I have iTunes match- can I remove local music now from HDD?

[cmm]

I have 55GB of music in my iTunes Media folder. Most of it is in iTunes Match. Can I remove the files that are in iTunes match locally now and will I still be able to listen to the music, or not?

I may end up running out of disk space due to some other applications so I'm trying to free up some disk space and this seems like a logical place to start...

 

[Porco]

Yes, you can stream or redownload as much as you need to.

Having said that, I would strongly recommend making your own local copy of the files first (ideally more than one copy). Just in case.

 

[jimthing]

As above. It's flaky, so could fail in future to recognise your ownership of said files.

This is one reason I have a Mac Mini (like a server type of setup), with plugged-in external Tbolt storage with all my stuff on it (I use lossless ALAC/Apple Lossless for music in iTunes, Plex for multi-formats video, and store all paper-type [office/iWork/pdf/etc.] docs on them – with backups on a separate external).

Even for simpler users; make a copy on a cheap USB3/Tbolt external just in case. Little 2TB 2.5" drives can be had for relatively small money, so why take the risk.

iTunes Match (even just for for music) is too volatile to rely on as an absolute.

EDIT: it's a shame, as one would love to rely on "backup services in the cloud", but they're simply not there yet; likely down to local bandwidth on our consumer connections (I have 152 up/15 down mbps – still not enough for proper online backups).

 

[Pharmscott]

Yes, you can stream or redownload as much as you need to.

Having said that, I would strongly recommend making your own local copy of the files first (ideally more than one copy). Just in case.

I have to underscore this. For example, you bought music on iTunes. If you delete your local copy and rely on the cloud and Apple later removes the file from iTunes, it's gone forever and you're out of luck. I've seen plenty of folks posting this issue (music, apps, whatever). Keep a back up. External HDDs are cheap so there is no excuse not to.

 

[cmm]

Thanks!

All my music I owned myself- I haven't actually bought from the Apple store. I do have it all backed up on my FreeNAS server.

@jimthing What Thunderbolt storage do you use? My understanding is Thunderbolt is still extremely expensive? I have an extra 2.5" external USB 3.0 that I keep in my bag for large files on the fly... wouldn't mind using Thunderbolt...

Finally? How do I separate the music that has been uploaded to Match and those songs that haven't?

Thanks!

 

[Porco]

Finally? How do I separate the music that has been uploaded to Match and those songs that haven't?

Thanks!

iTunes' 'Smart Playlists' are your friend, when it comes to dealing with Match, especially at the beginning. You can make one that filters all but uploaded tracks, for example.

 

[cmm]

Thanks. Can you tell me how to make the smart playlist? There's so many options and I don't know which to pick...?

 

[Porco]

Thanks. Can you tell me how to make the smart playlist? There's so many options and I don't know which to pick...?

Sure…

So, in iTunes 11, choose File>New>Smart Playlist… (or via the '+' in the bottom-left corner if in Playlists view / or with the sidebar turned on)

In the box that then opens up, pick 'iCloud Status' for the first part of the rule then 'is' for the second, then 'Uploaded' for the third… you should have something looking like this:

Give the playlist a name and there you have it.

Naturally you can alter any of the options to suit as you go. You can add extra lines that further filter the results if you like. Just have a play around with it if you like.

 

[cmm]

Wow, thanks. Only 1200 songs are in match! I did is not uploaded as another smart playlist and it shows over 5539 songs! what the hell??? this is a terrible ratio!?!

is there anything i can do, other than just use google play?

also, is there a way to show duplicates in a smart playlist, so i can remove any duplicate content?

 

[Porco]

Wow, thanks. Only 1200 songs are in match! I did is not uploaded as another smart playlist and it shows over 5539 songs! what the hell??? this is a terrible ratio!?!

is there anything i can do, other than just use google play?

also, is there a way to show duplicates in a smart playlist, so i can remove any duplicate content?

Ok… don't worry too much… Uploaded means songs that could not be matched, but that iTunes has uploaded to the cloud from your collection. It just means it couldn't match them with Apple's iTunes store versions. Songs that are matched don't get uploaded (as they are matched). Matched songs means songs iTunes reckons it already has an identical copy of, so there is no need to upload your personal copy of it.

You can have a track be either 'Matched' or 'Uploaded' and it's available to you to stream or download from your devices. It's just referring to whether it got the copy it has from you or if it had the same thing already itself.

So 'is not > uploaded' would include tracks that are matched, as they are not classed as 'uploaded'. See?

You should be able to turn on 'Show Duplicate Items' in the view menu if your iTunes version is up to date (this option went missing few a version or two between 10.7 and 11.something if I recall correctly).

You can also choose to show the iCloud status of all tracks in the main songs library view (in songs choose View> Show View Options) if that helps you sort more easily.

To recap:

'Matched' = Apple sees what you have, and believes it has an identical copy already, so will allow you to stream or (re)download as long as your iTunes Match subscription continues.

'Uploaded' = Apple doesn't know what this track is, or doesn't have a copy itself, so it uploads your existing copy to the cloud, from where you can access it as you would a Matched track. It will convert it to 256kbps (in the cloud, not your existing file) though, so if your existing file is more than 256kbps AAC that's another reason to make sure you back up.

In general, what iTunes cannot match, it will upload. Are you sure iTunes has actually finished matching/uploading all your tracks yet? It can take a while at first.

 

[jimthing]

Thanks!

All my music I owned myself- I haven't actually bought from the Apple store. I do have it all backed up on my FreeNAS server.

@jimthing What Thunderbolt storage do you use? My understanding is Thunderbolt is still extremely expensive? I have an extra 2.5" external USB 3.0 that I keep in my bag for large files on the fly... wouldn't mind using Thunderbolt...

Finally? How do I separate the music that has been uploaded to Match and those songs that haven't?

Thanks!

Porco beat me to it, but pretty much explains the iTunes Match thing very well!

As for Tbolt units, I actually use 2x Promise Pegasus R6's v1 for all my music (iTunes)/films+tv (Plex)/files (PathFinder) – I got a VERY good deal on them to be able to make the cost work. It's overkill but makes external access to my Mac Mini (acting as a sort of media server) to have very low latency. But you don't have to use Tbolt, USB 3 for DAS is pretty good and yes a bit cheaper. But if you really want a smaller Tbolt unit, there are several available from WD/LaCie/et al – just look around and see if the pricing suits what you want to pay, versus going the USB 3 or NAS routes.

Consumer NAS's are cheap, but they generally only offer up to 1 Gbps Gig-E (or perhaps 2, if dual connections), and they have built-in low-speed processors which are not generally good for things like transcoding, hence why I went multi-drive (6 HDD per unit, in the case of R6's) allowing Tbolt (up to 10 Gbps) to work at a decent speed when externally connected to a decent high-speed Mac — the Mac Mini's quadcore processor offers a proper CPU allowing easy problem-free transcoding, plus multitasking other things simultaneously (and I didn't have to fiddle-around learning a NAS linux-based OS or similar, just use the OSX I know).
Yes, it's more expensive compared to the NAS all-in-one route, but I wanted problem-free usage. As ever, it really depends on what you want to do, and what your budget is. I fully appreciate most people do not want to spend the £4K I did on a Mac and storage, but I plan for the long-term (well 3-4 years at least) in my budgeting for my usage needs, rather than just year-to-year, so this worked for me...