Apple Releases iTunes 10.5.1 Beta 3 for More iTunes Match Testing

[blybug]

Playlists?

I have read that the playlist structure created in iTunes on the computer is duplicated and updated across devices through iTunes Match. What I haven't heard a definitive answer about is this:

If I've got a playlist on my iPhone that contains songs that are not necessarily stored locally on the iPhone, can I just press play, or per my usual habit, "Shuffle" and the songs will be downloaded and play on the fly, or do I need to hit the little cloud icon for each individual song I want to pull? Obviously would much prefer the former.

Also, do Smart Playlists update automatically? I currently manage the music on my iPhone through a series of intertwined and nested Smart Playlists to automatically maintain a constantly updated mix of recent additions, favorite songs/artists/albums, not recently-played songs, etc. Many are based on date last played and/or play count, so once played the songs fall off until their criteria are met again, and new songs are added. Does this work as expected via Match/cloud?

 

[CubusX]

Question

Lets say I have a CD ripped to my iTunes library at 128 that is not available in iTunes. I sign up for iTunes Match, that loads those particular songs to the cloud at 256? This is where people seem confused. Some say it will keep the 128 while others say it will "upgraded" to 256.

Problem is if you use iTunes to convert a 128 file to 256, it acchives nothing because the original file is lower quality. The only thing you are doing is lowering the quality a little bit but increasing the size of the file two times.

 

[distemp]

I have read that the playlist structure created in iTunes on the computer is duplicated and updated across devices through iTunes Match. What I haven't heard a definitive answer about is this:

If I've got a playlist on my iPhone that contains songs that are not necessarily stored locally on the iPhone, can I just press play, or per my usual habit, "Shuffle" and the songs will be downloaded and play on the fly, or do I need to hit the little cloud icon for each individual song I want to pull? Obviously would much prefer the former.

Also, do Smart Playlists update automatically? I currently manage the music on my iPhone through a series of intertwined and nested Smart Playlists to automatically maintain a constantly updated mix of recent additions, favorite songs/artists/albums, not recently-played songs, etc. Many are based on date last played and/or play count, so once played the songs fall off until their criteria are met again, and new songs are added. Does this work as expected via Match/cloud?

The songs would just play normally. You could also hit "Download All" at the bottom of the playlist and download them all in one batch.

As far as I can tell, ALL playlists update automatically.

 

[mattburley7]

Lets say I have a CD ripped to my iTunes library at 128 that is not available in iTunes. I sign up for iTunes Match, that loads those particular songs to the cloud at 256? This is where people seem confused. Some say it will keep the 128 while others say it will "upgraded" to 256.

Problem is if you use iTunes to convert a 128 file to 256, it acchives nothing because the original file is lower quality. The only thing you are doing is lowering the quality a little bit but increasing the size of the file two times.

Yeah i have done this before.. lowered some of my songs from 320 to 128 to save space on my iPod and than later converted them back to 320 and lost quality. hope this iTunes match gets them back to how they where before i converted the quality down.

 

[5H3PH3RD]

If the content is not in iTunes catalogue then nothing is upgraded you will just upload the 128 file!

Lets say I have a CD ripped to my iTunes library at 128 that is not available in iTunes. I sign up for iTunes Match, that loads those particular songs to the cloud at 256? This is where people seem confused. Some say it will keep the 128 while others say it will "upgraded" to 256.

Problem is if you use iTunes to convert a 128 file to 256, it acchives nothing because the original file is lower quality. The only thing you are doing is lowering the quality a little bit but increasing the size of the file two times.

----------

Well engage your brain and explain to me how you can take a 128 file and convert it to a 320 file. You already lost the audio quality going from 320 to 128... You can't magically restore that from a 128 file. Only way to do so is to re rip from the disk.

I seriously am questioning the intelligence of some of the forum users. Between this thread and the one regarding iPod replacements I have read some of the most retarded comments and statements of my life!

Yeah i have done this before.. lowered some of my songs from 320 to 128 to save space on my iPod and than later converted them back to 320 and lost quality. hope this iTunes match gets them back to how they where before i converted the quality down.

 

[KeithJenner]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Lets say I have a CD ripped to my iTunes library at 128 that is not available in iTunes. I sign up for iTunes Match, that loads those particular songs to the cloud at 256? This is where people seem confused. Some say it will keep the 128 while others say it will "upgraded" to 256.

Problem is if you use iTunes to convert a 128 file to 256, it acchives nothing because the original file is lower quality. The only thing you are doing is lowering the quality a little bit but increasing the size of the file two times.

If the file isn't in the iTunes store it can't be matched, so your file is just uploaded as it is.

I believe that it may downgrade any files above a certain bitrate, but it certainly won't upgrade by conversion. That would be pointless.

 

[Bease34]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I have a question for those of you in the Beta. I have many files in my iTunes library which are over an hour long. Some of these are audio CD's ripped over a decade ago, some of these are class lectures/audiobooks. How is iTunes match handling these kinds of files? Is it uploading albums in full which are ripped into one 90 minute track ? Is it converting a 90 minute track into individual songs which count towards your 25,000 song limit? I know this is a niche question that most people won't encounter, but I'm genuinely curious. Thanks.

 

[adcx64]

I can't wait for iTunes match. It wil be really useful for upscaling my collection.

 

[Tinmania]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)



If the file isn't in the iTunes store it can't be matched, so your file is just uploaded as it is.

I believe that it may downgrade any files above a certain bitrate, but it certainly won't upgrade by conversion. That would be pointless.

That is not completely true.

I have had AC/DC songs matched... and indeed upgraded from their original 128kbps MP3 formats.

No AC/DC song is available to download in iTunes music store, at least in the USA.

I was very surprised to see AC/DC matched! (One song, was not, oddly enough.)



Michael

 

[Thunderhawks]

I find the idea of having to pay protection money every year to listen to your music a bit silly.

Can you imagine $ 25 when they probably don't even have employees to set this up, develop it, keep it up to date, provide storage, (which uses electricity),
give you better quality of songs, bought or not etc.etc.

How dare they and don't you hate that they force you to subscribe to this?

 

[KeithJenner]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)



If the file isn't in the iTunes store it can't be matched, so your file is just uploaded as it is.

I believe that it may downgrade any files above a certain bitrate, but it certainly won't upgrade by conversion. That would be pointless.

That is not completely true.

I have had AC/DC songs matched... and indeed upgraded from their original 128kbps MP3 formats.

No AC/DC song is available to download in iTunes music store, at least in the USA.

I was very surprised to see AC/DC matched! (One song, was not, oddly enough.)



Michael

Yes, thinking about it, I have heard that mentioned. My apologies.

Still, the point about not up converting still stands. That was my main point.

 

[iChrist]

still crashes my itunes. ugh.
__________________
iPhone 4S 64GB Macbook TV iPad 2 32gb Hackintosh i7 920

Is maybe because you use hackintosh? Not real mac designed by Steve.


.

 

[Hurda]

my whole library is 320kbps but i know some of the songs are not true 320kbps they are more like 128..would match make them all the 256?

320kbps what?
Bitrate is also no measure of quality, especially not for comparisons between two different audio formats.

----------

It was my understanding that once you pay for the service, you can keep the songs that were matched forever, but the yearly fee is for if you want to continue matching new songs.

Who'd buy normal songs for 99c then?

 

[DaffyDuck]

What to do if you've got a collection of >>20.000 songs?
Lots of them are recordings of friends (hobby musicians) and will never ever be on iTunes, but extracting them from the library is a pretty d*** hard process....

What is going to happen when you try to match a library of greater that 20.000 songs?

Unrelated question but if you use a period instead of comma, how do you specify fractional numbers when you are doing math?

 

[mattburley7]

how long will it take to have all my songs converted to 256 using iTunes match? i have around 2,000.

 

[iDuel]

It's only 99 cents per song, for Jesus' sake!

Correction. It is now $1.29US a song on iTunes.

 

[KeithJenner]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

how long will it take to have all my songs converted to 256 using iTunes match? i have around 2,000.

If you are talking about files that are currently lower than 256 then it doesn't convert, it just uses the iTunes store version. It is instant but you will obviously need to download the new files.

 

[mattburley7]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)



If you are talking about files that are currently lower than 256 then it doesn't convert, it just uses the iTunes store version. It is instant but you will obviously need to download the new files.

well how long should it take to download all the new files to my computer? say i have 2,000 of them. i have cable internet.

 

[highdefw]

really want to start using this...

 

[Tmelon]

First time in my life that I've ever had problems understanding Apple software... But seriously...

How the **** does iTunes Match work? I've been using it since day 1 and I don't understand it at all. It says that a little over half of my songs have been matched but when I go to get info the bitrates still vary from 128 to 320 and everywhere in between. When I turn it on my iPhone it makes me redownload my entire library song by song with no download all button and then there's no album art or anything. I don't get this at all.

 

[Jndo]

Can someone who's using the new beta verify if this bug still exists in the column browser:

...

I just need to know whether I still need to file the bug.

Yes, for me too, the scrolling starts from the point where I last clicked, not the current selection. (I am using itunes 10.5 on SL)

 

[Tinmania]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)



Yes, thinking about it, I have heard that mentioned. My apologies.

Still, the point about not up converting still stands. That was my main point.

Yes.... normally that is the case. I just didn't think anything not in iTunes would be matched--particularly AC/DC. But I am not complaining!



Michael

 

[BGPu]

If one was to believe that the Match service is a way to track down music pirates by collecting Meta data, what would happen in this case?

I would probably sign up using my .Mac Apple ID. I have a couple hundred songs I've bought with that account. I also have a couple hundred songs I bought using my original Apple ID before I signed up for .Mac. I have songs I've bought from other countries iTunes store's in my library. I have songs that my wife & kid have bought with their iTunes accounts in my library.

All in all, I've got songs from 8 different iTunes accounts in my library, all legally acquired. Would the fact that the meta data in some of them doesn't match the name on the iTunes Match account set off some red flag somewhere?

 

[yourstation]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Please could someone let me know what happens to audio that I have updated the tags and artwork for? Even basics like correcting a song title, artist or artwork so it effectively differs from the iTunes content slightly? In order to use my corrected tags do I have to upload? If so how do you tell iTunes Match to NOT match a particular album?

 

[KeithJenner]

well how long should it take to download all the new files to my computer? say i have 2,000 of them. i have cable internet.

That depends on the speed of your connection. That can vary hugely.

See how long it takes to download one song over the internet and multiply that by 2,000.

----------

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Please could someone let me know what happens to audio that I have updated the tags and artwork for? Even basics like correcting a song title, artist or artwork so it effectively differs from the iTunes content slightly? In order to use my corrected tags do I have to upload? If so how do you tell iTunes Match to NOT match a particular album?

You metadata is retained even if it matches the song. This has been covered many times.