HardRock4

Q: Poor iTunes Match Matching

I have a music collection of about 10,000 songs, about 90% of which I ripped into iTunes from my CD collection.  I subscribed to iTunes Match today and only about 1,000 of my songs were recognized.  All of my tags and album art, etc. are present and up to date. Any ideas as to why? 

 

I have to say I'm dissappointed with my experience with iTunes Match so far.  I thought it would recognize the majority of my music instead of having to upload 9,000 songs.

Posted on Nov 14, 2011 2:07 PM

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Q: Poor iTunes Match Matching

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  • by sparta!,

    sparta! sparta! Nov 14, 2011 10:58 PM in response to sparta!
    Level 1 (110 points)
    Nov 14, 2011 10:58 PM in response to sparta!

    NM I figured it out.  However the majority of those 2k songs are being uploaded rather then matched...... Not what I expected to happen but I'll live with it for now.

  • by BabyFett,

    BabyFett BabyFett Nov 15, 2011 12:05 AM in response to sparta!
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 15, 2011 12:05 AM in response to sparta!

    Anyone know if after a song has been uploaded if it can be changed to a match, especially if it is a song or album that is in the iTunes Store. I've also noticed that little things seem to be preventing a match. For example on a lot of my Beatles albums, ripped from the CD, the digital copies have a parenthetical after them like (mono versions). You'd think Match would figure that it's the same song from the same album, but that's not the case. I also have The Best of the Doors, but iTunes has the same album with a slightly different name for the album so it didn't match. But again, one would think the songs themselves would match. Ironically I bought The Best of the Doors from iTunes years ago, but they don't sell that one now. 

  • by HardRock4,

    HardRock4 HardRock4 Nov 15, 2011 8:51 AM in response to tmksnyder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2011 8:51 AM in response to tmksnyder

    Initially step 2 only identified a low percentage of matched songs.  I didn't realize that the album artwork had to uploaded in step 3 for the majority of my collection to then show up as "Matched".  I assumed that the "Waiting" status was indicating that the song had to be uploaded, when in fact it was likely just the artwork.  Thanks for help!

  • by jgindi,

    jgindi jgindi Nov 15, 2011 2:02 PM in response to HardRock4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2011 2:02 PM in response to HardRock4

    tmksnyder, how can you tell if a song has been matched or uploaded?  Your post seems to indicate that you can see a difference, but allI see is that the waiting "cloud" icon disappears.  How can I tell what has been matched and what has been uploaded?

  • by jgindi,

    jgindi jgindi Nov 15, 2011 2:40 PM in response to HardRock4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2011 2:40 PM in response to HardRock4

    Now its time for me to answer my own question.  In addition to the little cloud icon there is a field called "iCloud" status that you can enable on the view menu.  That will tell you if it is matched, purchased or uploaded.

  • by Fred Flinstone,

    Fred Flinstone Fred Flinstone Nov 15, 2011 8:05 PM in response to HardRock4
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Nov 15, 2011 8:05 PM in response to HardRock4

    Sorry, but this is incorrect and this is not the right answer for me, and it does NOT have anything to do with uploading artwork.  My "iCloud Status" for my 3500 songs is complete and does not have any "waiting" status in any playlist views for any songs.  It only matched about 60% of my music and uploded (as in complete already) the rest, evne though the song titles, artist, and album titles were letter for letter perferct match to the fully available songs in the iTunes store.  Double checking the sonfgs that say "Uploaded" confirms that the are my original lower bitrate songs.

  • by Fred Flinstone,

    Fred Flinstone Fred Flinstone Nov 15, 2011 8:14 PM in response to downinitjr
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Nov 15, 2011 8:14 PM in response to downinitjr

    It does NOT have anything to do with uploading artwork.  My "iCloud Status"  column for my 3500 songs is complete and does not have any "waiting" status in any playlist views for any songs.  It only matched about 60% of my music and uploded (as in complete already) the rest, evne though the song titles, artist, and album titles were letter for letter perferct match to the fully available songs in the iTunes store.  Double checking the songs that say "Uploaded" confirms that they are my original lower bitrate songs.  If I delete a song that has status "Uploaded", and then re-download from the cloud, it is the same original low bitrate version and not a iTunes match higher bitrate version, again even though the song is avialable in the iTunes steor under the exact lettwer for letter song title, artist, and album.

     

    Of course, if I delete a song that has "Matched" status, and then download from the cloud, it immediately is the higher bitrate version.

  • by Darryl Mylrea,

    Darryl Mylrea Darryl Mylrea Nov 16, 2011 4:46 AM in response to HardRock4
    Level 1 (110 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 16, 2011 4:46 AM in response to HardRock4

    8900 songs in my collection, with a mixture of CD rips and purchased MP3's from MS Zune Marketplace (non-DRM). The majority were from Zune Marketplace.  Only about 50% matched, and more than 4000 had to be uploaded.

     

    All songs, minus a handful of oddball tracks, had perfect metadata and artwork.  Of course, Apple won't say what top-secret methods they use to match, but I doubt it is heavily weighted (or at all) on metadata.  While it seems logical, it would also be an easy way to get music you don't already have.  There are numerous programs that can edit the metadata and as such, would allow me to change a jazz track I own to a Beatles track I don't, at which time Apple would unknowingly give me a nice, new 256k AAC version of that "Beatles" track.

     

    I had a bunch of songs from Zune that I actually changed the Genre to a custom name that I made up (so I could track the songs easier), and some of the songs matched, so metadata isn't the only match method.

     

    So, the mystery of how they identify tracks may well remain a trade secret.  They should, though, allow track-by-track re-matching, and if there is no definite match, iTunes shows us what it thinks it might be, and allow us to choose.

     

    Since Match is version 1.0, hopefully there will be improvements in the near future.  All in all, while it's taken me two days to get fully "finished", i'm happy satisfied with the results.

  • by asmacumber,

    asmacumber asmacumber Nov 16, 2011 5:10 AM in response to Darryl Mylrea
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:10 AM in response to Darryl Mylrea

    I don't know why everyone is saying that Apple is keeping their match process secret. When they announced it they said that at least part of the matching would be done by the software actually "listening" to the song and trying to find a sonic match. They also addressed metadata, acknowledging that not every song would have perfect data but should match anyway. If it were weighted towards metadata I'd wager most songs would be matched.

     

    Don't forget people that this is 1.0. It's not perfect yet and will probably take time to get right. I'll probably wait a while and then clear my iCloud library and run the match over again just to see.

  • by Darryl Mylrea,

    Darryl Mylrea Darryl Mylrea Nov 16, 2011 5:30 AM in response to HardRock4
    Level 1 (110 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 16, 2011 5:30 AM in response to HardRock4

    Let me add to my previous post.  After enabling the "iCloud Status" column, and sorting, I found that even though the initial setup said over 4000 songs were not matched, only 652 songs out of my collection are shown as "Uploaded".  So, obviously, more matched than it originally stated.

     

    BUT, there are also lots of songs listed as Duplicates.  While this isn't a problem since the "original" track is in my library, it is a problem if the duplicate track is in a Playlist, because it is then excluded from the Playlist (in the iCloud version).  So, I my iPhone, which everything is in the iCloud, my Playlists are incomplete because songs in the library listed as duplicate are left out of the Playlist.  Not cool. 

     

    There are also a number of songs listed with iCloud status of "error".  Why?  What was the error? 

     

    There is still work to be done here, Apple.

     

    UPDATE:

     

    The songs in the playlist, listed as duplicate (and with a cloud symbol with a slash through it) can be right-clicked and there is an option to "Add to iCloud".

    I tried it on a few songs, and the status changed to "Waiting" and the slashed iCloud symbol went away.  Will it add it back to my iCloud playlist?  Time will tell.

  • by BabyFett,

    BabyFett BabyFett Nov 16, 2011 6:50 AM in response to Darryl Mylrea
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 6:50 AM in response to Darryl Mylrea

    Darryl wrote:

     

    "There are also a number of songs listed with iCloud status of "error".  Why?  What was the error?"

     

    I don't know what this error is, but perhaps it's just that we're all uploading multiple things at the same time (it doesn't upload one at a time, it's doing several at the same time) and probably with the server overload we're all getting some errors. But if you right-click a song you can do "add to iCloud" and it should work. Or if you have a lot of errors like I have just go into Store drop-down menu and click on "update Match" and it'll add all the error songs. At least it did for me.

     

    Hope this helps.

  • by sapintel,

    sapintel sapintel Nov 29, 2011 6:26 AM in response to HardRock4
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 29, 2011 6:26 AM in response to HardRock4

    How to Fix Step 2 and Step 3 Errors in iTunes: Music Media Formats, and Checking Firewall

     

    This solution assumes that you do not have corruption in your iTunes library database. To fix that follow the steps in Apple Support KB ht1251 above.

     

     

    Step 1, 2, or 3 Hangs: Problems with Media Formats.

    If you have heterogenous media formats in your music files, some of them will FAIL iTunes match, causing it to hang. This is a software error in iTunes match, which should mark the files as "Not eligible" instead of remaining stuck in an endless loop. These errors never occur if all the songs in the music library are unprotected AAC 256 kbps music files encoded by iTunes 10.5.1.

     

     

    There are two basic ways to upgrade your song media formats to iTunes 10.5.1 AAC encoding - encode all of them at once, or do them selectively. In either method, you must delete the original version from iTunes and your file system. If you previously loaded them to iCloud, get rid of them there also.

     

     

    You will be able to see a hung file in OS/X under Activity Monitor -> iTunes -> Inspect Process -> Open Files and Ports. In Windows you will have to use standard Task Manager inspections.

     

     

    In my iTunes library, I found that certain AAC (m4a) files which were encoded in before 2011 were stuck, and m4p Protected AAC files. I had already fixed the encoding of MP3s, so I was suprised that music previously encoded by iTunes was hanging up.

     

     

    You may convert all files which were not encoded at 256 kbps AAC with a right-mouse click. Find them:

    1) individually in iTunes as you discover them in Open Files and Ports trace, or

    2) by creating a sort smart playlist that matches their pattern. For example, a playlist with bit-rate < 256k. 

     

     

    After converting them, you MUST delete the previous file(s) from your iTunes library. I suggest you move the actual file to trash, and delete the trash. Archive the files if you wish. If any of them were already matched to iTunes Match, you must delete them there also.

     

     

    After getting rid of older media formats, re-run iTunes match. Step 2 should complete, and your Open Files and Ports window should no longer show any music file open in your iTunes library. If it does show, convert it and remove the old file from your library.

     

     

    If you have converted your music library and Step 3 is still stuck, it is likely a Firewall problem. Check the last line in Open Files and Ports, and use the information in the last rows to check your firewall settings. The upload port is shown in this form, 192.168.1.1:53089->72.21.214.201:https. If you see this type of row, but nothing is being uploaded, a firewall or other issue is blocking that port.

     

     

    In my case the block was created by my broadband modem settings. Check with the installation guide for your modem - typically they can be managed by a http:// address such as http://192.168.1.254. Change the firewall settings as needed.

  • by Zeb the cyclops,

    Zeb the cyclops Zeb the cyclops Dec 10, 2011 3:05 PM in response to tmksnyder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 10, 2011 3:05 PM in response to tmksnyder

    great way to track progress! i hope my stuff is actually matching. i have 600 out of my 1500 songs not matched and i can't click on them on my iphone so i have to pick a random song near it under "all songs" and i skip back to it to play it. did anyone have that problem at first??

  • by Zeb the cyclops,

    Zeb the cyclops Zeb the cyclops Dec 10, 2011 3:06 PM in response to toonz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 10, 2011 3:06 PM in response to toonz

    you can just take all your cd ripped music and "create AAC version of them to make it more simple.

  • by BassoTim,

    BassoTim BassoTim Dec 11, 2011 7:17 AM in response to sapintel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 11, 2011 7:17 AM in response to sapintel

    I am having a similar problem- iTunes gets to step 3 and then just stays at "0 of 216 items uploaded" I checked but it does not seem to be hanging. There are lower bit songs and there are some of my own songs in iTunes as well. Any more help?

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