Tracks not playing in lossless after importing on iTunes

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Tracks not playing in lossless after importing on iTunes

iTunes Match not matching all the tracks in an album the same - for example, I have a physical CD that I want to import into my Apple Music, the same album on Apple Music plays back in Lossless, for all tracks. When I import the CD into my Apple Music it successfully matches all the tracks, but only some of them playback with lossless, some don't. As already mentioned, the same album on Apple Music plays all the tracks lossless. Why does this happen?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Mar 16, 2024 6:49 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 16, 2024 9:28 AM in response to eon_designs

Hi,

When a track is matched, it is matched as 256 Kbps AAC. The original track is not changed unless you opt to remove original and download the matched version. Usually all tracks will be matched but sometimes some will not match. It is possible that there is a fault in CD or the version in Apple is remastered version and therefore may not match. Apple has never provided lossless tracks in iTunes Match.

Apple Music subscription includes iTunes Match features but the main difference is that matched versions can be available as AAC, Lossless or Hi-Res. You can replace matched versions with Lossless or Hi-Res version. However unlike AAC versions, lossless and HiRes version have DRM and ore only playable as long as you have an active Apple Music subscription .

Note that it is good practice to keep a back up of your original tracks,

Jim

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Answer 2

eon_designs Author

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7 points

Mar 16, 2024 9:59 AM in response to Jimzgoldfinch

Hello. Thanks for the quick reply. Think I partially understand, but not sure why certain things are happening. I have both Apple Music subscription and iTunes Match so I can access my music on any device. The cd in question shows all of the tracks matched and says lossless in the track info (two different types, some matched 256, some matched with no value, I’ll enclose pictures later). If I playback the tracks on another device from my library some have the lossless indicator, some don’t. Question is why is it choosing to match to different types when it could have matched them all to the same type. If I choose to play the same tracks from Apple Music and not my library they all play with the lossless indicator.

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Answer 3

eon_designs Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 16, 2024 3:05 PM in response to eon_designs

These are images of 2 tracks that have been matched in my Music library; Track 3 shows it is matched lossless audio AAC and Track 4 shows it is matched AAC.

When I stream Track 3 from my library is plays with lossless but Track 4 from my library plays without lossless, which makes sense as one is lossless audio AAC and the other is just AAC:

However, if I then stream the same 2 tracks from Apple Music they both play with lossless.

This is the bit that I don't understand. Why have some tracks been matched and playback from my library with lossless and others don't, when they are available and playback via Apple Music with lossless?

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Tracks not playing in lossless after importing on iTunes

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