iTunes Match with more than 25,000 songs

likewise, I've got around 46000 tracks, and would prefer not to segment my library. Hopefully there is an update to support larger libraries soon.

Just adding my name to the pile - having the same problem.

How about the same way iTunes lets you fill a smaller iPod Shuffle or iPhone by first selecting top rated songs and then filling up the remainder with random songs, iTunes Match could "intelligently" upload only a subset of people's libraries if they are over 25,000.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a licencing thing - the idea being that if you have a library greater than 25k then you MUST be a pirate and hence the service won't work for you. Who knows.

Either way. I made the mistake of signing up on my laptop first (which only has a small subset of my music) then when I went to add my main desktop (which has my full library) I got the error there. So, essentially I've thrown away my $25...

Looks like you may be SOL. The only workaround would be if a majority of those songs were purchased through iTunes, as those purchases do not count against your 25k song limit. I have to think that a very small subset of iTunes users are anywhere near this limit.

To be fair, no cloud service that I can think of at the moment will allow for an unlimited sized library. Google Music Beta only allows for 20k songs, while mSpot and Amazon limit you based on storage size (Amazon claims to have an 'unlimited' storage space plan as part of a limited time offer, but we all know that nothing is truly 'unlimited' in the tech world).

Perhaps things will change in the long run. Remember that the music labels are taking a serious risk with iTunes Match which, let's face it, *will* be used to legitimize piracy by a lot of users. At the same time, it provides a level of service that no one else in the industry is offering at the moment, and users truly benefit from its features. If iTunes Match turns out to be a commercial success for the music industry, just as the iTunes Music Store saved the music industry, you'll start to see these type of restrictions relaxed a bit.

bremecuda wrote:

I'm trying to get going with the Match service but I'm shut down

What do you mean by "I'm shut down"?

iTunes prevents you from signing up?

Or that because you have more than 25,000 songs, you have not even tried to sign up?

If you have more than 25k of non-iTunes purchased songs in your iTunes library, you cannot sign up for iTunes Match. It won't even let you try.

The only workaround at the moment, albeit a crappy one, is to hold down the shift key on Windows, option key on Mac, immediately after launching iTunes. There, you will have the ability to create or select different iTunes libraries. You can have one library that holds all your music, and have a second library that only includes iTunes Match songs. This situation isn't ideal, because you'll be forced to manage two different libraries, which have their own playlists, play counts, synced device data, and other information. You'll also have to keep switching between the two to have access to all of your content. You'd be better off having a completely separate user profile on your computer, or just have two different computers. Again, you'd be managing two different libraries.

The idea of managing two libraries isn't one I look forward to. I knew it was going to have this 25,000 song max but I was hoping they would change their minds about it or give an option in iTunes to select what artists/albums/songs you wanted to be a part of iTunes Match.

Adding myself to the pile 158,000 + . Wish I could pay more to put it all in the cloud or even have the option to select which files are eligible. This all or nothing thing really feels like bait and switch.

Found a solution: How to Use iTunes Match With Very Large iTunes Libraries http://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/14/how-to-use-itunes-match-with-very-large-itun es-libraries/ and http://www.macworld.com/article/163599/2011/11/dealing_with_itunes_matchs_25_000 _track_limit.html

I was able to sign up. After Match scanned my library it said I exceed my limit. I have 45K+ but over half are legitimate iTunes purchases. Something is wrong here. I agree should be an option to choose which songs are loaded into the cloud. 2 libraries to mange is not the way Apple users work. It is supposed to be about the ease.

just jumping on this (had to search forever for this forum guess not that many people have 25k+). ok so 66,000 songs, cant even fit half of them on my 160 gb ipod classic cause it litterally wont play with over 25k songs (or some such number).

making two libraries sounds interesting but the whole point is that i want access to ALL my songs. the only thing that REALLY makes me mad with this whole thing is that in the key note address all those months ago i got sooo excited..... they showed the chart with google, amazon, someone else, and imatch, showed the limitations of how many songs, how if you wanted more space it cost more, BUT NOT WITH IMATCH. and they went over how itunes has over 1million songs so it won't take that long to upload your music because odds are most of your music will already be in the cloud and it will just have to download your music that isn't already in the cloud. so that all sounds pretty straight forward right?

i just don't like being lied to, get me all excited for a steak then throw me a burger patty.

so what happens when someone has under 25k and over the next few days, weeks, months, they grow their library?
hmmm that might be a work around?

annoyed

I was wondering precisely the same about adding to a library past the 25K point after using Match for a while and what would happen.

Well, let's be fair about this now. Apple has always had on their information page for iTunes Match that the limit was 25k for non-iTunes purchased music. Even Google, which just opened a cloud music store, limits you to 20k songs.

Also, I'm not accusing anyone of wrong doing, but how many people seriously have a single library of 25k+ songs? I have to think a very small fraction of iTunes users come anywhere close to that number (and Apple has the metrics, which is probably why they felt 25k was a good limit for the music industry to swallow). Besides, of those users, how many people have acquired such a library legitimately? I'm just saying that I know a few hard core music fans that have boxes and boxes of CDs stored away that they've been collecting for decades, and they still don't come close to 25k songs.

I downsized my music library drastically over the past two or three years, though it was about 25K or over. I used to have this problem where I couldn't stand to have incomplete albums, so if I liked just ONE song from an album, I had to have the whole thing. Needless to say, I've overcome my OCD music hoarding and now have no qualms about deleting songs I know I'll never enjoy.
And yes, back then most of my songs weren't always obtained legally (though I never used P2P services to aquire them), but that all changed when Apple finally dropped the DRM.