iTunes Match vs. Play Counts

Of course it's best to contact Apple directly. But many many people have done that with no results or fixes. Apple is definitely aware of the problems, they just can't get them fixed.

I have had the initial track only sync from my iPad as well. The rest of what was played never syncs. Stjm543, Is that what you ultimately found?

It does update the play count data eventually, but it takes it's time about it, it's something Apple need to address in their next round of software updates for both iOS & iTunes. Why it updates the data on the initial track straight away but then takes 24 hrs or more to update subsequent tracks may have something to do with the way the device records the data & when it can be bothered to talk to the servers & tell it what it's been upto.

The play counts being slowly updated is something I could deal with, but iTunes Match also regularly completely erases album art, dates, and extended tags, and changes the album names and song titles that I have updated.

I called Apple Customer Service recently to try to speak to a human being on this issue. The rep who answered the phone "waived" the fee and told me that this is an acknowledged problem (counts awry after joining iTunes Match, etc.) and that Apple plans to fix the problem in the next version of iTunes. Hard to believe that a company as "leading edge" as Apple has not addressed this problem head on. If I were able to get a refund of iTunes Match enrollment, that would be my solution. Unfortunately, Apple has become so big that customer satisfaction is no longer a concern.

Wow. This is an enlightening post.

I'll stear clear of full reliance on match on my iPhone and iPad for the time being.

I have noticed that iTunes match across computers handles playcounts and ratings and such just fine.

Lame that the MOBILE devices are the ones that iTunes match is broken on.

This has been working since a beta or two ago of iOS 6. Sometimes it takes up to 48 hours for it show up, but it works. Last played doesn't get updated from the iPhone or iPad though. Just play counts.

Tell me, are you sure for the 48 hours to show up ? Cause when you change the rating of the song it just takes 10sec to sync ... But not my counts and it's bothering me !

Truth is... Who knows. I thought it was all fixed too, but after upgrading to iOS 6 on my iPhone and trying iTunes Match again on this device, my play counts for my most played songs in iTunes doubled + 1. So what was plays: 69 is now plays: 140.

So that, combined with iTunes Match on the iPhone still deleting random tracks... I turned it off again. And as wifi sync is also back on the blink again, I'm back to trusty cable-sync.

I'll wait some few hours ... and maybe i'll be back on the hold fashion way too, I really need my play counts for intelligent playlist !

I wonder when good iTunes Match Sync will be ok

I too ran into the "double my playcount + 1" issue yesterday just after I tried to turn off Match.

Took a while to undo the issue. I've now removed all my devices from Match and am back to "normal".

But from what I can tell, my Match data is locked into the "double playcount + 1" and there ain't no undoing it so ... I think that's it for my Match subscription.

Hello Spotify Premium?

Y'all are using iOS 6 now right? I either had the double playcount thing happen when I was using iOS 5 or nothing was registering. Since I started using the last couple of betas of iOS 6 everything has been syncing. It just takes time. I think it may have something to do with the iCloud backup but I'm not sure. I just know that it works for me now.

Well I decided I'm just going to stick with match for the sole purpose of saving space on my iPad 1 and just enjoy music on my iPad whether it updates play counts or not. Plus for getting the 256K files when available. I'm on 5.01 and I've had iTunes on my work PowerMac G5 on all day showing the "Recently Played" list. To my surprise all of the songs I have listened to since late yesterday afternoon and all day today, just popped up in the window with correct "low" playcounts and Last Played date/time. Granted it hasn't updated but this once, but it must just work in big batches. I'm just going to take Match for what it's worth and not worry so much about the playcounts. I know it can be a bummer though if you rely on smart playlists.

I wonder if anyone using iTunes 10.7 (21) and iOS 6 could confirm that their metadata is NOT being arbitrarily changed by iTunes match? By metadata I mean the song titles, album names, album art, year, and other tags.

I can do without accurate play counts for a while (not forever, Apple) but my main concern is that iTunes Match was arbitrarily (and silently) changing the metadata I had lovingly entered into my library. IMHO these tags should NEVER be changed without the user's consent.

Also I'd like to recommend using LastFM (http://www.last.fm/user/tikilab) and the LastFM2iTunes app (http://www.u-mass.de/lastfm2itunes) to back up your play counts. I've found since the iTunes match problem started they have been a lifesaver (OK, a track count saver)!

iTunes Match used to update the data within 48 hours... Now I've been keeping an eye on one song in particular that I've played about 4 or 5 times from my iphone alone and so far the play count is 2 and no last played data is there at all. The rating as usual is right away. I purchased this song on Thursday and watched it over the weekend and it's only up to 2 counts...

I hope this gets fixed soon...