How to Use iTunes Match With Very Large iTunes Libraries

[DUCKofD3ATH]

But these are songs you don't want matched, and if they're unchecked already then you're probably not copying them over to your devices so none of those things probably matter.

Just out of curiosity, what's the point in having a lot of songs loaded on iTunes that you won't play? I know from experience that the larger the library, the more it slows iTunes to a crawl.

And doing this worked fine for me (for making Match ignore them) without changing types, codes, or file extensions, I just did a get info in iTunes on all the files at once and just changed Music to Audiobook.

Glad it works for you, it was twitchy when I tried relying on it.

 

[pooryou]

Bad things. Songs you'd listened to partway wouldn't start at the beginning the next time you played them. The songs would move from Music to the Books section. You'd have to change the type and creator codes and file extensions (I've found that simply changing the Media Kind to Audiobook isn't reliable).

A lot of work. Creating a new library subset of your main music would be simpler.

I've got a large music library (63,000-plus music tracks). But most of it is 196K and above that was ripped from CD, so I'll be using the alternate library to update the stuff ripped from LP (great chance to get tracks without the pops and crackles that tarnish the vinyl versions).

I used the audiobook solution and it is working fine. No problems at all. Didn't have to touch the files at all, converted them all in one step in iTunes.

I guess you must have missed where I said I had a bunch of songs that are unchecked. I won't be listening to these songs anyway. For me this solution is 100x better than creating another library....and took far less time and effort. Guess it won't work for you though since you still want to have access to the songs.

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Just out of curiosity, what's the point in having a lot of songs loaded on iTunes that you won't play? I know from experience that the larger the library, the more it slows iTunes to a crawl.

Sometimes temporarily recheck some of them, such as holiday music for example. Some of it could be deleted but that takes time to sift thru. The goal in the past was to fit the library onto an Ipod, now the goal is not to get rejected by iTunes Match. Eventually Apple will have to address the 25k limit.

 

[milo]

Just out of curiosity, what's the point in having a lot of songs loaded on iTunes that you won't play?

It's not necessarily stuff I'd never play, mainly things I don't need on mobile devices. And I can always change my mind, using the AB method I can get those files back later easily (with ratings, playcount, etc).

Or it can even be used as a quick temporary method to get that count down - it would be easy enough to select all songs with a one star rating and switch those to AB. Obviously not a solution for anyone who wants to be able to access more than 25k songs in Match but it makes it work for people willing to disable some songs.

Apple really just needs to add options for excluding playlists. Even excluding unchecked songs would be a nice improvement.

 

[geg]

I have a pretty big library and after about a full 24 hours, it's all matched or uploaded. Way more are uploaded than it seems need to be...many albums are half uploaded/half matched. Also, iTunes Match, Beatles Mono does not equal Beatles Stereo. The JSP edition of the Hot Fives/Hot Sevens is not the same as the Columbia version (there are even different takes "matched", which are entirely different performances!). A vinyl rip is not the iTunes version (some of you may like this one, but...) Etc. These are just things I noticed...I wonder how many mismatches are going on that it'll take me weeks/months to catch?

 

[DUCKofD3ATH]

This sounds like a better method but as you say, you must be careful.
One question: if iTunes Match replaces my .mp3 files with .m4a files will the original iTunes library be able to locate the files? The file names should be the same but the extensions will not.

This ought to work:

1. Create a smart playlist that only selects the songs you want iTunes Match to upgrade.

2. Create a regular playlist and copy the contents of the smart playlist into it. Now you've got a record of which songs will be upgraded.

3. Follow kimhill's procedure to make a duplicate of your iTunes library:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=13855322#post13855322

4. When iTunes Match finishes doing its thing, quit out of the new iTunes library and load the original library. When it appears, iTunes Match should recognize that your 256 kbps AAC files aren't there and automatically download them from the cloud. After you've verified that iTunes Match selected the right song, artwork, etc., you can delete the original low kbps tracks from the regular playlist you created in step 2. Remember to press option + delete to remove the actual track from iTunes, otherwise all that gets deleted is the playlist entry.

5. There is no step 5.

 

[graham1971]

I have 47,000 tracks in my iTunes library. I was hoping that iTunes match would allow me to choose which songs I wanted to be included in iTunes match. As it is, it's pretty useless. I have the iTunes Match option on my Apple TV teasing me to turn it on yet I can't because I have too much music.

 

[PC Chopath]

I got it. thanks!

 

[foodog]

I use Smart Playlists to select my music from my extensive library. IMO this is the best way to use iTunes, particularly with a large well-tagged library.

Is iCloud smart enough to auto populate Smart Playlists on the fly? If not then I don't really see how useful it will be anyway.

All playlists show, smart and not so smart

 

[gnasher729]

I have ~10K non-iTunes-purchased non-stolen tracks (although quite a few of those are available on the US iTunes Store, so wouldn't count against my 25K limit.) A friend is over the 25K limit solely from ripped CDs (that he now has in storage in a few large boxes in his basement.) Lots of foreign stuff in his collection, so unlikely to even be in the US iTunes Store.

"Available on iTunes store" _does_ count against the 25K limit. Only "Purchased on iTunes store" doesn't.

I read somewhere that iTunes Match is offering 256 kbps matches, but what if you have imported songs with a higher kbps setting than this, does iTunes Match skip over these files or do they overwrite it with the 256 kbps version?

Also, can anyone give us some idea on how long the matching process takes? Say for a library of 12,500 songs?

It will _match_ these songs, and since they are matched, they won't be uploaded at your higher bit rate. So when you download on another device, you get 256 Kbit. The song in your library is not touched, unless you delete it by hand and then download it.

How long does the matching take: Long. But don't worry, you can use your Mac including iTunes while the match is running, so just keep the Mac turned on, and it will happen.

 

[rickyxp78]

iTunes Match becomes a streaming service in OS 6

Most (99% probably) of my music does not come from iTunes. In that case, and with an iPhone and iPod that are full to bursting with music, is iTunes Match worth the cost?

In the upcoming iOS 6, iTunes Match will function differently than it does now. You will no longer have to download the file locally to your device, it will stream it to you. So in theory you can buy a device with less memory/storage making it well worth the $25/ year, plus the upgrade to 256Kbps is well worth it as well if you have older songs in your library like I do.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

In the upcoming iOS 6, iTunes Match will function differently than it does now. You will no longer have to download the file locally to your device, it will stream it to you. So in theory you can buy a device with less memory/storage making it well worth the $25/ year, plus the upgrade to 256Kbps is well worth it as well if you have older songs in your library like I do.

I just wipe my music library every so often on my iPhone (Settings -> General -> Usage -> Music -> Edit -> Delete -> Confirm,) and let them re-load from iCloud as needed. I generally do it when music hits about the 2 GB mark.

Obviously, if I'm about to go somewhere I know I won't have internet access, I'll download a bunch first.

 

[sonovale]

I have many radio shows which I have changed the 'media kind' to audiobook. These files appear under books rather than music. I need to know whether these are used towards the 25k before signing up. Anybody know?

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EDIT - Just found this:
this post states:
"iTunes Match only deals with songs and excludes audiobooks, ringtones, iTunes LPs and iTunes Extras."

Maybe this is a way of selecting which songs you want to match for those people with over 25k songs. Make the ones you don't want audiobooks then once the others are matched, switch them back to music files

Ok that's great.Thank you

 

[ianwuk]

Hello.

At the moment I have 8000 songs waiting to be uploaded to iTunes match. Most of the time the 'wizard' will go through steps 1 and 2 but somehow starts the upload process but ends up skipping back to step 1 again.

Other times it get to step 3 but gets to about 8 songs and just seems to do nothing even though iTunes Match has the 'working' icon next to it. Basically I am wondering how I can speed up the upload process for the songs that need to be uploaded?

I have checked iTunes in Activity Monitor and there is nothing blocking it in terms of songs iTunes Match does not like and I want the tracks to upload so that I can finally turn off my Macbook Pro which has been on for days because of this.

Thanks.

ianwuk