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iTunes Match erasing entire library

C

csslash

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2008
8
3
Ever since Beta 3 I have been having an issue where every time I enable iTunes Match, it deletes my entire library. If I enable Match, then have "Show All Music" turned to off, then go into the music app; it'll have a little cloud icon and a loading bar. After the loading bar is done it just says "No Music" indicating that all the music is gone. When I have "Show All Music" enabled, it'll of course show my entire iTunes Match library, and when I play a song it'll stream it then download it. Then if I disable and reenable iTunes Match, it'll delete the downloaded songs. The music never disappears in iTunes when I view the music on my iPhone.

I'm just wondering if this is a rare issue, or if Apple is changing iTunes Match to do that on purpose. If it's the latter, that might shy me away from iOS 6. If anybody has had this issue, were you able to solve it?
 
even iOS 5 itunes match deleted my iPhone's music when Match was enabled.

the issue i have is if I tell Match to not show music and i unload music from my phone I wont see my playlists but if i click on songs, artists, albums the full Match library is listed and plays music as if show was enabled. I am not liking that either as my Match library is 18,000 songs it pretty hard to find a specific artist i know i sync'd to my phone when i dont want to search my entire library.....
 
Last edited:
That's the same way iTunes Match has always behaved in iOS, including iOS 5.
 
mpfef said:
That's the same way iTunes Match has always behaved in iOS, including iOS 5.
Click to expand...
It's not. Match will replace your library, but should not delete locally stored music.
For example, I have a playlist of all the music I want to be stored on my iPhone, and when I have to restore my phone, I sync to that playlist (with Match off, obviously) via iTunes. Then when I switch Match on, my library is replaced, but all the music from the playlist is still stored locally on the device (as long as it is also available from Match in the Cloud), with all the other music available from the Cloud.
 
imacken said:
It's not. Match will replace your library, but should not delete locally stored music.
For example, I have a playlist of all the music I want to be stored on my iPhone, and when I have to restore my phone, I sync to that playlist (with Match off, obviously) via iTunes. Then when I switch Match on, my library is replaced, but all the music from the playlist is still stored locally on the device (as long as it is also available from Match in the Cloud), with all the other music available from the Cloud.
Click to expand...

In iOS 6 i'm not sure it does this any more... I'm not sure if it's a bug (or it's the way iTunes Match was always supposed to act and didn't) or if this is the way iTunes Match will work from here on out..

I would always sync about 5 playlists worth of music and then enable Match, so I didn't have to go through and download each one through the phone. Now, it deletes EVERYTHING. I've decided to just not sync any music and let it download as I listen to what I want.. It's kind of lame because I really enjoyed how it worked in the past (even if it wasn't supposed to work that way intentionally)
 
imacken said:
It's not. Match will replace your library, but should not delete locally stored music.
For example, I have a playlist of all the music I want to be stored on my iPhone, and when I have to restore my phone, I sync to that playlist (with Match off, obviously) via iTunes. Then when I switch Match on, my library is replaced, but all the music from the playlist is still stored locally on the device (as long as it is also available from Match in the Cloud), with all the other music available from the Cloud.
Click to expand...

It is. The difference is your playlist scenario. I don't have playlists. When I turn match on, my music is no longer on my iPhone.
 
JerseyDoug said:
It is. The difference is your playlist scenario. I don't have playlists. When I turn match on, my music is no longer on my iPhone.
Click to expand...
It has nothing to do with playlists. That's just a method of getting the music onto the phone.
Playlists are ignored by Match. Doesn't matter whether it's playlists or music downloaded from the Cloud, Match SHOULD not delete any locally stored music. It wouldn't make sense to do that. It should only replace your library.
 
Before iOS 6, itunes match would NOT delete your stored music library. I knwo this because in ios5 I always had to turn off itunes match and turn it back on. When it was off, it would just show the music stored locally on the phone.

Now when you turn itunes match off and you go into the music app, it shows zero music. It deletes all of your music when you turn it off. Anyone who is saying differently is simply wrong.
 
I noticed this problem also.
It really bothers me because I have a 64gig phone and would like to keep my most listened to stuff on the phone and stream everything else.

I would go on my bike ride and just turn off match so it wouldn't use any data to get my music, then turn it back on when I was done.

While looking at it last night, I noticed that the stored music doesn't seem to be deleted, it showed up in iTunes on my phone.
It seems that the music app just ignores it.
Maybe it is a bug.
 
imacken said:
It has nothing to do with playlists. That's just a method of getting the music onto the phone.
Playlists are ignored by Match. Doesn't matter whether it's playlists or music downloaded from the Cloud, Match SHOULD not delete any locally stored music. It wouldn't make sense to do that. It should only replace your library.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. I am on iOS 5. When I turn on match all music is deleted from my iPhone. As songs are played, they are saved on my iPhone. That is how it works for me. YMMV.
 
^^^ It's always deleted my music too. When you enable iTunes match from the Setting app, it def tells you it's going to delete all the music in your iTunes library (on your device). Whether it actually does or not is intermittent, but it's always said that it will do that for me.

And then when you play a song it will dowload locally (which supposedly is changing in iOS 6.

In any case, yes, iTunes match WILL delete your local library, and is doing so as part of its function. In this way, I can have all the music from my library "on" my iPad without having any of it actually stored on it. This frees up mucho space, hence the real use of iTunes match.
 
inspirations365 said:
When you enable iTunes match from the Setting app, it def tells you it's going to delete all the music in your iTunes library (on your device)..
Click to expand...
It doesn't, what it tells you is that it will replace your iTunes library. It doesn't say anything about deleting all the music.
 
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