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Deleting songs in Music App. WTF??

R

RJCP

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 8, 2011
434
40
So, is it really true you can no longer delete songs and albums manually on the music app?? I've googled about the subject and apparently the only way of doing that is turning off iTunes Match and then on again, resetting the songs on your device.
The finger swipe -> delete function seems to be gone.

Seriously, Apple?
 
really? I can't! I've checked my settings and tried with "show all songs and albums" on and off and swiping doesn't work.
it just selects the album or song and starts playing. I'm doing the regular right side swipe.

EDIT: do you have iTunes Match on?
 
As mentioned on countless threads on here - it seems to be an issue affecting iTunes Match users. If you are not using iTunes Match you can delete songs as normal.
 
Yep, it's an iTunes Match thing, and obviously an intentional decision so that only Apple are able to control what is deleted from your device while Match is running. The inability to download individual songs is ludicrous too - Sure, you can play them and they stream and download / cache, but you cannot just line up a few individual songs any more, no, you need to play them and do not, under any circumstances, forget to hit pause before the end, otherwise it automatically plays and stores the following song.

It really throws my future custom in doubt; the service has been massively downgraded, and unless the plan is to offer it for free, or maybe a nominal .79p yearly from now on, I'm not sure that it's worth my while. Certainly, if Google sort out proper matching with their 'Play' service, that becomes much less cumbersome and at least in terms of cloud music, every new Android phone becomes far, far superior to iPhone or iPod in that department.

Music is a big deal to me and up until now iTunes Match has been a convenient, appreciated service. Match becoming a shadow of itself with iOS 6 and Google offering a proper matching system of their own is about the only thing I can think of that will see me drop iPhone like a hot potato, embracing the Android system in its wake.
 
I never liked that feature because I would almost delete songs by accident. I'm not saying that it should be taken away for those that use that feature, though. I got used to it and wish they kept it for the times when I need to delete through the music app!
 
Hopefully they will bring back the ability to delete tracks and download individual tracks in 6.0.1 or something, because this is a massive oversight. I use Match a lot on my iPhone and there's no way I'm going to erase my whole library just to delete albums to make space.
 
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Tom8 said:
Hopefully they will bring back the ability to delete track and download individual tracks in 6.0.1 or something, because this is a massive oversight. I use Match a lot on my iPhone and there's no way I'm to erase my whole library just to delete albums to make space.
Click to expand...

yeah bro i been dealing with the same thing, this is ridiculous. Its stupid things like this that makes us look like asshats to Android users.
 
I'm also using iTunes Match and here is how I currently manage music on my iPhone...

Play what ever I want to hear in the car etc, knowing it is downloading as it plays. Once per week I delete all the stored music on the phone by going to Settings - General - Usage - Music

When I first installed iOS 6 I thought the only way to remove local music was to switch off match, this was painful as it took ages to reinstall the match library each time.

For me, the method detailed above suits the way I use my device for music.
 
I believe the way iTunes Match works in iOS6 is much better. It is now a streaming service and you no longer have to "manage" what songs are on your device.

From what I understand, the way it works now is that it smartly streams/downloads/caches songs you play and songs that will be playing next. But more importantly it now also automatically purges songs that have been played.

It seems you now have access to all of your music but all your music only takes up a limited amount of space at any time. So you might have 100GB of music in your library but with the caching and purging that 100GB might never take up more than 200MB. Because of the automatic purging, the whole downloading and deleting is then made irrelevant. If you want to have to manually manage your storage then you wouldn't turn in iTunes Match in the first place.

With the previous way it worked, it didn't make much sense to me to turn on iTunes Match on my iOS devices. Why would I use the cloud when I still had to manually manage the storage? The newer way makes more sense.

What would be great is if you could manually set the purge capacity. But I'm not sure how they determine when songs are purged from the cache. It could be a strict size, could be based on your library size, or it could be based on number of songs. Or it could be even more complicated and based upon albums, playlists, play counts, or some other factors concerning the likelihood of it playing again.
 
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It has always done that (selectively removing stuff if you download more than your capacity allows). You just had the option to delete stuff yourself if space elsewhere on the phone was at a premium and you didn't want it choosing what to prune.
 
FranksWildYears said:
It has always done that. You just had the option to delete stuff yourself if space was at a premium and you didn't want it choosing what to prune.
Click to expand...

Yeah but before I believe it downloaded songs that you played and you had to manually remove them or they would stay on your device indefinitely and continue to take up space. Now it automatically purges them so manually deleting is no longer necessary.
 
newagemac said:
Yeah but before I believe it downloaded songs that you played and you had to manually remove them or they would stay on your device indefinitely and continue to take up space. Now it automatically purges them so manually deleting is no longer necessary.
Click to expand...

Nope, it took songs away if you tried to download with no space - I know, because I always wished that it prompted me because I'd go to listen to an album and find several songs missing. I quickly figured out why.

The only perceptible changes are it doesn't allow you to properly download individual songs or delete anything manually with Match enabled.

Maybe it worked differently outside of Europe for some bizarre reason. All I know is that Apple have added all of these extra hoops to the service I've been happily using and now can't stand.
 
FranksWildYears said:
Nope, it took songs away if you tried to download with no space - I know, because I always wished that it prompted me because I'd go to listen to an album and find several songs missing. I quickly figured out why.

The only perceptible changes are it doesn't allow you to properly download individual songs or delete anything manually with Match enabled.

Maybe it worked differently outside of Europe for some bizarre reason. All I know is that Apple have added all of these extra hoops to the service I've been happily using and now can't stand.
Click to expand...

Well yes if you had no space and you tried to play more, I know it removed others then. But now I believe you don't have to run out of space for it to purge the cache.

What I don't understand is why someone would want to manually download a song when it already happens when ever you play it. And why would you want to have to manually delete individual songs when you don't have to?

Wasn't that the whole point of iTunes Match on an iOS device? Not having to manually manage your music due to storage constraints? If you want to manually manage your music and storage, just don't use iTunes Match. If you don't want to have to manually manage your music and storage then use iTunes Match. Makes sense to me.
 
Will Apple offer me a free unlimited data plan and guaranteed minimum of full 3G coverage wherever I go - including on transatlantic flights - so that I never have to store any music on my device?

You used to have the choice - click a song and it streams and caches, click the download button for a DL to have it ready for whenever you need it. You could also remove songs if you wanted to. You had choice - click song, it streams within seconds. Click the download button, it's defintely pinned to your device for later.

Choice is good, different people have different needs. Removing options for no reason is not good. Wait for the cluster**** when Apple do the same thing to desktop iTunes Match.
 
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But you have a choice. You're not forced to use iTunes Match. If you want to manually manage stuff then just store the music on your device like before. I don't see the point of using iTunes Match if you're going to just use it like the old method. In the GM, songs start like they were already downloaded. It's pretty much instant. I don't see why I would be forced to manually go through my library and download songs. That's the last thing I want to do while I'm driving.

I thought it was stupid and pointless the way they had it working before. I could already manually download and delete individual songs with iTunes Match turned off. The whole point of iTunes Match is to not have to do that or sync either.

Until iOS 6, I was only going to use iTunes Match for replacing my old DRM, 128kbps AAC, and MP3 songs with the DRM free 256 kbps AAC ones from iTunes. Now I have a reason to actually use it on my iOS devices.
 
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newagemac said:
But you have a choice. You're not forced to use iTunes Match. If you want to manually manage stuff then just store the music on your device like before. I don't see the point of using iTunes Match if you're going to just use it like the old method. In the GM, songs start like they were already downloaded. It's pretty much instant. I don't see why I would be forced to manually go through my library and download songs. That's the last thing I want to do while I'm driving.

I thought it was stupid and pointless the way they had it working before. I could already manually download and delete individual songs with iTunes Match turned off. The whole point of iTunes Match is to not have to do that or sync either.

Until iOS 6, I was only going to use iTunes Match for replacing my old DRM, 128kbps AAC, and MP3 songs with the DRM free 256 kbps AAC ones from iTunes. Now I have a reason to actually use it on my iOS devices.
Click to expand...

But you cannot download songs with Match turned off it you hadn't purchased them through iTunes. Match matches your library, not just iTunes purchases.

And again, songs ALWAYS started instantly - You didn't have to download them! You clicked the song title instead of the download button and it started streaming within a couple of seconds, and would then move on to the following track and so on and so forth. I cannot believe that the download button next to a song proved so confusing. Note that the option to download an entire album remains. I almost wet myself out of sheer incredulity when I saw tech sites taking the removal of the download button to mean that it's now a "true" streaming service and not exactly the effing same as it's always been, less an option.

Just give us the option back! Not hard - Let us toggle local delete on or off, and I suppose do the same with the download buttons that appear to have caused mass confusion. Want an individual song now? You have to play it and then hit pause before it finishes, otherwise it's going to be a prick and cache the following song too. Can't just download it before you leave the house and have it there whenever you want it, which is exactly why Apple now need to have the decency to deal with carriers and offer all Match subscribers unlimited data plans and guaranteed 100% global 3G coverage.

It literally adds nothing, only removes the option to delete music or download individual songs. It's compounded by the fact that sometimes turning Match off and on again deletes everything you've already downloaded, making it considerably less useful for people who aren't on an unlimited data plan.

It only removes, doesn't add. Pointless and stupid, solely and seemingly in the name of extra control for Apple at the expense of the user. With Google looking to deal with the record companies to provide matching, Android is, sadly, looking like the way to go if you want a proper portable music player, a real shame given that it's still much jankier than I'd like in many other areas.
 
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RJCP said:
So, is it really true you can no longer delete songs and albums manually on the music app?? I've googled about the subject and apparently the only way of doing that is turning off iTunes Match and then on again, resetting the songs on your device.
The finger swipe -> delete function seems to be gone.

Seriously, Apple?
Click to expand...

Can I ask what might be a stupid question?

Why does it matter? If iTunes Match is managing what you have on your device at any give time and you can add music at anytime, why would you even want to manually delete something?
 
Dorv said:
Can I ask what might be a stupid question?

Why does it matter? If iTunes Match is managing what you have on your device at any give time and you can add music at anytime, why would you even want to manually delete something?
Click to expand...

The iPhone is not just used for music, it is used for apps as well. So when you run out of space for apps, you cannot choose to delete a few select apps. Same goes if you want to record video, or take photos, without manual deletion you are screwed.
 
Risco said:
The iPhone is not just used for music, it is used for apps as well. So when you run out of space for apps, you cannot choose to delete a few select apps. Same goes if you want to record video, or take photos, without manual deletion you are screwed.
Click to expand...

You can still manually delete individual apps, photos, videos, and other stuff. This is just concerning music when you have iTunes Match turned on. You don't have to manually delete music anymore to free up space because it never takes up much space. iTunes Match now purges cached music automatically more aggressively in the GM of iOS6. You never have much of your device storage taken up by music no matter how much music you've played. In effect, it is now a streaming service that intelligently downloads the next song in advance so that there is also no longer that second or two delay like other streaming services.

Basically Apple has combined the best of both worlds.
 
newagemac said:
You can still manually delete individual apps, photos, videos, and other stuff. This is just concerning music when you have iTunes Match turned on. You don't have to manually delete music anymore to free up space because it never takes up much space. iTunes Match now purges cached music automatically more aggressively in the GM of iOS6. You never have much of your device storage taken up by music no matter how much music you've played. In effect, it is now a streaming service that intelligently downloads the next song in advance so that there is also no longer that second or two delay like other streaming services.

Basically Apple has combined the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

It's always downloaded the next song in advance though. Click on a song as if to play it, it starts streaming and continues to cache so that the following tracks are ready, click on the little button, it downloads it in advance. It also removes cached (and if necessary downloaded) music in exactly the same way as before.

Streaming = Exactly the same as before iOS 6. It is exactly the same. It used to download the next song in advance, it still does. It used to remove cached music, it still does.

Download individual song + delete downloaded music manually while iTunes Match is turned on = Removed.
 
FranksWildYears said:
It's always downloaded the next song in advance though. Click on a song as if to play it, it starts streaming and continues to cache so that the following tracks are ready, click on the little button, it downloads it in advance. It also removes cached (and if necessary downloaded) music in exactly the same way as before.

Streaming = Exactly the same as before iOS 6. It is exactly the same. It used to download the next song in advance, it still does. It used to remove cached music, it still does.

Download individual song + delete downloaded music manually while iTunes Match is turned on = Removed.
Click to expand...

If that's true then what is the point of manually downloading or deleted tracks? Boredom? You don't need an unlimited plan to use iTunes Match this way. Songs aren't very big in size. It's not like video. Only if you have something like the minimum 250mb data plan would you need to be concerned. But if you plan on using such a small data plan, why are you even considering a streaming music service like iTunes Match? You should be storing all your music on your device, turn off iCloud over 3G, Facetime over 3G, app downloads over 3G, etc.
 
Because I only want to download certain songs? Because I want to be able to remove songs of my own volition if I'm running out of space, but don't want to run the risk of everything getting deleted by toggling Match on and off? Because there isn't 100% 3G data coverage, and I might want to download certain songs over wifi before I leave the house? I might have several GB of music on my device yet want to download a sizeable app, so I can decide to delete certain albums to free up space without having to toggle Match and run the risk of it deleting everything, leaving me with no music? Because if I download the song properly, I'm guaranteed it in decent quality, even if the network is bogged down and it takes longer to get there?

Streaming + the option to Download = Better than streaming minus said option, unless you don't really care for music. iTunes Match was never just "a streaming service", it was an opportunity to match your entire collection across all of your devices and have them available for download or stream whenever you want, there wasn't the caveat that you can only have songs available for your mobile device when you are in an area with good network coverage.

Again, it really adds nothing to the service, only removes. That is poor form. Does exactly the same thing, just removes the ability to download individual songs (yet in a great burst of consistency still allows downloads of entire albums, which you still can no longer delete without first switching off iTunes Match despite ostensibly being housed on your device). It's the stupidest, most ill-considered downgrade I've come across in years.
 
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Google Play Music works the same in that you can only DL complete albums or playlists to your mobile device, not individual songs. I thought iTunes Match was a far superior service because you could just download a song or two. Guess that's gone now in iOS 6? Wonder if it has something to do with licensing agreements.
 
The weird thing is that you can still delete individual albums with iOS6 & iTunes Match on the iPad - just not on the iPhone.
 
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