Apple Launches iTunes Match with Release of iTunes 10.5.1 [Updated]

[kingsrule5]

Ok before I create a total cluster**** of music on my account I have a question about adding a second library to itunes match.

I currently have my Macbook library (Main itunes library I have managed music from) and my iphone 4 synced to Itunes match just waiting on about 800 songs (10% of total) to upload still. All is working well.

I also have a desktop that i have periodically synced to match the macbook itunes via homeshare. However i recently went through and cleaned out some files, updated meta data and added to the main library and have yet to sync to the desktop. So say about 75% of the desktop stuff matches the Main library.

What will happen when I turn itunes match on for the desktop?

Will the metadata in the cloud get changed?

Will songs that were duplicates and removed from the main library be added again? Will songs duplicate if the metadata differs?

Any recommendations how to proceed so i don't end up with a mess?

thanks in advance.

 

[KeithJenner]

so what happens when I'm on a flight and want to play my music and don't have 3g or wifi?- When I turn off match or go into airplane mode I don't see my library...

As stated many times, you still have the tracks you have downloaded to your phone previously. Just make sure you download what you want before you get on the plane.

 

[CosmoPilot]

As stated many times, you still have the tracks you have downloaded to your phone previously. Just make sure you download what you want before you get on the plane.

This!

iTunes Match on the devices will be no different really than iTunes in the Cloud that we have now. I haven't downloaded this yet, so I'm no expert but instead of accessing your content through the iTunes.app > purchased tab, you'll now have a tab in the Music.app

If you download a song from the Cloud to your iPhone, it stays there until you decide to delete it. Which is now possible on iDevices. Turning airplane mode on or off doesn't affect anything.

The only reason to have a data connection is to actually download the song to your device. After that, you're golden.

 

[mastercheif91]

anybody else still stuck on step 1?

 

[autoy]

There's one important issue I haven't seen mentioned anywhere: what happens if you stop iTunes Match renewal? Does your local music get deleted? Does your iPhone or Mac get wiped or just lose access to the cloud service for further downloading or uploading?

Also: can you match music mas many times as you like during the subscription period?

 

[CosmoPilot]

Ok before I create a total cluster**** of music on my account I have a question about adding a second library to itunes match.

I currently have my Macbook library (Main itunes library I have managed music from) and my iphone 4 synced to Itunes match just waiting on about 800 songs (10% of total) to upload still. All is working well.

I also have a desktop that i have periodically synced to match the macbook itunes via homeshare. However i recently went through and cleaned out some files, updated meta data and added to the main library and have yet to sync to the desktop. So say about 75% of the desktop stuff matches the Main library.

What will happen when I turn itunes match on for the desktop?

Will the metadata in the cloud get changed?

Will songs that were duplicates and removed from the main library be added again? Will songs duplicate if the metadata differs?

Any recommendations how to proceed so i don't end up with a mess?

thanks in advance.

I've been asking this question repeatedly with no responses. I'm assuming since Steve Jobs mentioned the computer was being relegated to a device as opposed to the central hub, only 1 library should be used for the initial set up.

What I plan to do is:

1. Use my main computer with the best iTunes library and create a solid backup via Time Machine. Move the iTunes Folder to a separate location, then do another backup.

2. Delete the entire library and song content from the 2nd computer. (Ensuring iTunes Match is not turn on)

3. Use the main computer (in Step #1) to load content into the Cloud (first time turning on iTunes Match).

4. Turn on iTunes Match on the 2nd computer, and then re-download all the content uploaded in step 3.

This is probably not the best way to do it, but it will ensure all the Matched music is downloaded to the 2nd computer.

From here, I'm assuming any changes to one computer will get uploaded into the Cloud (playlists, etc.). I'm making a big assumption on this one. But I'm hopeful.

 

[philipk]

I've been asking this question repeatedly with no responses. I'm assuming since Steve Jobs mentioned the computer was being relegated to a device as opposed to the central hub, only 1 library should be used for the initial set up.

What I plan to do is:

1. Use my main computer with the best iTunes library and create a solid backup via Time Machine. Move the iTunes Folder to a separate location, then backup again.

2. Delete the entire library and song content from the 2nd computer. And turn off iTunes Match

3. Use the main computer load content into the Cloud.

4. Turn on iTunes Match on the 2nd computer, and then re-download all the content.

This is probably not the best way to do it, but it will ensure all the Matched music is downloaded to the 2nd computer.

From here, I'm assuming any changes to one computer will get uploaded into the Cloud (playlists, etc.). I making a big assumption on this one. But I'm hopeful.

Unless I get a better answer that is similar to my plan with the following changes.

After backup, I will delete all music and playlists.

I will keep my TV shows, Movies, exc.

Then do the match

 

[kingsrule5]

I've been asking this question repeatedly with no responses. I'm assuming since Steve Jobs mentioned the computer was being relegated to a device as opposed to the central hub, only 1 library should be used for the initial set up.

What I plan to do is:

1. Use my main computer with the best iTunes library and create a solid backup via Time Machine. Move the iTunes Folder to a separate location, then do another backup.

2. Delete the entire library and song content from the 2nd computer. (Ensuring iTunes Match is not turn on)

3. Use the main computer (in Step #1) to load content into the Cloud (first time turning on iTunes Match).

4. Turn on iTunes Match on the 2nd computer, and then re-download all the content uploaded in step 3.

This is probably not the best way to do it, but it will ensure all the Matched music is downloaded to the 2nd computer.

From here, I'm assuming any changes to one computer will get uploaded into the Cloud (playlists, etc.). I'm making a big assumption on this one. But I'm hopeful.

That is what I was thinking too but not sure if it is the most efficient way to do it considering I have 40gb of music to transfer

 

[KeithJenner]

There's one important issue I haven't seen mentioned anywhere: what happens if you stop iTunes Match renewal? Does your local music get deleted? Does your iPhone or Mac get wiped or just lose access to the cloud service for further downloading or uploading?

Also: can you match music mas many times as you like during the subscription period?

This has been answered so many times.

Your local music won't get deleted (at least from your computer, It may do from your phone).

You will lose access to the cloud, but the files you have on your computer will be fine.

Apple aren't going to delete all your legitimate music files off your computer. The backlash would be immense.

 

[CosmoPilot]

Unless I get a better answer that is similar to my plan with the following changes.

After backup, I will delete all music and playlists.

I will keep my TV shows, Movies, exc.

Then do the match

I'll use Home Sharing to transfer all my Movies, Books, & TV Shows.

I guess I'm leaning more towards a clean install into iTunes on the 2nd computer. I have a fast home network, so it won't take too long (a few hours).

I have 35GB of music, so I'm hopeful most will get "matched."

 

[malnar]

anybody else still stuck on step 1?

Yes, I'm stuck about 2/3 of the way through and it seems to have just stopped. I actually started and stopped it a couple times. Once it got way further than this and stopped, so I restarted only to have it stop about 1/5 of the way. I'm just leaving it alone now, I figure it can't really be frozen, it must just be stuck waiting in a massive backlog of data going through to Apple. I'll check back in a few hours or something, maybe tomorrow.

 

[autoy]

This has been answered so many times.

Your local music won't get deleted (at least from your computer, It may do from your phone).

You will lose access to the cloud, but the files you have on your computer will be fine.

Apple aren't going to delete all your legitimate music files off your computer. The backlash would be immense.

Thanks for the reply, more info available here: http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/11...-one-time-256k-quality-upgrade-on-your-music/

Still, I want to know if you can run Match as many times as you want or is it just a one time option. Related to this, if you keep adding new ripped music is it automatically matched?

 

[babyfett]

Still Slow

Of my 10,000 songs, mostly from CDs, it matched only 1000. It's been uploading now for 6 hours. Seems like it's uploading some songs and a lot of meta data (artwork, etc.) but this is ridiculous. It was supposed to be fast and painless. Also, hundreds of errors and not eligibles showing up on things like Beatles albums. Not giving up yet, but not too confident this service is worth it.

Anyone know about having two Macs? I'm uploading from my iMac but when I turned on Music Match on my MacBook Air it said if I activate it it will erase the iCloud library and replace it with the MBA. I only have a dozen songs on the MBA. Anyone know how to deal with this? Thanks!

 

[GTDaveMac]

I'm an international pilot, spend lots of time away from home...and home sharing doesn't work when your not at home!

Secondly, any random family that is not Mac/Apple savvy will buy their first Apple product....say an iPad...set up an Apple ID. Then they say, "hey, this is great...let's get little Jimmy an iTouch for the Christmas!" Guess what, they use the same AppleID because obviously, mom & dad don't want to give little Jimmy's credit card info away and/or they are not familiar with home sharing and how it works across different Apple IDs. Not to mention you have to be 18 to register an Apple ID!

Finally, for all those newly married 20/30 somethings, who've had AppleIDs prior to getting married are now using home sharing because they cannot merge their songs, etc. into a single account (or they don't want to). Not a bad solution, except when your sitting in Europe and the wife says, "hey, checkout this app/song I just bought." I guess the home sharing crowd will say...I guess I will when I get home OR I'LL BUY IT TWICE!

Statistics...please! I'd wager 3/4 of the Apple consumer market is not familiar with how to use home sharing across multiple Apple IDs.

http://en.zicos.com/tech/i26198924-How-to-configure-iCloud-if-you-share-an-Apple-ID.html

http://techsmashed.com/how-to-configure-icloud-if-you-share-an-apple-id/

http://news.iphoneworld.ca/inews/How+to+configure+iCloud+if+you+share+an+Apple+ID

I can provide more if you need them!

Actually, Home Sharing *Could* work for you, at least in a way. If you have an iPhone or iPad or laptop that you travel with, and an computer (with iTunes on it) at home, set to automatically download purchases, then it will download whatever you purchase even when you are traveling, and then Home Sharing will copy that purchase to the other person's account and iTunes library. The same will happen if you have a laptop that you're traveling with and the automatic downloads are on, as well as Home Sharing for your wife's account.

It won't work (or only 1-way) if you only travel with an iPhone/iPad.

 

[CosmoPilot]

Actually, Home Sharing *Could* work for you, at least in a way. If you have an iPhone or iPad or laptop that you travel with, and an Apple computer (iMac or Macbook) at home, set to automatically download purchases, then it will download whatever you purchase even when you are traveling, and then Home Sharing will copy that purchase to the other person's account and iTunes library. The same will happen if you have a laptop that you're traveling with and the automatic downloads are on, as well as Home Sharing for your wife's account.

It won't work (or only 1-way) if you only travel with an iPhone/iPad.

This works with a single Apple ID (not different Apple IDs). Another reason my family shares a single Apple ID. I use this feature a lot because I'm gone all the time. I'm assuming you mean my ability to access a recently purchased song/app while I'm still on the road.

----------

Of my 10,000 songs, mostly from CDs, it matched only 1000. It's been uploading now for 6 hours. Seems like it's uploading some songs and a lot of meta data (artwork, etc.) but this is ridiculous. It was supposed to be fast and painless. Also, hundreds of errors and not eligibles showing up on things like Beatles albums. Not giving up yet, but not too confident this service is worth it.

Anyone know about having two Macs? I'm uploading from my iMac but when I turned on Music Match on my MacBook Air it said if I activate it it will erase the iCloud library and replace it with the MBA. I only have a dozen songs on the MBA. Anyone know how to deal with this? Thanks!

Delete the contents of the iTunes library on the second computer. If you need to move the contents to the original computer, do that manually first.

 

[GTDaveMac]

This works with a single Apple ID (not different Apple IDs). Another reason my family shares a single Apple ID. I use this feature a lot because I'm gone all the time.

Sorry, what I described works with multiple Apple IDs. You need multiple Apple IDs and multiple accounts on the computer (with different iTunes libraries) but you can set Home Sharing to download new music/apps, etc when it detects them.

At some point in the future, such as when updating apps, your phone will ask for the iTunes password that the app was downloaded with, but my wife and I share passwords. This works with up to five devices.

I don't think most people understand the way this can work. However, I have been using it this way since Home Sharing was introduced. In fact, it was only after Home Sharing that my wife started using iTunes on her account. Prior, she was syncing to my account on the computer and sharing iTunes ID. Now, she only has the music she wants on her account/iTunes, but we share all purchases.

The only downside I see is duplication of hard drive space for songs that are in her iTunes library and mine, but HD space is cheap.

 

[iPhisch]

anyone getting file upload errors? I've uploaded about 6bg of material, but some songs aren't going. I've just been right clicking and selecting "add to cloud" on all of them, but i have so much music its hard to tell if i'm getting repeat errors or not. guess the mini is going to be on for a while...

 

[RobNYC]

It appears (from my less than two hours experience with it) that you have to choose one or the other. The assumption here, I guess, is that all of the music on your iPhone is already in your iTunes library (which would have been synced to the cloud if you're turning Match on in your phone). So in theory, you shouldn't be "losing" anything, just gaining the songs in your library that weren't there before.

Well it wouldn't really all be on there because of the limited storage space on the phone. It seems weird it would make me delete the songs already on there and the re-download them all again except this time over the internet.

 

[murdoc158]

I'd have to give Apple a solid "A" for their introduction of iTunes Match today. Sure, it was a couple of weeks late, but it seems to work pretty well.

Its not "magical" in the way that Siri is, but it seems to be well implemented, well thought-out, and relatively intuitive - considering what a complicated concept the whole thing is.

It scanned, matched, and uploaded my entire collection of about 5000 tunes in a little under three hours. No frustrating delays like I experienced the (one) time I tried downloading some music from Amazon (the latest Lady Gaga disc.)

Which tells you a lot about Apple. I'm sure a couple of million other geeks are running iTunes Match today for the first time too - and Apple's servers didn't crash. Big ups to Apple.

Some oddities: Why some songs are not matched, I don't understand. I can see some weird crap from Vic Chesnutt or the mashup Banksy did of Paris Hilton not matching. But U2's New Years Day? Ripped of a US store-bought CD? when all the other songs from the album DID match? Strange indeed.

One surprise: Songs ripped below 96K are ineligible. Which brings up a thorny dilemma:

I have a few songs, dating back from the very dawn of the digital age, that fall into this category. A rip I made of a pre-recorded cassette I used to have of a golden-oldie my parents used to play: Horst Jankowski's Walk in the Black Forest. Not eligible, because back in 2002 (or whatever) I didn't know what I was doing, and recorded it a 56K - before I lost my tape.

So what to do?

A) Buy a fresh new copy from iTunes for 99 cents.

B) Go out and locate a (ahem) unprotected version from the dingier corners of the Internets. Or

C) Not worry about it. Until I find myself stuck in Kuala Lumpur or Buenos Aires, with just my iPhone, and the burning desire to rock out to some mid-60s easy-listening Deutschepop?
Image
Decisions, decisions.....

Option B is an option if iTunes cannot find a match.

Another option is to use iTunes and "Create AAC version" of that music. It will create a higher bitrate version in AAC format (that will still technically be 56kbs) and save it to your library. Add them to iCloud then delete them from your local library. Finally redownload them from iCloud back to your local library in 256 AAC.

 

[bluespark]

It only matched 200 out of my 800 songs. This thing is for the birds

I can see why you might want a larger percentage to match, but your second sentence doesn't follow from the first. Even with non-matching tracks, you gain an enormous benefit that you didn't have before.

 

[fgarvin]

Is it possible to connect to your iCloud iTunes Match from an Android Tablet? Is there an App for that?

 

[khull]

Is it possible to connect to your iCloud iTunes Match from an Android Tablet? Is there an App for that?

i dont think iCloud / iTunes and Android should go into the same sentence. having said that, i'm sure someone will write an app for it.

remember - in Steve's own words he will destroy Android

 

[philipk]

I'll use Home Sharing to transfer all my Movies, Books, & TV Shows.

I guess I'm leaning more towards a clean install into iTunes on the 2nd computer. I have a fast home network, so it won't take too long (a few hours).

I have 35GB of music, so I'm hopeful most will get "matched."

I hear you.

However, I have 900GB of movies and TV shows.

Philip

 

[PNutts]

3. Nothing happens to your local music when you run match. If you have a lower quality song that was matched you can remove it from your local library and then replace it with the 256k version. What happens is you delete the song, but the entry in iTunes stays, but a little cloud now shows up in a newly added column that shows you that you have a song that is in the cloud but not in your library.

I'm sorry for this question. I'm sick and whacked on cold medicine and I don't want to goof this up.

To replace a song, I delete it from iTunes *and* delete the file from my computer? I assume what remains is the cloud "entry" that I use to download the song but I want to be sure. Thx.

Edit: I couldn't even get the quote right...

 

[adambadamh]

I am getting a message saying they are no longer accepting new accounts now when I go to try and sign up.