesting Imminent Launch
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It already has - from the first few pages, that was a major discussion point:
So when you sync at home, it doesn't sync to iTunes at all but instead gets it from the Match server? In other words, even if there's a computer sitting right there with all the songs, it will still grab everything from Apple's servers instead? Seems like that would be a really odd choice for Apple to do, it would make much more sense to sync from iTunes when that's available and only use the cloud when you're away from home. Maybe there's just one *setting* that's either Match or Sync, but the device still gets media from the computer when it's connected?
And what about wired syncing which is much faster than wireless? What happens when you hook up the device to the USB cable, does it transfer songs over the cable or not?
Assuming it only syncs from the Match server, that would mean that even if you have higher quality files on your computer's hard drive, there's no way to put those higher quality files on the device - is that the case?
And are you using Match, are your comments from firsthand experience?
I disagree with the notion that you have to have ALL your music loaded before you leave home. It's not an all or none thing, seems like unless someone is always near wifi the most sensible use is to have it loaded with the songs you listen to most, then use Match just to grab the relatively small amount of stuff you didn't plan ahead for. Or do big batches of syncing up new music when you're on the road and get to a wifi hotspot. For the vast majority of people, any service that provides mobile access to music is going to be used in a supplementary way. Only when unlimited data plans or omnipresent free wifi are available will more people be walking around with an iPhone that's nearly empty and getting everything from the cloud.
The general ability to sync doesn't go away, just the option to sync Music. Apps, Info, Photos, etc will still sync over USB/WiFi (depending on which you choose) but if you're using iTunes Match, the ability to sync Music from the iTunes program is disabled completely (based on what beta users have mentioned in this thread).
You can create playlists on your computer via iTunes and they should then be available to download on all of your devices. If you add an album, then it re-scans the entire library and makes it available to download on your devices (either after it matches or uploads).
There has been no indication that when you are near your library (say connected to your home WiFi with WiFi sync enabled) that it uses the local copies instead of the Cloud copies of the music to add to your device.
So far, my experience with WiFi sync in general has been mediocre. It seems that even when I plug in my device, the syncing is done over wifi - it is still noticeably slower than when the option is turned off.
The notion of preparing your on-the-road library before you leave a wifi hotspot is simply to avoid using 3G data. If you listen to the same songs every day, then you only have to download once and that's it, but if you have thousands of songs (I have over 10,000) it is very likely that I never hear the same song more than a few times a month on the road. It would require foresight to prepare a playlist before you leave a WiFi hotspot (home/work/coffee shop/etc) and download them. Any song on a playlist that isn't already on the device would be skipped. So either you download the entire playlist before you hit the road, or you download each song manually before it comes up next in the playlist.
So... what benefit does iTunes Match offer in that situation? The ability to manage your device's library from anywhere rather than just your main iTunes library? True. But then it should be recommended to manage on a WiFi network to avoid 3G charges. And if you really only go to and from work every day, with maybe a 2 minute stop at a coffee shop, you're better off managing your playlists before you hit the road, which mean you're probably better off just syncing with your library rather than download from Match.
From my experience everything is preserved except lyrics. The weird thing is, iTunes Match on my computer keeps unsyncing itself with the Cloud. I'm not sure why but I have to click Store>Update iTunes Match to get anything to be on the cloud. Whats weirder is all of my music is still accessible on my iPhone. I am currently downloading Sgt. Pepper onto my iPhone (the album was on my computer and now in the cloud) but my iTunes Library wasn't fully updated.
cough bugs cough
That's a bummer, and probably a dealbreaker for me. Hopefully they'll add that and work out the bugs.
It sounds like you haven't used Match, or have you had firsthand experience with it?
Disabled how? Since the other things still sync I assume the SYNC button is still there and functional. Does that mean that when the device is synced it doesn't update what music is on the device?
I mostly use smart playlists with criteria based on date. With Match enabled I assume the playlists will update on the fly, but when new songs get into the playlist does the remote device load those songs automatically? And if so, right away? When the device is synced? Or does it just update the playlists with "ghost" versions of the songs and the user has to manually tell it to download those files? It seems bizarre that it wouldn't grab the files even when it's hooked up to a USB connection or synced over wifi.
With Match, do devices even show the window for selecting which playlists are synced? Or since all playlists appear on the device, does the choice of which playlists have files loaded have to be done manually on the device? It seems like even if all playlists are visible (but some don't have the files), the user should still be able to select which playlists actually download the files to the device (and in the case of smart playlists, have those playlists get updated automatically like they always have). Is that not the case?
I see two benefits. One, when you have whatever songs loaded but on the road you decide you want to hear something that's not loaded you can just grab those songs or albums. If it's just a couple songs here or there doing it on 3G wouldn't be that big a deal.
The second is similar to my listening habits. Instead of loading up 10k songs in playlists on your device, create smart playlists that include a smaller number of those songs (I tend to do it based on date of last play although other things like play count would work as well). Load up the playlists before you go, travel/listen for a while, then when you hit a wifi hotspot it syncs your smart playlists and you tell it to download the files in those playlists.
So say you have a smart playlist that takes 1000 songs of your 10k. You're on the road listening and eventually hit a wifi hotspot after you've heard 900 of them. You sync up at the hotspot and your iPhone replaces those 900 songs with other ones chosen from the pool of 10k. You're saving a lot of space on your device, you're still able to hear many songs from your library, and you don't have to worry about manually choosing or creating new playlists every time you get to a hotspot. Obviously any cloud based system is going to have a bigger advantage to people who spend longer time away from home than people who just go back and forth to work every day - any service like this isn't going to be useful to everyone, some people will get a huge benefit from it while others have no need for it.
Wow, so I can't sync music from my computer to my iPhone and still have the ability to download matched music from the cloud? Lame.
I bought a 64gb iPhone 4S and my plan was to keep the stuff I listen to most on it (say 40gb worth), in good quality (Some ALAC, some v0, some 320kbps, etc) from my library, and then have the ability to download stuff from iCloud on the go (obviously at a lower quality) if I want to listen to something I don't have with me.
I'm really hoping that disabling sync is only something they're doing during beta testing and that the functionality will be restored when it launches. Forcing me to listen to everything on my iPhone at a lower quality is lame. And so is finally having 64gb to fill with high quality rips only to have that ability taken away.
I bought a 64gb iPhone 4S and my plan was to keep the stuff I listen to most on it (say 40gb worth), in good quality (Some ALAC, some v0, some 320kbps, etc) from my library, and then have the ability to download stuff from iCloud on the go (obviously at a lower quality) if I want to listen to something I don't have with me.
I'm really hoping that disabling sync is only something they're doing during beta testing and that the functionality will be restored when it launches. Forcing me to listen to everything on my iPhone at a lower quality is lame. And so is finally having 64gb to fill with high quality rips only to have that ability taken away.
Absolutely. Or that there has simply been some misunderstanding of the info that has leaked from the beta testers. I still don't feel like there has been a complete description of how it really works.
Here's the biggest issue I have, and it's really a problem with the carriers over the service itself.
I receive a lot of email (IMO) - about 30 per day. I also upload/email/share quite a few photos per month. I also stream Netflix and YouTube. And of course I browse the web.
Running mostly on WiFi, I noticed that I still used about 1.5 GB of 3G data. I have very good WiFi at home and work so I definitely make sure I use it when I'm there, which means my 3G usage is probably the minimum that I can use without thinking twice about what I'm doing.
That would leave me about 500mb per month to manage my device's library on the road - either refreshing and downloading more songs to my smart playlists, or just downloading a different playlist all together. I have one playlist that in itself is well over 2GB (and it's not a smart playlist).
That 500mb that I have left doesn't include any Siri usage that I will start picking up. But still, 500 MB leaves me with roughly 75-150 songs per month I can download to my device from the cloud using 3G (which is often less than an entire playlist). That doesn't seem like it's be worth the potential overages ($10/$15 extra).
Having access to my entire library really just becomes hypothetical, and in practice it just a burden. Downloading one or two songs on the fly isn't the issue - it's trying to manage thousands of songs with a finite access. It's really meant to be done over WiFi, and like I said, that's likely to be home or work more often than not, which is then just better to use WiFi/USB sync instead of the cloud to get the songs I want.
NOW
If they change how you manage your music (allow you to sync from iTunes AND from the cloud), then I could see my self quickly swapping out playlists, or adding large numbers of songs via iTunes and just using the cloud access once and a while to add a few songs here and there.
I know, it seems like I'm probably contradicting myself a bit, but I don't want to spend that extra time it would require for changing out thousands of songs over the internet vs my local library. It doesn't seem efficient...
I receive a lot of email (IMO) - about 30 per day. I also upload/email/share quite a few photos per month. I also stream Netflix and YouTube. And of course I browse the web.
Running mostly on WiFi, I noticed that I still used about 1.5 GB of 3G data. I have very good WiFi at home and work so I definitely make sure I use it when I'm there, which means my 3G usage is probably the minimum that I can use without thinking twice about what I'm doing.
That would leave me about 500mb per month to manage my device's library on the road - either refreshing and downloading more songs to my smart playlists, or just downloading a different playlist all together. I have one playlist that in itself is well over 2GB (and it's not a smart playlist).
That 500mb that I have left doesn't include any Siri usage that I will start picking up. But still, 500 MB leaves me with roughly 75-150 songs per month I can download to my device from the cloud using 3G (which is often less than an entire playlist). That doesn't seem like it's be worth the potential overages ($10/$15 extra).
Having access to my entire library really just becomes hypothetical, and in practice it just a burden. Downloading one or two songs on the fly isn't the issue - it's trying to manage thousands of songs with a finite access. It's really meant to be done over WiFi, and like I said, that's likely to be home or work more often than not, which is then just better to use WiFi/USB sync instead of the cloud to get the songs I want.
NOW
If they change how you manage your music (allow you to sync from iTunes AND from the cloud), then I could see my self quickly swapping out playlists, or adding large numbers of songs via iTunes and just using the cloud access once and a while to add a few songs here and there.
I know, it seems like I'm probably contradicting myself a bit, but I don't want to spend that extra time it would require for changing out thousands of songs over the internet vs my local library. It doesn't seem efficient...
Hi, i have itunes match through my developer account. Have used it quite a bit. If anyone wants to ask me a question happy to answer if i can.
The most recent query seems to be about syncing music through wires. To clarify, once you switch on match all music has to come from the cloud on your ios device. You cannot plug into mac or pc and drag / drop anymore. A message comes up saying you can't do this because match is switched on.
The most recent query seems to be about syncing music through wires. To clarify, once you switch on match all music has to come from the cloud on your ios device. You cannot plug into mac or pc and drag / drop anymore. A message comes up saying you can't do this because match is switched on.
I think the follow up to that is: when you are at your home WiFi and your main iTunes library is available, does adding songs on your iDevice from Match still use the internet, or does it pull from your library? I have heard (and continue to assume) it will only download songs from Apple's servers regardless of if your library is available on the network...
It still pulls it from the cloud. I know this because the original tracks in the library were vbr mp3s. When my ipad was connected and sync'd to my mac through wifi the 'kind' tab had them as matched aac.
In case you were wondering you can still see the music part of your device which appears in the left hand side of the itunes window. You can even delete music you've previously dragged from the cloud whilst there. However dragging and drop from the itunes library to your device is no longer possible.
In case you were wondering you can still see the music part of your device which appears in the left hand side of the itunes window. You can even delete music you've previously dragged from the cloud whilst there. However dragging and drop from the itunes library to your device is no longer possible.
What about the Music tab when you click on your device?
Summary | Info | Apps | Ringtones | Music | Movies | TV Shows | Podcasts | Books | Photos
Is the check box to Sync Music still there? Any possibility that you can post a screenshot of it?
Summary | Info | Apps | Ringtones | Music | Movies | TV Shows | Podcasts | Books | Photos
Is the check box to Sync Music still there? Any possibility that you can post a screenshot of it?
Slash,
Do songs that do not match in the iTunes Genius sidebar (as seen in your screen capture) also not match with iCloud?
Also, what do you think the matching system actually does to find a match? I have some songs I recovered from a bad hard drive that have all the correct metadata (including song length) but the song will end early. I am hoping iTunes Match will help me replace these.
Do songs that do not match in the iTunes Genius sidebar (as seen in your screen capture) also not match with iCloud?
Also, what do you think the matching system actually does to find a match? I have some songs I recovered from a bad hard drive that have all the correct metadata (including song length) but the song will end early. I am hoping iTunes Match will help me replace these.
Any chance you could test this:
- Delete the files from your local iTunes library (save a copy of the mp3s so you can add them back after the test)
- Download those same files from iCloud to your iTunes
- Then try to drag and drop those songs into the iPad
Also, these are not iTunes purchased songs, are they? That might be different than plain old .mp3s.
There is a workaround.
Sync with iTunes.
Leave and turn on Match on the iOS device. It will warn that it is going to get rid of the playlist, but actually it keeps the synced songs and the absent songs are available off the cloud. This worked pretty well.
If you sync it later it blows away the library, so I'd try to turn off match and see if that will let you keep your library. (I haven't tried that yet).
It's one or the other, you can't have both active at the same time.
If you select iTunes match, the music currently on the device gets wiped and you can't sync music from the computer. Haven't tried the work around above.
@starhawk - i also saw someone suggest this hence why its switched on but unfortunately is not the case. An album that was uploaded to the cloud (not matched) appeared fine in the sidebar
@ghostee - have tried drop / drag with mp3s, with matched aac downloaded to itunes after deleting original mp3 & have tried with songs i have purchased. All came with the same message.
@ghostee - have tried drop / drag with mp3s, with matched aac downloaded to itunes after deleting original mp3 & have tried with songs i have purchased. All came with the same message.
This thread has highlighted three glaring problems with iTunes Match:
1) Can only use Match OR synced music, not BOTH.
2) Service doesn't work with collections that have over 25,000 songs.
3) Some songs just flat out do not work with the service (licensing issues?).
These are pretty significant shortcomings. I know I won't be giving apple $25 a year until these issues are addressed. It will be interesting to read this forum when after iTunes Match goes live and the ***** storm begins. I don't think most people are aware of these limitations.
1) Can only use Match OR synced music, not BOTH.
2) Service doesn't work with collections that have over 25,000 songs.
3) Some songs just flat out do not work with the service (licensing issues?).
These are pretty significant shortcomings. I know I won't be giving apple $25 a year until these issues are addressed. It will be interesting to read this forum when after iTunes Match goes live and the ***** storm begins. I don't think most people are aware of these limitations.
If I turn on Match, my understanding is that there is no music on my iDevice, just in the cloud. If I can't directly load music to my iPhone by syncing any more, what am I supposed to do when I am flying? Obviously when I turn on airplane mode, I can't connect to the cloud. I would expect to be able to have music on my phone to listen to when I was flying or otherwise not able to access either WiFi or 3G. Is this the case? If it is, I think Apple pretty much has an epic fail on its hands here.