Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Quickly Upgrade All iTunes Matched Songs to 256Kbps
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It shouldn't do that, but someone can confirm.
How about in addition to the dozens of times it's been answered, it was answered again THREE POSTS UP FROM YOURS?
iTunes Bugs Included
I tried this starting last night, but this morning I have a bunch of errors. The first is this charming message:
"The iTunes Library file cannot be saved (-50)."
Looking at Activity Monitor, iTunes had scarfed up over 3 GB of memory, and was leaving open all of the tracks it was downloading. And, apparently, ran out of handles. There was still 5.71 GB of memory listed as Free, also.
I found a temporary work around by pausing downloads, and File->Library->Export. This saved acopy of the Library file, AND closed all the open tracks to do it. iTunes continued for a while, but then hung, and I had to force quit.
After restarting, and making sure the "iCloud Download" column was displayed, I could sort all the tracks by that column, then manually select them, right click, and click on "Download". Much inconvenience.
I tried this starting last night, but this morning I have a bunch of errors. The first is this charming message:
"The iTunes Library file cannot be saved (-50)."
Looking at Activity Monitor, iTunes had scarfed up over 3 GB of memory, and was leaving open all of the tracks it was downloading. And, apparently, ran out of handles. There was still 5.71 GB of memory listed as Free, also.
I found a temporary work around by pausing downloads, and File->Library->Export. This saved acopy of the Library file, AND closed all the open tracks to do it. iTunes continued for a while, but then hung, and I had to force quit.
After restarting, and making sure the "iCloud Download" column was displayed, I could sort all the tracks by that column, then manually select them, right click, and click on "Download". Much inconvenience.
After performing all the steps, I get to .....Select all songs, control click on one song and choose "DOWNLOAD". There are many options but "DOWNLOAD" is not one of them. What am I missing??
Last edited:
I am very pleased with iTunes Match. No question that it takes a bit more patience and thought to organize and convert an entire library comprising multiple accounts into all 256 format than I am sure it will require after the product matures, but for a new release it's great.
One tip, which will obvious to those more conscious than I, is that after you delete all your low bandwidth matched and purchased songs in preparation for the marathon download (after backing up to an external drive), you need to empty the Trash. I know, Duh, but I managed to provoke a terrifying error message by running out of internal disk space a quarter of the way through the download.
One tip, which will obvious to those more conscious than I, is that after you delete all your low bandwidth matched and purchased songs in preparation for the marathon download (after backing up to an external drive), you need to empty the Trash. I know, Duh, but I managed to provoke a terrifying error message by running out of internal disk space a quarter of the way through the download.
To delete tracks from a smart playlist on a Mac, the key combo is Option-Delete.
On Windows it is Shift-Delete.
----------
Actually, the appeal of iTunes Match is that you don't need such large local storage any longer. You can simply have it download whatever songs you need, on demand and on-the fly from the cloud. You don't really need all 18.5 GB stored locally on your device at all times, if you think about it. You need maybe 1 GB of the music you're listening to. Let iTunes Match grab what you need, when you need it.
----------
No, another appeal of iTunes Match is that all of this metadata is preserved and remains consolidated. The matching and downloading process doesn't negatively affect your metadata unless you actually delete the song from displaying in your iTunes database. Which this tip doesn't have you do. You delete the local, original file but the entry in iTunes remains. And you use that entry to grab the 256kbps version as a replacement.
Also, once it's all set up properly, you listen to a song on your AppleTV, your iPhone, your Mac, it doesn't matter, playcount is consistently adjusted.
This is awesome
Thank you for the tutorial... worked like a charm for me. I had 781 songs that were below 256kbps and the higher quality version is downloading as I type this.
I had 3 songs that came up with error 5099 - not sure what that is, and will wait until the rest of the items download to go back and try again. I don't really care about those 3 songs anyway, so no big deal.
Thank you for the tutorial... worked like a charm for me. I had 781 songs that were below 256kbps and the higher quality version is downloading as I type this.
I had 3 songs that came up with error 5099 - not sure what that is, and will wait until the rest of the items download to go back and try again. I don't really care about those 3 songs anyway, so no big deal.
i agree...i am having the same problem.
When i update itunes match will the songs that are greyed out become eligable again for listening? I am unable to listen to them on my itunes on my mac now...hopefully this is the correct solution...ideas?
Macworld says:
If you have a poorly-encoded (or Digital Rights Management-encumbered) copy of a song you own or have authorization for - and that song exists in iTuness 20 million song catalog - you can re-download those tracks as 256-kbps DRM-free AAC files.
DRM Disaster
Following these instructions, I found that I had over 6000 128k tracks to be replaced. Deleted, hit download... iTunes churns away then asks for my Apple ID password.
Entered it, watched a few more songs churn by... Again, it asks for my Apple ID password,
Again. And again. And again.
Sometimes it downloads the offending song, sometimes it fails with a 5099 error. Either way, it seems to be asking about every six songs. And I'm not willing to enter my password 1000 times.
Very frustrating.
Following these instructions, I found that I had over 6000 128k tracks to be replaced. Deleted, hit download... iTunes churns away then asks for my Apple ID password.
Entered it, watched a few more songs churn by... Again, it asks for my Apple ID password,
Again. And again. And again.
Sometimes it downloads the offending song, sometimes it fails with a 5099 error. Either way, it seems to be asking about every six songs. And I'm not willing to enter my password 1000 times.
Very frustrating.
I had the same problem and was really irked. This is what worked for me authorize your computer again, once I did this I did not get a prompt again.
Aloha
I had this problem too. I went to the top of my itunes library and clicked the cloud next to the root Music directory. There was a lightning bolt in it... after i clicked it started moving and i guess "activated" icloud. after that "download" became an option and the songs were no longer grayed out.
Hold the Shift/Control/Alt key. I don't remember which one. Just press buttons until the + turns into ...
You'll have more options!
You'll have more options!
How do you delete songs from hard drive as well as from iTunes?
I followed the instructions and deleted a few songs, then downloaded the higher bit rate songs from iCloud. However, the low quality songs--while they were deleted from iTunes--still appear on my hard drive. Is there a way to delete them from my hard drive at the same time you delete them from iTunes? Previously, when I have deleted songs from iTunes, I got a message asking me if I wanted to remove the songs from the hard drive as well, but I didn't get that message when I followed the instructions above.
I followed the instructions and deleted a few songs, then downloaded the higher bit rate songs from iCloud. However, the low quality songs--while they were deleted from iTunes--still appear on my hard drive. Is there a way to delete them from my hard drive at the same time you delete them from iTunes? Previously, when I have deleted songs from iTunes, I got a message asking me if I wanted to remove the songs from the hard drive as well, but I didn't get that message when I followed the instructions above.
If you didn't get that message, the songs were probably outside the iTunes library location set in the iTunes prefs. In iTunes, open prefs and go to the Advanced tab, it's the first option. If your songs aren't in that folder, you would need to remove the files manually.
This is an important point for those using Shift+Delete to delete tracks from a playlist and hard drive at the same time on Windows. If you're not using the option of allowing iTunes to automatically organize your music, you won't get the shift+click option because you specifically have chosen not to allow iTunes to manage the actual files on your drive.
I turned this option on and rescanned those folders, then deleted the originals (I have an external backup) just to make upgrading to 256 kbps easier while skipping the tracks that are already high quality. Keep in mind that moving 100 GB to the iTunes organized library will take a good 30-60 minutes!
Upgraded files on the computer. Still showing 128 on iphone
I upgraded my songs in my computer as per your post. When i plug my iphone into my computer it still shows the songs that are in the computer at 256 at 128. Since the iphone is now synching in the cloud ,there does not seem to be a way to upgrade the iphone songs from 128 to 256??
I upgraded my songs in my computer as per your post. When i plug my iphone into my computer it still shows the songs that are in the computer at 256 at 128. Since the iphone is now synching in the cloud ,there does not seem to be a way to upgrade the iphone songs from 128 to 256??
I'm not trusting enough to just blanket-delete everything out of the smartlist and then do a single download, since I have an awful lot of classical tracks ripped from CD's. Maybe I can do it with no worries (and I do have a complete backup) but I'm approaching this one album at a time and whittling down the list in the smartlist.