So many problems with iTunes Match...

Purchasing itunes match has been quite possibly the worst decision I have ever made.

I had 3000 songs, all from CD's I'd bought over the years and after running them through itunes match I was left with just under 500. Althought this was outrageous I managed to move on after receiving no help whatsoever from apple and their pathetic customer frustration team (it would be a misrepresentation in calling them customer service) and started to buy some music back and get more music through itunes until itunes mis-match reared it's ugly head again.

In February I moved from the UK to Australia, arrived and bought a new iphone - plugged it into my old itunes on laptop and got going. I'd recently started to notice that I wasn't able to get some local apps etc and only last Friday my fiancee bought me a new ipad 3 for my birthday...

At the weekend I tried to change my country in the store from the UK to Australia and guess what happened - yep that's right - becuase of my active itunes mis-match subscription I couldn't change it. I emailed apple, they emailed back with step by step instructions saying "switch off auto renew for mis-match, log back in, change country etc"...

I did all this, only to be told "You have an active itunes mis-match subscription" - absolutely unbeleivable. So I now can't get any local apps - travel, sport, banking and so on. I have $100 in Aus itunes vouchers that I can't redeem on my account, I'm annoyed that my fiancee spent more money with these jokers but by far my favourite quote from appleas email was this one;

"Regarding your other concern, I am pleased to inform you that the iTunes Store Customer Support will let you download (at no charge) all the songs you purchased on this account that are still available. This does not include any item that has been modified or removed from the store since you purchased it."

Wow wee!!! Apple won't charge me to get MY music that I have already paid for - how fantastic!!

So - I would seriously advise anyone thinking about itunes mis-match not to bother as it is just an absolute farce, just like the customer service... aplly are happy to take you money but not to fix things when they break or provide you with the appropriate support... Jokers.

This thread is getting very very stupuid and very very annoying. ,

Geat input Glen...

I agree, Glenn. But getting attention to this important issue is the point. We know that Apple is reading these threads, and the longer this gets, the larger the red flag goes up the chain of corporate command. Of course, an actual Apple representative COULD chime in and explain how to resolve the issues, since this is the official "Apple Support" forum.

Very true...

5600+ posts in itunes match suggests that something isn't going too well with this service and that people's concerns with this service aren't really that stupid after all.

It would be great if apple could clarify their viewpoint on this - I would be surprised though.

Apple gets a lot of things right, sadly this one has gone very wrong...

I consider long-winded and annoying threads like this that go on and on with case after case of problems about a specific issue (in this case iTunes Match) to be the online equivalent of Occupy protesting. It deliberately brings attention to the issue by annoying Apple into taking action or at least giving a response, AND we won't get dragged by security out of Apple's lobby!

Let's all just be nice, though. 🙂

All I have to say to EVERYONE. is BACK UP all your mp3s you bought or ripped from your CDs. Please do us all a favor yes, Apple needs to respond and listen to us with care. But, this thread has gone on way too long. I'm sorry if I have ofended anyone I'm just saying what I'm thinking,.

No offense taken, Glenn. I see this thread as a bunch of Apple users helping each other make the best of an unfortunate situation. I wouldn't care as much if I didn't WANT iTunes Match to work, or love Apple's products in general, and I'm sure others would agree. We are passionate about the things we love.

Speaking of backing up mp3s, I used an app a while back called Media Rover to feed all my computers iTunes music into one manageable hard drive backup. It wasn't without its own setup hiccups, but mostly just regarding your own home network due to finding and entering the correct path structures, IP addresses, etc. Once I got it up and running, it seemed to do well, at least long enough to get ONE major archive made, before it began losing connections and copying the same files over and over. Maybe there's a curse on iTunes media management in general, haha.

http://mediarover.com/

I agree that a separate backup of your media (NOT just through Time Machine) is vital, and I hope that app helps others to get their own backup going.

• If somebody finds this thread annoying then they can easily not check it and opt out of receiving updates.

• Any annoyance could be fixed in 5 minutes by one response from Apple.

I appreciate that the thread continues. I am contemplating purchasing iTunes Match and found this thread. If the issues were all in old posts, it would lead me to believe that Apple may have fixed at least some of the issues. The fact that new posts continue to pop up tells me the problems are likely ongoing.

This most definitely will have an impact on my purchase decision.

I haven't read this thread, but looks like a place to describe issues.

My issue isn't so much with albums I've uploaded, its with albums I bought from the iTunes store itself. Specifically, on a whim I bought the AC/DC "Collection" for 99 bucks. I was feeling nostalgic. I have my iPhone set to use iTunes Match, and I buy the albums on a laptop. This way the phone doesn't fill up.

For a few days, the entire collection was in iTunes match just fine. Then one day it just disappeared. No longer in the cloud, and I can't even download it to the phone. It just freezes looking at the purchase. Doesn't do this with any other purchase, just the most expensive one I've ever made in iTunes.

Support says "well sometimes it takes a while for things to show up in the cloud." This was over a week ago, and still nothing.

It would be one thing if this was some off the beaten path album I had uploaded, but this is something I purchased from you, Apple. How hard is this?

Just to let you know about a different experience. I have been using iTunes Match since Dec.28, 2011. I have a 160 GB library with over 15,500 songs. About half of those were not in the iTunes store and had to be uploaded. I only had about 50 songs that were rejected. Some were over the limit for length, and a few were very old, low res rips from the Musicmatch days. I just converted them to ACC and re-uploaded. I have had no problems with iTunes Match, so far. I am running it with a 2011 iMac, a 2010 Mini, an iPhone 4 and an iPad 2.

This is not to discount others' problems, just to say it works for me.

Yes - me too. No problems at all through several OS upgrades too. I'm only up to about 6,000 songs but I have some rare stuff too that just needed an AAC conversion and iTunes Match takes the upload perfectly. What bothers me about this thread is all the hyperbole and calling it 'the worst product Apple's made'. Nonsense. It's the 'users' that are different. And, yes, some have different needs. I have not discounted anyone's personal experience. But iTunes Match works perfectly for the VAST MAJORITY of people with even HUGE libraries of songs. All artwork perfect - all upgrades to 256k perfectly accomplished - all ordering and albums sorting perfectly - on all my units from Apple TV to 3 computers to three iDevices. If it works for me that way - that PROVES that the written code DOES work, PERFECTLY.

SO -- what can be the difference in some of our experiences? Logic tells us - that there's something in the 'user's' interaction with iTunes Match that is the trouble. Don't flame me - I'm not saying 'user ERROR'.. I'm saying that there's something in the 'system' extensions or conflcting 3rd party software extensions, dll files, etc.. that could account for people's problems. Apple has admitted ONLY that "FOR SOME USERS" there are issues. That statement does not admit that they've release a 'faulty' product - but rather simply thay they're acknowledging that some people are having problems.

I think the reason we get no update is simply because, they can't test for every possible scenario of 3rd party extensions and dll's that people have in their system. On a 'clean' - no 3rd party installed extensions Apple system - iTunes Match should work perfectly at any size of library. Don't hold your breath awaiting any updates - because Apple simply can't "reproduce" the bug some are experiencing. Those of you in the software world understand the concept of 'reproducible bug'. Unless it's reproducible - it's not a "bug". Therefore no fix is forthcoming.

If I were having troubles - I would do what I've done for scores of clients I consult for - disengage one "kext" (extension - in MAC World) or one "dll" (PC World) at a time and see if iTunes Match cleans up. This is not a 'reproducible' bug on Apple's end -- and that's why after almost 500 posts we have no answer, my friends.

Same here I was having massive issues w match when I first got it. Eventually spoke with and apple customer service rep she had me change all my song files to AAC files and now match works flawless for me I actually like it quite a bit. There was a bit of work offer the conversion ( had to delete the duplicate non AAC versions) but it was well worth it in tunes match is workin great hopping they bring back the individual track downloads in the 6.1 update but other than that no issues

Hello,

I concure. I have not had any problems with Itunes Match what spo ever but, that's not sayhing that there are people out there that have it. People who are having problems, I hope things get sorted out for you. Ity's eith the user or a thrid party issue, or maybe even both or mayby not fully understainfing how Itines Match works. I am still learning things even now with iTuines 11 but in all honesty, I don't have any complaints. I uploaded all my Blind Guardian CDs last night, everything match beautiful.About 75% of my music matched with 25 % uploaded at abouyt 4,000 songs and all artowrk is there. I am using Windows 7 however with my ATV not and with an Iphone or Ipad. YET.

Hope everyone gets their issues resolved. Itunes Match is really a great service,