Q: So many problems with iTunes Match...

I've tried the trick of turning Match off on my device, synching a playlist, and then turning Match back on. Initially the music was on my iPhone but I couldn't get my Match results to show up...some remained, but my number of artists was only slightly larger than my playlist, and nothing like what had previously showed up in Match. I eventually restored the phone, made sure Match was off on the phone, synched a playlist, and then turned Match on. This worked and everything looked fine. Tonight, after reading about people being able to turn Match on and off to sync further tracks directly, I tried adding a few albums this way. Now, again, I have a few random artists left over from Match who aren't on my playlist but mostly the iPhone app is just showing me artists from my playlist. Looks like if I want to use Match I'm going to have to restore again and only sync a playlist once.

This is irritating, because it just shouldn't happen, and manual synching seems to be the only workaround for getting improperly-matched albums onto your iPhone at all. If I only use Match, then I am completely unable to listen to mono Beatles albums, etc., which is unacceptable...I should be able to actually listen to music in my iTunes library on my Apple device!

Anyone else tried this manual sync/Match combo and had the problem I've had?

Here's my experience with iTunes Match:

- I have a library containing about 9600 songs

- It took about 3 days for iTunes Match to complete (failed initially after a few hours and required a restart)

- It matched about 7500 songs (which really surprises me)

- It uploaded about 1300 songs

- It reported about 650 "errors" (which I am attempting to upload again)

My question:  Where is Apple?  My problem with Match is that if I click on Song A, Song B plays.  At least they should get that part right.  Kinda reduces the value of my library.  And the problem is in the song record itself, so a re-build of iTunes will not help.  Here's where Time Machine will come in handy... at least on my iMac.

In the middle of all these complaints, Apple is absent.  This set of problems is worse than may other "product/application" problems, because in this case the application has screwed our own assets - our libraries.

Seeing a "Genius" tomorrow, lessee what happens...

Are you talking about your music on your iphone?

The main problems are on my iMac and PC, although they are reflected in the iPhone.  On each computer, files where music is stored for iTunes have been corrupted with erroneous song data.  So in "Bruce Springsteen/Born to Run/Jungleland, the song record is there with that title, but additional new columns in the record say "Coldplay", X & Y", "What If", and in iTunes when I click "Jungleland", "What If" plays...

As far as itunes on a mac or pc I havent encountered any problems. On your phone though under your turn itunes match on toggle is your show all toggle on? If so turn it off. If that is off and not the problem you can also reboot your phone and then sync with itunes. It should solve your problem, I deleted all the music that on my phone when I experienced this issue but thats me and I only had a couple hundred song which i didnt mind putting back. I dont know how many you may have so that is up to you.

tonebrew wrote:

 

The main problems are on my iMac and PC, although they are reflected in the iPhone.  On each computer, files where music is stored for iTunes have been corrupted with erroneous song data.  So in "Bruce Springsteen/Born to Run/Jungleland, the song record is there with that title, but additional new columns in the record say "Coldplay", X & Y", "What If", and in iTunes when I click "Jungleland", "What If" plays...

I had something similar happen when I upgraded to iOS 5.0 on my iPad...had nothing to do with iTunes Match.  When I first tried the new Music App incorrect songs would play, others wouldn't play at all, wrong cover art, etc.

To fix it I connected my iPad to my computer, opened iTunes, unchecked "Sync Music" (or turn off iTunes Match) and let it sync.  That wiped all of the music off of my iPad.  I then disconnected it and performed a reset (hold the Sleep/wake switch and the Home button together for at least 10 seconds, until the Apple logo appears) and waited for it to completely boot up.  Then I reconnected it to my computer, opened iTunes, re-checked "Sync Music" (or turn iTunes Match back on) and clicked on "Apply".  Everything worked and played normally after that.

Hope that helps!

I too am having issues with Match on my iPhone 4S. I have the 64GB version and tomorrow I'm going to call Apple to see if I can get a refund. I HATE not having my album artwork being displayed on my iPhone! It's easy for me as I'm driving to take a quick glance and see what song is popping up with a quick glance at the album artwork. All of my album artwork is sitting perfectly fine on my MacBook Pro, but because Match is more of a beta than a finished product, my album artwork doesn't move over to my iPhone. I'd rather save myself the $25 than the headache of dealing with Match. I had called in to tech support and they seemed like they were completely clueless about this issue.

meatbag21 wrote:

 

I too am having issues with Match on my iPhone 4S. I have the 64GB version and tomorrow I'm going to call Apple to see if I can get a refund. I HATE not having my album artwork being displayed on my iPhone! It's easy for me as I'm driving to take a quick glance and see what song is popping up with a quick glance at the album artwork. All of my album artwork is sitting perfectly fine on my MacBook Pro, but because Match is more of a beta than a finished product, my album artwork doesn't move over to my iPhone. I'd rather save myself the $25 than the headache of dealing with Match. I had called in to tech support and they seemed like they were completely clueless about this issue.

I get the frustration and the the desire for a refund, but I'm not sure I understand why you don't just turn iTunes Match off, sync your iPhone with your Macbook's iTunes library like before and move on.

Best of luck and hope things work out one way or the other.

That's what I intend to do is to just go back to the way I had been working before. I can't move on until either 1) they resolve this issue or 2) give me a refund. Why pay for a service that isn't working the way it should be?

meatbag21 wrote:

 

That's what I intend to do is to just go back to the way I had been working before. I can't move on until either 1) they resolve this issue or 2) give me a refund. Why pay for a service that isn't working the way it should be?

Okay, however I didn't say you should pay for the service if you can't get it to work.  I just didn't understand your post...it sounded as if you couldn't do anything to correct the situation.  Guess I misunderstood.  Turning off iTunes Match and going back to synchronizing your iTunes library "the old fashioned way" sounds like the way to go...for you at least.

Sorry, I may have misunderstood your post. I'm currently going back to the old way of not using iTunes Match. Currently in the process of doing a restore just to make sure I get it completely fresh again. Synching my music through my iTunes library is the way to go for me since Match didn't want to get my album artwork on my phone correctly.

meatbag21 wrote:

 

Sorry, I may have misunderstood your post. I'm currently going back to the old way of not using iTunes Match. Currently in the process of doing a restore just to make sure I get it completely fresh again. Synching my music through my iTunes library is the way to go for me since Match didn't want to get my album artwork on my phone correctly.

I had the same problem with cover art...particularly the ones that I had added myself over the years.  In fact I started a thread about it the day iTunes Match was released.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3494271?start=0&tstart=0

A few days later Apple contacted me and asked several questions.  I replied with the details about what had happened and how I got it sorted out.  At least we know that they're aware of it.

What I did to straighten it out is in that thread somewhere (others added some more suggestions too), but basically after some tinkering with how it was set in the metadata (adding it to the song list rather than just the album), turning iTunes Match on and off and well as updating it repeatedly, quitting and restarting the Music App several times I finally got all of it on my iPhone and iPad.  It was a real pain though...and that's not how these things should work.

Hope it all works out!

No, ideally they'll leave it just as it is, because they got it right the first time.

Lots of things to fix with iTunes Match, but streaming vs. caching-while-playing is not one of them. This is the one thing that sets it apart from other services, and actually makes it useful and intutive.

A direct stream which requires endless and repeated buffering is stupid and archaic, and thats why iTunes Match does nothing of the sort.

I have to agree iTunes Match is not ready for prime time.  Google Music is a superior product at the moment and its cheaper by $24.99/yr.