iTunes Match with more than 25,000 songs

I have over 25k (legal) songs! The debut of MP3 technology (cira 1996) was what got me into computers and since then I've transfered all of my CDs to the computer as well as legal (digital) purchases. If illegal downloads exist on my computer, they represent less than 5% of my total collection.

The point being is, there should really be a way to select which tracks go on iCloud; similiar to how I can select what I want on my iPad and iPod. But then again, for $25 per year I think setting a 25K limit is MORE than reasonable from a business presepective (those poor execs at Apple are barely getting by!).

The current proposed solution of managing 2 libraries is nothing short of ridiculous. The whole point of iCloud is to have a single library that can sync on mulitple devices, isn't it?

Completely Agree with you. I have a huge library of CD's that I ripped when I got my first ipod in 2002. My library has grown to almost 26,000 since that time. I wish apple would give us the option of which tracks/artists we want scanned.

I have well over 25,000 songs in my iTunes library, I have managed to get iTunes Match on and working fine which only about 15,000 of my song actually in iTunes Match. Here is what I did:

For this, you will need 3 libraries (I did this on three different computers, but it can be done all on one computer by holding down Option when you click iTunes to select a different library).

1.) 1st library: Original untouch library

2.) 2nd library: Original library will all music removed (keep your movies, books, apps, etc)

3.) 3rd library: Clean library with nothing in it

Let's for the sake of this example assume you have a library of 40,000 songs.

Step-by-Step:

1.) From library #1, select the first 20,000 songs and add them to a new playlist.

2.) Once these songs have been added to the play list, click on the playlist then export it in XML format by going to File ~> Library ~> Export Playlist. Make sure to select XML as the for file format.

3.) From library #2, import you playlist of 20,000 songs by going to File ~> Library ~> Import Playlist.

4.) Your playlist should import with all of your play counts, ratings, last played, etc all still there.

5.) When you playlist is done importing, turn on iTunes Match

6.) Let iTunes Match do it's thing (this may take a very long time)

7.) When iTunes Match is done, it should say that you have ~20,000 songs in iTunes Match (it may be less depending on if any songs where not able to be added for whatever reason).

8.) From library #3, turn on iTunes Match

9.) You should see the ~20,000 songs that are in iTunes Match show up in library #3.

10.) From library #3, select all of your songs and hit delete.

11.) From library #2, you should see all of your songs go from matched/uploaded to removed as the iTunes Match status.

12.) Once all 20,000 songs have an iTunes Match status of removed, update iTunes Match by going to Store ~> Update iTunes Match.

13.) Once iTunes Match is updated, it should say that you have 0 song in iTunes Match. (it might show a hand full of songs, but not to worry).

14.) From library #1, select your remaining 20,000 songs and create add them to a new playlist.

15.) Once these songs have been added to the play list, click on the playlist then export it in XML format by going to File ~> Library ~> Export Playlist. Make sure to select XML as the for file format

16.) From library #2, import you playlist of 20,000 songs by going to File ~> Library ~> Import Playlist.

17.) Your playlist should import with all of your play counts, ratings, last played, etc all still there.

18.) Let iTunes Match do it's thing (this may take a very long time)

19.) When iTunes Match is done, it should say that you have ~20,000 songs in iTunes Match (it may be less depending on if any songs where not able to be added for whatever reason).

20.) Open library #3 and since we never turned off iTunes Match, you should see the new 20,000 songs show up.

21.) From library #3, select all of your songs and hit delete.

22.) From library #2, you should see all of your songs go from matched/uploaded to removed as the iTunes Match status.

23.) Once all 20,000 songs have an iTunes Match status of removed, update iTunes Match by going to Store ~> Update iTunes Match.

24.) Once iTunes Match is updated, it should say that you have 0 song in iTunes Match. (it might show a hand full of songs, but not to worry).

- At this point, you should have library #1 still untouched, library #2 as an exact copy of library #1, but now you have iTunes Match turned on even though you have 40,000 song in your library and library #3 should be empty.

- You can delete library #1 and 3 now as library #2 is your main library

25.) Now any songs you want to show up in iTunes Match, from library #2 (your main and only library now), select the songs, then either right click or control-click them and then click on Add to iCloud. You could also just create a play list of everything you want in Match, then select everything in that playlist and click on Add to iCloud. The bottom line here is that you have 40,000 songs in your iTunes library and you can pick and choose which ones you want in iTunes Match.

This methods sounds great! However, my only question is how will you keep the playlists from the original library into the 2nd library? (I have like 20 or 30 playlists...)

After you have completely rebuilt library #2, export them from library #1 as XML files then import them into library #2.

Thank you! This sounds amazing - I'm trying it right now.

Unrelated to iTunes Match, I came across PowerTunes this week - it lets you manager multiple iTunes libraries and is perfect to do this with just one computer.

One question thought: on 6) you mention letting iTunes Match run all the way through - is it also necessary to let the upload part?

Hi,

Just read your post and follow your logic.

However, if you have 40k tracks how will iTunes match be updated? Are you certain that you can selectively choose which tracks you want in the cloud.

I know from experience if you try to add more tracks in excess of 25k you get iCloud status as "Exceeded limit"

Jim

If I understand it correctly, the benefit of using this method is that you can have a library with more than 25000 - you won't be able to have more than 25000 songs on iCloud at a given time, but you add or remove them from iCloud.

@Dinis:- I suppose you don't really need to let it do the full upload, but I found that iTunes Match can get very persistent in trying to make sure it has finished trying to match and upload everything. Also by just letting it upload everything up front, it seemed to me that even though you may delete an uploaded song from the cloud, it stays there for several hours in such a way that if you add it back within that several hour time frame, it doesn't need to reuploaded it.

@Jimzgoldfinch:- There isn't a way around the 25,000 song limit in iTunes Match that I'm aware of and this isn't going to get you more then 25,000 song not purchased from iTunes in iTunes Match. It is simply a way to have more then 25,000 song in your library while manually selecting which songs (up to 25,000) you want to have in iTunes Match.

Thanks! Also, when deleting them from Library #3 I must not remove them from iCloud, correct?

I'm still in the process of matching my first bacth - I have a few more than 40000 songs so I guess I'll have to this three times (right?).

Hi,

I don't see how you can get itunes match to work if you have more than 25K non purchased tracks in your library.

As far as I'm aware there is no way to manually select the song that you wish to add or delete from cloud.

I have over 31k songs in my library (just under 25K non purchased tracks). If I go above the limit, icloud status on extra tracks is "exceeded limit". If i want them to be added, I need to delete an equivalent number from my library to bring total back down to below 25K.

What has been your experience, have you still got imatch turned on? What happens when itunes updates?

Jim

It looks like if your remove them from iCloud (status remove) it doesn't count to the 25000 song limit - could it be it?

Someone over at MacRumors was suggesting a similar workaround (using two libraries instead of three and deleting and re-adding songs back to the main library) an it also appeared to be working.

Hi,

This is how I tackled the problem. I could not get itunes match initially as I had more than 25K - did not take into account purchased tracks. I removed over 12K to get total below 25K. I then got Itunes match then added as many of the tracks as I could befor hitting the limit. PS I have around 5.5k tracks in library as podcasts!!

Jim

After deleteing the songs from the 3rd library, the status will change from Matched/Uploaded to Removed in your 2nd library. With a status of Removed, they don't count against your 25,000 song limit in iTunes Match. The problem with the 2 library method is that you loose your ratings, play counts and any other tweeks to the tags that you might have made in iTunes that didn't get written to the source file. By doing it like this, you get to keep your ratings, play counts and any other tweeks you made to the files in iTunes. The key to keeping this information is the exporting and importing of the songs as XML playlists.

You can see how this is working by looking at the number of songs in each library versus match by the following:

1st library 2nd library 3rd library iTunes Match

Step 1-2 40,000 0 0 0

Step 3-4 40,000 20,000 0 0

Step 5-7 40,000 20,000 0 20,000

Step 8-9 40,000 20,000 20,000 20,000

Step 10-13 40,000 20,000 0 0

Step 14-17 40,000 40,000 0 0

Step 18-19 40,000 40,000 20,000 20,000

Step 20-24 40,000 40,000 0 0

Step 25 0 40,000 0 up to 25,000

Before step 25, you can now see that you have iTunes Match turned on library #2 with over 25,000 songs, but your iTunes Match song count is 0. The 40,000 songs sitting in library #2 will have a iCloud status of Removed. Now you can start selecting (up to 25,000) which songs you want to have added to iTunes Match manually to selected them, then either ctrl-clicking or right clicking on them and selecting add to iCloud.

Hi,

I understand what you have done and that you have your complete library intact.

Is it correct that iTunes match ignores removed status files? How many tracks do you now have in imatch, what happens when you reach 25k.

What happens when you remove a song? To delete from the cloud you also need to delete from cloud?

Jim