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Quickly Upgrade All iTunes Matched Songs to 256Kbps

Itunes Match general questions

Hi!

a) if itunes match downloads songs to your ios device as you need them, they presumably take up memory. What happens when your device's memory is full?

b) some things I have like rips of Audiobooks can't be matched and I can't seem to simply PUT them on my iphone. Is there a way around this?

thank you!
 
zorinlynx said:
This is RISKY!!! iTunes Match might match a different version of the song you have, particularly in dance music where there might be different mixes of the same song.

You should NOT DO THIS unless you have a FULL backup of your library you can go back to if you suddenly find you have the wrong version of a song you like!

When in doubt, backup. Then make a backup of your backup.
Click to expand...

Exactly, it's otherwise good advice but VERY bad to recommend deleting instead of just moving them to a different drive (or backing up first). If a song is matched to the wrong version, no way to get the right version back if you delete. I wouldn't delete songs until you've listened and confirmed that the new files are the correct ones.
 
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DustinT said:
Good post, thanks. I've got 2400 songs that are now upgrading!

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Rob9874 said:
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So how do I replace the files on my iPhone then? Just resync with iTunes after upgrading all my songs on my PC?
Click to expand...
Yup, just sync your phone and you'll be fine.

Personally, I've got iTunes match turned off on my iPhone. I prefer to carry my entire library at all times, even if they are smaller files.
Click to expand...

Nope. When I delete songs off my iTunes and sync, they're still on my phone. I thought someone said turning Match on your phone disables PC sync.
 
zorinlynx said:
This is RISKY!!! iTunes Match might match a different version of the song you have, particularly in dance music where there might be different mixes of the same song.

You should NOT DO THIS unless you have a FULL backup of your library you can go back to if you suddenly find you have the wrong version of a song you like!

When in doubt, backup. Then make a backup of your backup.
Click to expand...

Time machine, FTW. But if you want something a bit more tangible...

Before you delete them from itunes, make a new folder on the desktop and drag the select-all block into that folder. Once you complete the delete/replace operation, you can burn that folder to optical if you like, or whatever.

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If one does this, what happens to the matched songs you download if you ever stop paying the annual renewal for iTunes match?

I see that the matched, downloaded songs in my library have a "kind" of "Matched AAC," distinct from "Purchased AAC."

If I stop paying, will iTunes vaporize these tracks?
 
For those on Winodws who aren't able to delete songs from a smart playlist, this is what I did:

Find some unimportant sort option that you don't use (I used rating, but year or album artist - anything like that - works).

Then go to your smart playlist that you made from what they described in this post, and select all -> get info -> pick one of the options and enter something (I put rating as one star) -> OK.

Now you can go to your Music tab in iTunes, and right click the top bar and select whatever option you used to check it. Now it should appear as a column in iTunes. Click on the top of that column to sort by it, and all your songs from the playlist you made will appear together.

Select them all (use shift + click), then delete -> keep file.

Now you can right click and Download.
 
Kyllle said:
For those on Winodws who aren't able to delete songs from a smart playlist, this is what I did:

Find some unimportant sort option that you don't use (I used rating, but year or album artist - anything like that - works).

Then go to your smart playlist that you made from what they described in this post, and select all -> get info -> pick one of the options and enter something (I put rating as one star) -> OK.

Now you can go to your Music tab in iTunes, and right click the top bar and select whatever option you used to check it. Now it should appear as a column in iTunes. Click on the top of that column to sort by it, and all your songs from the playlist you made will appear together.

Select them all (use shift + click), then delete -> keep file.

Now you can right click and Download.
Click to expand...

just hit shift + delete to remove a file in a smart playlist

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So i've spent all day doing this (using my work's much faster connection), and ended up re-downloading 1400+ tracks in 256kpbs.

I just went to my iPhone and toggled the "iTunes match" option to refresh my library. App crashed. Killed it in multitask, opened the app again. All I get is a white screen where the app should be. Did a hard reset. Same thing. Do I need to do a complete restore?
 
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I tried redownloading FairPlay protected 128kbps songs that I had bought from iTunes before and they redow loaded as 128 Kbps. I was using iCloud not iTunes match. Is this only a match feature.
 
I'm doing this now. Although I'm doing it in smaller chunks - 500 or so at a time. A 2400 song download queue is going to eat into my bandwidth if I try watching something on NetFlix later tonight.

I'm really blown away at how well Apple's servers are handling the load that all this simultaneous uploading/matching/sync'ing, and downloading must be putting on them. How many millions of US iTunes customers are going precisely the same thing right now?

I'd also be interested to see what sort of impact the introduction of iTunes Match is having on US Internet traffic in general. Like the way that NetFlix makes up a pretty big chunk of evening-hours US internet traffic.

Anyone have any idea where that sort of data might be found, or is it all proprietary?
 
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Should the option click to add the conditional "any of the following" work with Smart mailboxes in Mail or smart searches in Finder? It does not for me, but I did not know it did this in iTunes.
 
denniscalero said:
Hi!

a) if itunes match downloads songs to your ios device as you need them, they presumably take up memory. What happens when your device's memory is full?

b) some things I have like rips of Audiobooks can't be matched and I can't seem to simply PUT them on my iphone. Is there a way around this?

thank you!
Click to expand...

a) You can delete all local files under Settings>General>Usage>Music ... and edit button for delete option, or for more granular control you can swipe artist, album or song individually in the Music app.

b) For audiobooks, select the files, right click>Get Info>Options (tab)> set "Media Kind" field to "Audiobook" or "Voice Memo," this will allow you to sync and manage these files differently than the music on your iOS device. Even with iTunes Match, audiobooks will sync under the "Books" tab of the iPhone sync screen, and voice memos can be synced under the music tab using playlists.
 
So... My music collection [was] a mess... However, I am performing this process now and as I watch the physical size of my library going up (9GB, 10GB, 11GB...) I'm realizing my collection will no longer fit on my iPhone. LULZ.
 
imac9556 said:
I was thinking...couldn't you also do the reverse if you wanted to save space on your hard drive?
Instead of less than 256Kbps you do GREATER than 256Kbps and get the 256Kbps version instead of the existing higher bitrate song?
Click to expand...

Yes, I did that with several MP3s and the files actually sounded better in AAC.
 
How to delete the tracks

I believe the correct key combination to delete tracks from a playlist is Option-Command-Delete

Great Tip!
 
for those who have matched their libraries, interested in hearing how much the size of their libraries have increased in comparison. thanks!
 
My library went from 15GB to 18.5GB....looks like I'll need that 64GB iPhone next time after all.
 
nsayer said:
Time machine, FTW. But if you want something a bit more tangible...

Before you delete them from itunes, make a new folder on the desktop and drag the select-all block into that folder. Once you complete the delete/replace operation, you can burn that folder to optical if you like, or whatever.

----------

If one does this, what happens to the matched songs you download if you ever stop paying the annual renewal for iTunes match?

I see that the matched, downloaded songs in my library have a "kind" of "Matched AAC," distinct from "Purchased AAC."

If I stop paying, will iTunes vaporize these tracks?
Click to expand...

This. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

EDIT: http://johnharo.net/answered-what-if-you-stop-paying-for-itunes-m (via greytmom post #38)
 
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Very clever. Now we just need iTunes Match in the UK.
 
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