iTunes Match keeps crashing!

Broke_Student wrote:

I have an old opportune system so I cannot update iTunes without paying for the new os which I will not do with this comp. iTunes Match hasn't stopped stalling regardless to what I do. First I stalled on the first stage for 4 hours. Now it's stalled on the 2nd stage for 6 hrs. I have tried restarting it and got it to go to stage 3 last night but it didn't budge all night or today. Have no clue what is going on. I have iTunes 10.6.3 on Mac OS X 10.5.8. Haven't had any problems till iTunes Match.

Your system specs support iTunes Match so that shouldn't affect the setup. Although it may be something else, two things seem to cause iTunes Match to hang at one or more of the setup stages; network issues and problematic files. BTW, if it hangs for more than 30 minutes or so it's likely not going to change so no need to wait hours. You can check the activity using Activity Monitor (in Utilities). If it's inactive for very long, time to shut it down and start again.

The fact that you can stop and start iTunes Match to get it at least partially going again makes me suspect a network problem. If iTunes Match is interrupted or times out (unable to reconnect after several tries) during the setup process it won't go any further and may need to start over. You may have an active network connection, can surf the web, etc., but that doesn't mean the network will play nice with iTunes Match which is very, very network dependent. Poor WiFi, lost packets, antivirus programs, firewalls and port issues can cause problems.

Assuming you have your own home/private network you might try rebooting everything. Unplug your router/modem and turn off your Mac. Let them both sit for five minutes. Plug your router/modem back in and give it a good three minutes or longer to re-establish a solid connection with your provider. Then reboot your Mac and give it a minute or so before trying to set up iTunes Match again. If at all possible use an Ethernet cable plugged directly into your modem/router while syncing iTunes Match. After everything is up and running you can certainly use WiFi, but a "hard wired" connection during the setup has resolved issues for many folks.

It can be a port/firewall issue as well. The last part of this article discusses firewall and port settings:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/37270/why-does-itunes-match-hang-on-ste p-2

If you share a network or don't have at least total control over it, ensuring no other network traffic is present during the iTunes Match setup, try using another network, possibly at a friend's house.

Problematic files are usually more of an issue after iTunes Match is set up, but it's possible that it's running into something it can't cope with. Finding "bad" files is a little more challenging. Have a look at your library and note any tracks that aren't fairly common - in other words tracks that you could find for sale to the public. The "Match" in iTunes Match means that it will be looking to match your library with existing (and legal) content. If you have any audio files other than common music, try removing those as well. I ended up having to delete about two-dozen tracks because iTunes Match couldn't deal with them. Some were old and under the required minimum bit rate of 96Kbps and others were odd "bootleg" tracks that I acquired and/or ripped at some point or other. I still have the files, but I removed them from iTunes.

Otherwise there are a lot of resolutions posted in this thread and elsewhere so you might want to do a little research.

Here are some links that might help:

http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/ultimate_guide_using_itunes_match

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4914

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4054

https://discussions.apple.com/article/TS4054

http://www.macworld.com/article/1163743/troubleshoot_itunes_match.html

http://gigaom.com/2012/11/19/itunes-match-re-match-have-things-gotten-any-better /

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/12/how-to-reset-itunes-match?page=all

http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_trick_itunes_match_matching_your_low_b itrate_files

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/11/20/one-trick-for-getting-itunes-match-to-recognize-o lder-tracks/

With respect to some oddities surrounding tracks that won't upload, cause iTunes Match to crash or are missing artwork and such, you could have a look at some of my and other's older posts (you might have to scroll down on some to find them)...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3492405?answerId=16760668022#16760668022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3494271?answerId=16737862022#16737862022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3494271?answerId=16961816022#16961816022

Ultimately I can tell you that iTunes Match isn't always perfect, but 99% of the time it works, and really works quite well. Of course for you, the setup process has to complete before you can enjoy it.

Hope that helps and let us know how it goes!

The cause is very likely to be one or more Song files. You can find these by enabling the iCloud Status and iCloud Download fields - in Song view sort on iCloud Status.

Any Songs that are Waiting should be removed from the library (you can simply copy them to a local folder and delete from the library). Once complete sign-out of iTunes Store, close iTunes and restart computer from cold.

Launch iTunes, sign-in to iTunes Store, enable iTunes Match and allow the 3-step process to complete.

mracole wrote:

Launch iTunes, sign-in to iTunes Store, enable iTunes Match and allow the 3-step process to complete.

Unfortunately the OP hasn't even gotten through the setup process. It's hanging on Step 2 but with some start/stop effort starts Step 3 and then hangs again. That's why I suspected a network issue initialy although it could be a file problem (or both).

I can't recall, can you see (or rely) on iCloud status if iTunes Match hasn't gone through the full setup process?

Yes - this is a common issue - should be straightforward to resolve given the steps outlined.

Got it. Hopefully that will work.

It was the Internet connection. I plugged it in with an Ethernet cord and felt stupid for not doing so earlier. I thought since everything else was working fine it should work too with the wifi. Thank you!

Broke_Student wrote:

It was the Internet connection. I plugged it in with an Ethernet cord and felt stupid for not doing so earlier. I thought since everything else was working fine it should work too with the wifi. Thank you!

Excellent! I kind of thought that might be the issue based on your description, but as mracole mentioned, a poor file or files can have the same effect sometimes.

WiFi can be tricky for intense two-way communications like that so a "hard wire" connection can make a real difference when it comes to staying connected as well as speed. Otherwise, once you're all set up you should be able to use WiFi to listen to your tunes, etc.

In any case, enjoy!

Cheers,

Rich

I've been having the same issue. I just signed up for iTunes Match a few days ago. Out of my over 18,000 songs about 13,000 were matched in the iTunes library and about 2,000 uploaded before iTunes crashed. I've been restarting iTunes, signing out and back into my Apple ID, and restarting iTunes Match. Sometimes it will make it to step 3 and pick up where it left off before crashing again, other times it won't get past step 2 before it crashes. It also sometimes tells me that iTunes Match is syncing from a different computer and, if I want to continue, I have to choose to stop that sync (which is really the same computer I've been working with this whole time) and start it again, but even when I do that and make it to step 3 it picks up where it left off. I'm down to about 200 songs left to be uploaded and everytime I repeat the steps outlined above I get one or two more songs uploaded before iTunes crashes.

Overall I'm quite happy with iTunes Match. I love having access to (almost) my entire library anywhere I go and my job provides free wifi so I can use it all day. For $25 I wouldn't expect to deal with the issues I have been, I'm pretty surprised Apple hasn't done something about this already considering the number of people complaining about it and considering that other companies like Amazon are jumping on the music library in the cloud bandwagon. Better step it up, Apple!

LenordDan wrote:

I've been having the same issue. <snip>

Sorry to hear that you're having trouble with iTunes Match. Early on a number of people (including myself) had problems, some pretty big ones. However in the past year or two issues are pretty rare by comparison. I don't think a cloud program this massive will ever be perfect (for Apple or any other company), but it's working quite well for almost everyone now.

Since iTunes Match is working for literally millions of folks odds are it's not an Apple issue, but a problem with one or more of the remaining files that you're trying to match. I ended up having to delete about 40 oddball tracks that were incompatible with iTunes Match (<96 kpbs, bootlegs, overly large coverart, etc.) Once I cleaned up my library things were fine. The good news is that although an odd glitch pops up now and then, there hasn't been anything insurmountable and it's usually an easy fix.

Trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome isn't the way to go and since it's not broken you shouldn't wait for Apple to do anything. There are a number of threads and posts on this support site plus many other places outlining how to troubleshoot the issue.

Take a look at my fairly extensive post above for some tips and advice. Also, here's another one of my posts from a while back that includes additional links that might be helpful...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3492405?answerId=20760332022#20760332022 (scroll down a few posts)

Bottom line is that if you have a good, clean connection during the initial setup (Ethernet ideally, not WiFi) and anti-virus software disabled you'll probably end up zeroing in on a track or tracks that are, for whatever reason, incompatible with iTunes Match.

Check out the links and advice and see if you can't get the rest of your library matched and then enjoy!

Hope that helps and let us know how it goes.

Oh wow, I found an old 1.5 hour ATB track in my library. Once I removed it iTunes Match finished up in about 30 minutes. Thanks for the advice! I now officially love iTunes Match, it's totally worth the $25 subscription fee.

btw, thank for getting back to me so quickly, I really appreciate it.

LenordDan wrote:

Oh wow, I found an old 1.5 hour ATB track in my library. Once I removed it iTunes Match finished up in about 30 minutes. Thanks for the advice! I now officially love iTunes Match, it's totally worth the $25 subscription fee.

btw, thank for getting back to me so quickly, I really appreciate it.

Awesome news...glad I could help.

Enjoy!

Since Apple Clearly states " iTunes Match is limited to 25,000 songs." It would seem your solution is obvious if you want to use itunes match you need to reduce the library you are atempting to match to 25,000 or less. (you do not need to delete them just create a new library and only import 25,000 of your songs. OR don't use itunes match.

Thank you jasmerphoto!

I followed the steps you outlined and once the songs with an Error status (about 6 songs total) were removed from the list, iTunes Match finished up with the uploads - no more crashes!

Windows 8.1 PC.

By the way, I have seen some comments about external drives possibly being an issue but that is not the case with me. I have my entire audio library, about 15275 songs along with movie and music video files, stored on an external 2TB hard drive. iTunes Match worked great, once I removed the 'Error status' songs.

Unfortunately I'm not able to fix it by deleting "suspect" items. iTunes 11.1.4 on OS X 10.9.1 keeps crashing. I've sent feedback and hopefully soon we will see an update...Hope, hope, hope.

still unfixed - cannot use iTunes match!!!

I've bought songs on iPad and I am not able to get them to iTunes @Mac