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iTunes match...

M

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
3,900
382
UK
So thinking of getting iTunes match now as the daughter always fills up her iPhone (5; 16Gb), and complains has no music. She is on an unlimited data plan..

So I have Google play music app at moment and my music is in the cloud. Do I use this or buy iTunes match?

What I'm thinking is in the family we all have iPhones/iPads. We share my iTunes account on all the iPhones/iPads so we only have to buy apps, games and music once.

So can we "share" iTunes match? will the iTunes music that we have on our 1 iMac be shared via iTunes match on all iPhones/iPads ok?

Is iTunes match a streaming service? its just she's forever flicking between music, not listening to anything fully, between albums etc, so is this just the same as putting the music she wants locally on her iPhone as match caches anyway, and so will use just as much room?

Is this how other families work with iTunes, i.e. share 1 account for music and apps etc? or am I doing something wrong?

thanks
 
Hiya,

I use iTunes Match. Firstly yes it will work across multiple devices if you are all on the one iTunes account, not sure on the legality technically but it will work.

iTunes Match is not really a streaming account in a certain sense. Basically you can scroll through the list of your music thats in the cloud you can click a song and start to play it but it downloads that song as your playing it and keeps it on the device. You could then remove the album on the device no PC connection needed.

EDIT: Actually just tried it seems like you can stream now without it downloading I swear it used to download the files i.e. save them fully if you clicked to stream them, must be just saved in cache now.

How I tend to use it is if say I fancy listening to Arctic Monkeys album I'll download the whole album (1 button click) and listen. Then ill go and download someone else etc. Then if im fed up say of arctic monkeys and want something else I'll swipe on the album and click delete and just go and download another. I usually keep about 5 albums on and just swap when I feel like.
 
Last edited:
My iPhone, my wife's iphone, our iPad and my daughter's ipad all use the one iTunes account. It keeps it simple and one account for billing/purchases. The only issue we have from time to time is imessage and facetime don't seem to like all the devices using the one itunes account but apart from that its fine.
 
iTunes Match does download music--such as listening to your playlists and it can over time start to accumulate. I understand that the OS will make room by deleting cached music when necessary but you can go into settings, general, usage--music, edit--and delete the cache there.
 
MrMister111 said:
So thinking of getting iTunes match now as the daughter always fills up her iPhone (5; 16Gb), and complains has no music. She is on an unlimited data plan..

So I have Google play music app at moment and my music is in the cloud. Do I use this or buy iTunes match?
Click to expand...
iTunes works very much the same as the Google Play music app. Streams music, and can save locally prior to when you have limited network. I think iTunes Match works a little better... but I may have a bias.

What I'm thinking is in the family we all have iPhones/iPads. We share my iTunes account on all the iPhones/iPads so we only have to buy apps, games and music once.

So can we "share" iTunes match? will the iTunes music that we have on our 1 iMac be shared via iTunes match on all iPhones/iPads ok?
Click to expand...
Yes

Is iTunes match a streaming service? its just she's forever flicking between music, not listening to anything fully, between albums etc, so is this just the same as putting the music she wants locally on her iPhone as match caches anyway, and so will use just as much room?
Click to expand...
Yes, you can stream iTunes Radio.
You can stream your own music. It probably caches some.
And you can specifically save locally to your device, playlists, from anywhere you have WIFI.

Is this how other families work with iTunes, i.e. share 1 account for music and apps etc?
Click to expand...
Yes
or am I doing something wrong?
Click to expand...
No
 
Allanb1985 said:
My iPhone, my wife's iphone, our iPad and my daughter's ipad all use the one iTunes account. It keeps it simple and one account for billing/purchases. The only issue we have from time to time is imessage and facetime don't seem to like all the devices using the one itunes account but apart from that its fine.
Click to expand...

Remember you can have a different iCloud account for each device but the same iTunes Account so essentially separate iMessage / Facetime accounts.
 
Allanb1985 said:
The only issue we have from time to time is imessage and facetime don't seem to like all the devices using the one itunes account but apart from that its fine.
Click to expand...

Haynzee said:
Remember you can have a different iCloud account for each device but the same iTunes Account so essentially separate iMessage / Facetime accounts.
Click to expand...

I agree with Haynzee. Imo, the best way to handle situations like this is to keep the shared Apple ID for App Store/iTunes Store purchases, but have each individual family member create their own Apple ID for iCloud, iMessage, and FaceTime.
 
EDIT: Actually just tried it seems like you can stream now without it downloading I swear it used to download the files i.e. save them fully if you clicked to stream them, must be just saved in cache now.
Click to expand...

iOS devices do not stream. If you only play a few seconds of the song it won't download but after a certain point in time it will download.
 
Tyler23 said:
They do, now.
Click to expand...

So you're saying that playing music through iTunes Match will not take up any additional space? Are you positive? I'm almost certain songs are downloaded in full. Not sure how it manages space. This could be an issue for OP's daughter.
 
Tyler23 said:
They do, now.
Click to expand...

Not according to Apple


Does iTunes Match stream or download songs?
On a computer, any songs stored in iCloud will stream over the air when played, though you can download them at any time by clicking the iCloud download button. iOS devices will start playing tracks from iCloud as they download and will store them so that you can listen to them later even if you don’t have a network connection. Apple TV only streams songs.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/itunes-match/
 
Allanb1985 said:
My iPhone, my wife's iphone, our iPad and my daughter's ipad all use the one iTunes account. It keeps it simple and one account for billing/purchases. The only issue we have from time to time is imessage and facetime don't seem to like all the devices using the one itunes account but apart from that its fine.
Click to expand...

You can actually have seperate account for iMessage and facetime for privacy but use 1 account for itunes. I did that initially back in the day and it works like a champ. Gives everyone their privacy as well.
 
Thanks for replies. So still unsure on the streaming or downloading then. As I say daughter loves to skip skip skip through the music, so would prefer streaming only. Google music play seems to stream only.

Regarding legalities didn't think. It states 10 devices allowed so presume it's fine for everyone on my iTunes account. Glad it's 10 as there's 4 of us with iPhones and iPads and Apple TVs so will use all 10 think.

iTunes Radio isn't here in UK yet wish would hurry up tho. I use the free Spotify which is great but adverts. Is iTunes Match worth it to get iTunes radio ad free even?


So can you do a test please to confirm if streams or not. I read that article as well saying about streaming. Can you check how much space you have, then at some music for a bit, various albums etc, skip fast, slow and then check space left before and after a iPhone restart.

Thanks
 
Allanb1985 said:
So how do I do this then?
Click to expand...


I have the same, just have their own icloud account and log in, and use login for your iTunes account for app and iTunes Store. Then can have iMessage, FaceTime, backup etc for their own accounts and share apps, games and music.

Back on topic....
 
MrMister111 said:
Thanks for replies. So still unsure on the streaming or downloading then. As I say daughter loves to skip skip skip through the music, so would prefer streaming only. Google music play seems to stream only.

Regarding legalities didn't think. It states 10 devices allowed so presume it's fine for everyone on my iTunes account. Glad it's 10 as there's 4 of us with iPhones and iPads and Apple TVs so will use all 10 think.

iTunes Radio isn't here in UK yet wish would hurry up tho. I use the free Spotify which is great but adverts. Is iTunes Match worth it to get iTunes radio ad free even?


So can you do a test please to confirm if streams or not. I read that article as well saying about streaming. Can you check how much space you have, then at some music for a bit, various albums etc, skip fast, slow and then check space left before and after a iPhone restart.

Thanks
Click to expand...

For me, it streams unless I hit the cloud icon to download it.

Even if it did download, she could easily go in to Settings, Usage, Music, and hit "Delete" to delete all music every few days just to clear out anything that did download without having to delete song by song.
 
Tyler23 said:
For me, it streams unless I hit the cloud icon to download it.



Even if it did download, she could easily go in to Settings, Usage, Music, and hit "Delete" to delete all music every few days just to clear out anything that did download without having to delete song by song.
Click to expand...


She could yes but getting her to is anther matter!

That's brilliant if it's steaming much prefer that, why don't (didn't) they anyway in the beginning.

Did you just test this or know anyway please
Thanks again
 
rablat said:
I just tried this it in fact does NOT stream, song count went up by one and available storage went down.
Click to expand...

It does stream, but caches the song locally as well. This can be resolved by clearing your cache over time and/or Apple will remove it as well. Also, be sure you're not hitting the download arrow as that will definitely download the song to your phone.
 
djransom said:
It does stream, but caches the song locally as well. This can be resolved by clearing your cache over time and/or Apple will remove it as well. Also, be sure you're not hitting the download arrow as that will definitely download the song to your phone.
Click to expand...

Whatever you say. I guess Apple clearly doesn't know how their own system operates.
 
eww7633 said:
It just hasn't been updated. It has streamed for quite a while now instead of being forced to download first.
Click to expand...

Well then my devices must be the exception to this rule because they do not stream they download and I am not tapping the iCloud icon.
The song count goes up and storage goes down as well as the iCloud icon disappearing. I don't particularly care I have plenty of storage.
 
Deguello said:
My songs start playing before they could've downloaded fully. Is that not streaming?
Click to expand...

Steaming equals no downloading/caching. iTunes Match caches the songs on the device as you play them, but it does not need to cache the entire song before it starts playing it. Try playing a song and checking in "settings, general, about" on your device to see the count for songs increase as you play them.

Caching the song on the device does not mean streaming. Caching equals downloading.
 
Defender2010 said:
Steaming equals no downloading/caching. iTunes Match caches the songs on the device as you play them, but it does not need to cache the entire song before it starts playing it. Try playing a song and checking in "settings, general, about" on your device to see the count for songs increase as you play them.

Caching the song on the device does not mean streaming. Caching equals downloading.
Click to expand...
Who says streaming and caching are mutually exclusive?

If it starts playing during, not after, the download, it is streaming. It may also cache the download, but that doesn't mean it wasn't streamed. That's like arguing that YouTube doesn't stream if the video ends up in the cache or temp folder.
 
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