So many problems with iTunes Match...

If you're in airplane mode, streaming obviously won't work. However, songs that are already on your device should play just fine. I'm not sure what you're trying to say here, Michael. That's not a bug or a problem, unless you're saying that that song is actually on your device and still won't play?

Edit: Tested on mine and while in airplane mode, I can play songs that are on my device.

Edit 2: I just noticed that when you turn off airplane mode the little airplane flies away instead of just disappearing. That's awesome.

I just tested this as well and even though putting my phone into Airplane Mode during playback (even at the very end of a song) caused this error message. When I downloaded the songs before enabling Airplane Mode, they played back without a hitch.

I think I figured out why Match splintered some of my albums apart.

After I had cancelled Match (and was promised a refund), I went in to fix the "damage" it had done to my collection. Some albums which had tracks within them with a guest artist listed those tracks apart from their original albums. As well, there were some soundtracks which did the same thing.

All of the original category information was correct (is that was 'metadata' is?), but the tracks were separated.

What I discovered was that some tracks were checked as "part of a compilation" and others were not. I had not done this when ripping the tracks from my cd collection, iTunes Match had changed this. I unified these albums tracks by unchecking the "compiliation" box and they were back together as I originally had them.

Now....

can we find out if iTunes Match will allow you to stream/download with shuffle playback? Or do we have to hand select whatever we want to play from the Cloud?

I would also like confirmation on MacWorld's report that the earliest download would automatically delete once memory is needed.

I have seen in my own collection that an entire album can be selected on the iPad for deletion (that would make it much nicer than going track-by-track).

If these things are true, then I might become intersted in Match once again.

dan.

I've had quite a few problems myself. Main frustration is like everybody else: Album art failing. I've had pretty good success with it matching my music though. My overall frustration is the fact it eats data. I am currently unable to use data on my phone the rest of the month due to it syncing songs and me not knowing, and having faith Apple would limit that, or AT&T would notify me on time. And guess what? No data? No music! Very annoying.

sytmdcln wrote:

I am currently unable to use data on my phone the rest of the month due to it syncing songs and me not knowing

There's a pref in iOS for it to download only over wifi and not 3G, I'd recommend turning that on and doing initial setup/download when you're home over wifi.

IndianaDan wrote:

I think I figured out why Match splintered some of my albums apart.

After I had cancelled Match (and was promised a refund), I went in to fix the "damage" it had done to my collection. Some albums which had tracks within them with a guest artist listed those tracks apart from their original albums. As well, there were some soundtracks which did the same thing.

All of the original category information was correct (is that was 'metadata' is?), but the tracks were separated.

What I discovered was that some tracks were checked as "part of a compilation" and others were not. I had not done this when ripping the tracks from my cd collection, iTunes Match had changed this. I unified these albums tracks by unchecking the "compiliation" box and they were back together as I originally had them.

Um, Dan...isn't that exactly what I told you to happened and to check and to do a couple of days ago?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3494087?answerId=16750433022#16750433022

Sheesh...kids...they never listen. 😉

Try logging in with the wrong Apple ID on a mobile device and you get locked out for an entire 90 days. If you subscribe to Match to have the mobility, you end up losing 3 months of use. Apple should make the penalty of misuse (using a friends music collection for awhile) or a simple mistake (using the wrong Apple ID) no more than a few days. 90 days!! Come on Apple!!

Is it just the one device you're locked out on? If so, would a restore possibly fix the problem?

No. I tried and it did not work. Must use one of the devices id #'s

You're right rich, sorry I didn't catch it at first. But at least I discovered it, right?

Let me know if you happen to learn about those other questions. I'd appreciate it.

IndianaDan wrote:

Now....

can we find out if iTunes Match will allow you to stream/download with shuffle playback? Or do we have to hand select whatever we want to play from the Cloud?

I would also like confirmation on MacWorld's report that the earliest download would automatically delete once memory is needed.

I have seen in my own collection that an entire album can be selected on the iPad for deletion (that would make it much nicer than going track-by-track).

If these things are true, then I might become intersted in Match once again.

dan.

Shuffle works with iTunes Match playback on the Music App. If you start in "Album" it will shuffle the songs within the album. If you start in "Playlist" it will shuffle all of the songs in that playlist or Smart Playlist. If you start in "Songs" it will shuffle all of the songs in your iTunes library.

I've no idea what cached songs get deleted first when space becomes an issue other than what the Macworld article suggested; least played, oldest first. With iTunes Match I have about 50GB's of available storage space on my iPad so it would be quite a while before I'll see it (if ever!). Less space on my iPhone, but still a lot with no "actual" music on board. Hard to say.

If I download a few songs from iTunes Match they "appear" as an album which can then be deleted. If I download an entire album from iTunes I can subsequently delete the entire album the same way. So no need to delete individual songs...unless they're just the individual songs of course.

After using iTunes Match for a bit, I think what I'd like to see is a "hybrid" version that would allow me to sync selected playlists to my iDevice (so they would always be there) and have the rest of my music library available via iTunes Match.

I know I could eventually do that by downloading whatever I wanted with iTunes Match, but I'd like to manage it simply by syncing with iTunes first rather than having to go through the download process.

That would also ensure that certain songs would always be available and not subject to deletion at some point in the future.

Never satisfied I guess. 🙂

Maybe I'm wrong, but what I did was to sync my phone using iTunes with all the music/playlist that I listen to on a regular basis. Everything was sync'd and worked as expected. I verified this by looking at the phone for the number of songs and it matched what was in iTunes.

I then went and enabled iTunes Match on my iPhone and all the music that I sync'd was there and now I see the little cloud to download the music from iMatch. I verified that the songs remained the same as they did before enabling iTunes Match. I also tested listening to music in airplane mode, and I was able to listen to the music that I had Sync'd to the phone obviously I was not able to download music!

So is that the hybrid mode you are referring to richadams?

That sounds right...I hadn't had time to try that combination yet, but I will certainly do so!

I hate to sound like such a waffler, but I might be back on the iTunes Match bandwagon.

I can fix the messed-up splintering of albums.

I've already replaced missing artwork.

I understand that the music plays from the cloud while downloading into the iPad.

It's pretty easy to delete music I will have played in order to keep the memory use on the iPad low.

My last concern, which richsadams answered, was confirmed for me by phone with AppleCare...that I can stream/download with shuffle feature from my collection on iCloud.

I think I might be back in.