dViper

Q: So many problems with iTunes Match...

So far my experience with iTunes Match has been horrible. I keep getting a ton of unmatched songs that absolutely should be matched, and lots of upload errors.

 

For example, the album "Houses of the Holy" by Led Zeppelin.... http://i.imgur.com/RscRg.png

 

After toying around with it for a while, i found that sometimes using iTunes to create an AAC version of a unmatched song, the newly created AAC version does get matched. Not sure why this is, as the original unmatched files are 320bit MP3s.

 

Another issue I've found is that albums are not sorting correctly on my iPhone with iTunes Match active. I use dougscripts in iTunes to copy the release year of all my albums into the "sort album" meta data field. So that way on my ipod or iphone albums are sorted chronologically. Through iTunes match, none of my albums are being sorted correctly. Its not even that they're sorted alphabetically instead of chronologically. They're just listen in what seems like a completely random order.

 

Yet another MAAAJJJOOORRR complaint is with the album art. I am very meticulous about my album art. Every album in my library has album art displayed. My first step in getting album art is trying to get album art through iTunes. Most of the time this works fine. For the ones that dont, I just search google images and copy and paste the album art in... What I'm finding though, is that all my albums with album art gotten through iTunes, is not showing up on my iPhone when using iTunes Match. But albums where I had to paste a image in to iTunes, those do show up on my iPhone. This is not 100% consistent, but pretty close.

 

Overall I am very disappointed with iTunes Match so far. The Apple philosophy of "it just works" certainly does not apply to this product.

Im going to wait it out another couple of days or a week or so, and if things don't get better, I'll be calling in asking for a refund.

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.0.1

Posted on Nov 14, 2011 11:12 PM

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Q: So many problems with iTunes Match...

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  • by michaelfromvestal,

    michaelfromvestal michaelfromvestal Nov 18, 2011 5:53 AM in response to mmp1964
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 5:53 AM in response to mmp1964

    Here in lies the big problem with iTunes match (once all other issues are resolved) DSC_0001.jpg

  • by ThatGuyOtherGuy,

    ThatGuyOtherGuy ThatGuyOtherGuy Nov 18, 2011 7:04 AM in response to michaelfromvestal
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 7:04 AM in response to michaelfromvestal

    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.

  • by STigré,

    STigré STigré Nov 18, 2011 7:02 AM in response to ThatGuyOtherGuy
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 7:02 AM in response to ThatGuyOtherGuy

    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.

  • by IndianaDan,

    IndianaDan IndianaDan Nov 18, 2011 7:32 AM in response to dViper
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 7:32 AM in response to dViper

    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.

  • by sytmdcln,

    sytmdcln sytmdcln Nov 18, 2011 8:24 AM in response to dViper
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 8:24 AM in response to dViper

    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.

  • by Mike Connelly,

    Mike Connelly Mike Connelly Nov 18, 2011 8:38 AM in response to sytmdcln
    Level 4 (1,785 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 8:38 AM in response to sytmdcln

    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.

  • by richsadams,

    richsadams richsadams Nov 18, 2011 8:48 AM in response to IndianaDan
    Level 1 (84 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 8:48 AM in response to IndianaDan

    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/message/16750433#16750433

     

    Sheesh...kids...they never listen. 

  • by alba123,

    alba123 alba123 Nov 18, 2011 8:49 AM in response to sytmdcln
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 8:49 AM in response to sytmdcln

    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!! 

  • by STigré,

    STigré STigré Nov 18, 2011 9:01 AM in response to alba123
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 9:01 AM in response to alba123

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

  • by alba123,

    alba123 alba123 Nov 18, 2011 9:05 AM in response to STigré
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 9:05 AM in response to STigré

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

  • by IndianaDan,

    IndianaDan IndianaDan Nov 18, 2011 9:17 AM in response to richsadams
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 9:17 AM in response to richsadams

    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.

  • by richsadams,

    richsadams richsadams Nov 18, 2011 9:40 AM in response to IndianaDan
    Level 1 (84 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 9:40 AM in response to IndianaDan

    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.

  • by richsadams,

    richsadams richsadams Nov 18, 2011 9:46 AM in response to richsadams
    Level 1 (84 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 9:46 AM in response to richsadams

    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. 

  • by dlucas10,

    dlucas10 dlucas10 Nov 18, 2011 10:33 AM in response to richsadams
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 10:33 AM in response to richsadams

    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?

  • by richsadams,

    richsadams richsadams Nov 18, 2011 10:51 AM in response to dlucas10
    Level 1 (84 points)
    Nov 18, 2011 10:51 AM in response to dlucas10

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

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