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Just ahead of the launch of Apple Music in late June, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue took to Twitter to reveal that Apple was "working to" increase the limit for iTunes Match libraries and Apple Music's similar scan-and-match feature from the current 25,000 tracks to 100,000 tracks for iOS 9.

itunes_match_2015.jpg

The arrival of iOS 9 last month did not come with a corresponding increase for the library matching limits, and users in our forums and elsewhere have been wondering when the increase will be rolled out or if there has been a change in plans.

In an effort to answer that question, MacRumors asked Cue for an update on the limit increase, and he tells us Apple is "definitely working on it" and that he expects it will be released "before the end of the year."

Apple's $25/year iTunes Match service and Apple Music's matching feature allow users to add their own songs that are not available from the iTunes Store catalog to the cloud, making them available on other devices using the same Apple ID. The services scan a user's music library to determine which tracks are already available in the iTunes Store, automatically making those available in the user's library. Only those tracks that are not matched to the iTunes Store catalog are then uploaded to the cloud, saving time and bandwidth.

The scan-and-match functionality has been limited to libraries of 25,000 tracks since iTunes Match debuted in 2011, although tracks purchased from the iTunes Store do not count toward this limit. Users with larger music libraries have had to use workarounds such as splitting their tracks into two iTunes libraries in order to take advantage of the matching services, but with the impending increase to a 100,000-track limit, many of these users will no longer need to resort to these workarounds.

Article Link: Apple Aiming to Increase Music Library Matching Limit to 100,000 Tracks 'Before the End of the Year'
 
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I find it weird that it's taking so long. I mean, only a small minority (maybe 1%) of Apple Music/iTunes Match users would use >25k songs. It's not like they'd have to upgrade storage by 4x for everybody.

Obviously you're not a developer.

It's not as simple as changing
Code:
MAX_MATCHES = 25000
to
Code:
MAX_MATCHES = 100000

The database size must be increased, the interface needs to be able to handle more matches, the search function needs to handle more and still be quick, the converter, server side code needs to be updated. Maybe licensing requirements or laws might need updating.

If the developers released all they did afterwards, you'd be amazed.
 
Apple priorities.
People who spend more on CDs and Vinyl than most spend on cars: Important!
People who want a decent computer: Not important.

(okay, I'm slightly bitter right now...)
 
I find it weird that it's taking so long. I mean, only a small minority (maybe 1%) of Apple Music/iTunes Match users would use >25k songs. It's not like they'd have to upgrade storage by 4x for everybody.

I bet it's a licensing issue with the labels that they are trying to resolve. Their contracts probably only permit that number of tracks per user. I know Spotify has limits on various playlists and collections and I'm led to believe they are again restrictions agreed in their licensing deals.
 
Pretty grim and desperate for this. Can't listen to any new music unless I'm streaming it.
Also, it would be nice if iTunes Match stopped swapping my explicit versions for clean. Or in the case of a couple other albums, "matching" and giving me the wrong song, entirely.

Fun times.
 
Obviously you're not a developer.

It's not as simple as changing
Code:
MAX_MATCHES = 25000
to
Code:
MAX_MATCHES = 100000

The database size must be increased, the interface needs to be able to handle more matches, the search function needs to handle more and still be quick, the converter, server side code needs to be updated. Maybe licensing requirements or laws might need updating.

If the developers released all they did afterwards, you'd be amazed.

Although I will agree that it is not as easy as you listed, I can also promise you that it isn't all that difficult.
It's not taking Apple to the end of the year because of the complexity of 100,000 over 25,000.

I'm guessing it is a little bit of keeping the music industry comfortable with a little sprinkle of helping promote Apple Music (hey guys, pay for me and there are no limits!)

It is pretty obvious that there are a subset of users (I'm sure very small) that use Match to "scrub" clean some dirty music. ;)
 
Apple priorities.
People who spend more on CDs and Vinyl than most spend on cars: Important!
People who want a decent computer: Not important.

(okay, I'm slightly bitter right now...)

Or those that have a massive cd collection from the mailer days and take advantage of discounts, etc....
I have definitely greater than 25k. Then again, it has been acquired over a 30+ year span.
Tower records ..... :(
 
I bet it's a licensing issue with the labels that they are trying to resolve. Their contracts probably only permit that number of tracks per user. I know Spotify has limits on various playlists and collections and I'm led to believe they are again restrictions agreed in their licensing deals.

Yeah, I'm sure everything was specified in excruciating detail when they signed contracts with the labels, including library limits. Maybe as a result of their negotiations over Apple Music they were able to stretch those limits.

There's no technical reason to stop at 25,000; even storage space isn't a great concern as most tracks are matched with content already in the iTunes library. On Apple's end it is really as simple as changing a value in their code.
 
Something I've been confused about for a long time: iTunes Match subscribers are given access to their libraries on iOS, but does the user need to download the music to their iOS device, or can they stream it and keep it in the cloud?
 
The current match limit.... Is this from Apple or is it the music industry/artists that want it????
 
Something I've been confused about for a long time: iTunes Match subscribers are given access to their libraries on iOS, but does the user need to download the music to their iOS device, or can they stream it and keep it in the cloud?

It streams. You have the option to download a local copy onto each device, but you don't have to unless you want to have an offline copy for places with no signal.
 
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What is the population of users that have in excess of 25k songs in their iTunes libraries.

I am about 17k am my wife both wants me to stop wasting money and to delete "all that junk" in my library.
 
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Hey Apple, instead of collection of music...how about you collect datas to fix OS X with compatibility apps and iOS bugs.
 
I've had the same question since this all started - if I'm paying for Apple Music can I cancel iTunes Match without any repercussions?

Does anyone actually know yet?

If the tracks you own are available in your iTunes store you should be able to safely cancel iTunes Match. Any tracks that *aren't* in the store won't be available on Apple Music either; you'll need iTunes Match to sync them.
 
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What is the population of users that have in excess of 25k songs in their iTunes libraries.

I am about 17k am my wife both wants me to stop wasting money and to delete "all that junk" in my library.

Some folks are music fanatics. And they might come from a lineage of music fanatics, with an inherited library.

I have a classical musical library that exceeds 100,000 tracks. It's actually not that difficult, especially when you are susceptible to the little notices from Amazon that suggest that "we thought you might be interested in this 60-disc set of the collected works of..." I also inherited a gargantuan CD collection from a beloved colleague and mentor who transitioned from buying booze (while in the grips of alcoholism) to purchasing classical music discs (moving them actually required a truck rental).

My "non-classical" library, which I split away from the classical stuff to make iTunes stop beach balling, is over 30,000 tracks. I have to play tricks like setting some stuff as "voice memo" to upload a subset of that library into iCloud Match.
 
Some folks are music fanatics. And they might come from a lineage of music fanatics, with an inherited library.

I have a classical musical library that exceeds 100,000 tracks. It's actually not that difficult, especially when you are susceptible to the little notices from Amazon that suggest that "we thought you might be interested in this 60-disc set of the collected works of..." I also inherited a gargantuan CD collection from a beloved colleague and mentor who transitioned from buying booze (while in the grips of alcoholism) to purchasing classical music discs (moving them actually required a truck rental).

My "non-classical" library, which I split away from the classical stuff to make iTunes stop beach balling, is over 30,000 tracks. I have to play tricks like setting some stuff as "voice memo" to upload a subset of that library into iCloud Match.


Have you actually listened to all that music? I mean, sat down and really listened without doing anything else?
 
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