So many problems with iTunes Match...

IndianaDan wrote:

richsadams wrote:

IndianaDan wrote:

The bigger problem is on my iPad. After activating Match on the iPad, now a lot of albums are splintered...meaning that some tracks have been separated from their original albums and placed into their own "albums".

I figured, "no problem, I'll just sync it back to my iMac which will reorganize everything." No dice, it didn't work.

If you're viewing albums under the "Artists" option on your iPad there may be several entries for the same album. It all depends on how the album is tagged. For instance, if a majority of the songs on an album are by the same artist, band, etc. but one includes another artist, two "albums" will be represented. If Eric Clapton performs nine songs on an album but one track included Eric Clapton and George Harrison, you would see two albums listed.

You can adjust this on your iPad by going into Settings > Music > Group By Album Artist > On/Off.

Thanks for the feedback, but it still doesn't remedy the issue. I did follow your advice and switch that toggle "off". I closed "music", restarted it..even tried it with Match both "off" and "on", no change.

To show the anamoly, let's just use my soundtrack to the movie "Cars" for example.

Two tracks (by Brad Paisley) are in their own album, with the Cars album artwork.

Every other track, by other artists (Randy Newman, Sheryl Crow, The Chords, Rascal Flatts, and James Taylor) are grouped together in a 2nd album (but with no artwork!!??).

I have a few albums like that as well, usually soundtracks or compilations (greatest hits of the 90's, etc.) In the case you describe itunes sees the Brad Paisley songs as different from the rest of the songs on the album. Again, it's all about the tags. The provider sets those and Apple just passes them along.

Have a look at how the album is specifically tagged...you can often change tags to comply with how you want albums listed.

In iTunes on your computer click on the album > Get Info > Info. Check or uncheck "Part of a compilation" then look under "Sorting" and see what's there.

Also on compilation albums the genre can often be different for different songs and artists. You might have a song from Madonna under the Pop genre while another could be from Shania Twain under the Country genre. iTunes could split those out as "different albums". Because of that you would need to control-click/right-click on each track and click on "Get Info" to see how each song is tagged.

Once you've made any changes click on "Store" in the iTunes toolbar and click on "Update iTunes Match".

Hope that helps!

Isn't it fun to PAY Apple for the privilege to beta test their products? 😉

If some people have gotten refunds, I would keep pursuing it.

At this point it's still not working on my system, if there's no fix for it I certainly am not letting them keep the money for a service that doesn't work at all.

dViper wrote:

It's not that simple. I've had many albums display and sort incorrectly through iTM but when adding the albums to my device by USB through iTunes, they sort perfectly. It is not about the meta data, it's a problem with how the iTM service handles the meta data.

Okay. So what's your solution?

dViper wrote:

I don't have one. I've tried everything I can think of and even tried called apple care for their advice. That's why I'm requesting a refund.

Try setting an "Album Artist" for all the tracks (I use "Various Artists") and check the box for "Part of a Compilation". I have quite a few compilation albums and they display properly for me with this method.

mjbanks wrote:

dViper wrote:

I don't have one. I've tried everything I can think of and even tried called apple care for their advice. That's why I'm requesting a refund.

Try setting an "Album Artist" for all the tracks (I use "Various Artists") and check the box for "Part of a Compilation". I have quite a few compilation albums and they display properly for me with this method.

Exactly what I had suggested above. Works fine for me as well.

I am having a lot of the same issues as everyone else, as far as weird situations where most of an album, save for a song or two, is matched, and then a couple other songs have to be uploaded. Of my 18000 songs, around 2000 needed to be uploaded. That process is in its second day.

On my iPhone there are several issues.

Even when I have the phone set to only show music on the iPhone, playing music is a halting affair on my 3GS. When I go to Music, it takes seconds for the app to recognize my input and start playing a song.

And there are basic programming flaws that make me wonder at what the heck is going on -- it looks like basic things have been overlooked. For example, when I set the iPhone to show me only music on the iPhone, that works, IN PORTRAIT MODE. If you flip the phone to landscape mode, it shows you your ENTIRE LIBRARY.

And going back to Settings and turning on See All Music, there are other strange things happening --yesterday, some albums where iTunes Match had missed a few songs showed the unmatched songs in grey on my iPhone -- like Abbey Road's She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, which someone else reported the same matching problem with... everything else was matched, and that one appeared to be in the queue to load. Today, I checked to see if the song had been loaded. No. It turns out that Abbey Road, as far as iTunes goes, just doesn't HAVE a Track 13. We go straight from Mean Mr. Mustard to Polythene Pam.Where's the recognition by iTunes that on the computer, there is a song that there isn't in the Cloud? I am at work, not home, so I am not sure what horrible situation may await me at home -- is the song still on my iMac safe and sound or not? Did the upload process just end with errors? How do i get missing tracks in? I'll have to wait.

And yes, as many others have noted, album art issues...

I don't think of myself as an Apple fanboy. Perhaps, though, I am just gullible. It's not the $25, but the permission I've given Apple to mess with my music library. I don't get Apple's putting this out when it's buggy and unfinished, though.. the kind of people willing to pay for this service are people who really care about their music, have large libraries, and are likely to give a crap that the artwork is messed up, albums are being split up, songs are disappearing, etc etc etc...

Hi from upper michigan. Same problem here. i tunes maych keeps crashing. It wont even finish matching my computer before it crashes. Stupi i tunes match. So far a waste of 25 dollars

Hi everyone,

Just an update for me...I just spoke with AppleCare, he confirmed that Match is ONLY for downloading music to your device. I told him that function seems terribly useless.

My refund has been issued, I now begin the process of repairing the damage Match has done to my libraries, and iTunes Match is cancelled...good riddance!!!

can you guys even access it from the phone , i cant....

Jtabar258 wrote:

can you guys even access it from the phone , i cant....

I have an iPod...but, looking at the damage Match did to my collection on the iPad, I haven't done anything with that.

I came here looking for a solution to the artists being all jumbled up on my iphone. However, what I've found is a bunch of people complaining that it doesn't stream.

iTunes match streams the audio to you at 256kbps, enoded in AAC. While streaming it, the file is cached to your ipod automatically for future plays (aka downloaded). You can swipe on your phone to delete any song. Just swipe to delete any of the music you don't want anymore, what's the big deal? They gave you the ability to delete, so use it. It technically saves bandwidth because it "caches" the song, so if you play it again it's already on the there.

Everybody with complaints about the random songs on an album not matched, and the jumbled artist list, you guys are completely justified IMO. The whole streaming thing though, that doesn't make sense. It TOTALLY streams. It just happens to store it for convenience's sake.