iTunes Match vs. Play Counts

Update: it's been a week and my play counts still haven't updated.

So not only is it delayed for some people, but it completely doesn't work for others, and is inconsistent across different people and times. What a mess. I think I'll ask for a refund and wait until it actually works.

Thought I would chime in, as I am having the same issue. Just purchased my first iPhone 4s, and while I do love the phone, I'm very disappointed about the "Last Played" issue. First noticed it last night as I plugged the phone into the computer for syncing. I rely heavily on the "Last Played" feature and this was the first thing I checked when the sync was complete. The play count and last played updated on the iPhone, but not on the iTunes on my computer. Never had this issue before on any of my iPods. Since I'm a brand new iPhone owner and still learning how to use the device, I assumed it was something that I did; perhaps a setting that I accidentally turned off or on, but now I see that I'm not alone with this issue. I don't use iTunes match, nor do I use the iCloud service (I don't think I do, at least), and I'm not entirely sure that that has anything to do with it anyway. Any updates on a fix for this? I always liked this feature and I'm very annoyed that something that seems so simple to fix is completely ignored by Apple.

Any success I was having with playcounts updating is now gone for the most part. As it stands now, only the first song played actually updates the playcount. The Last Played date continues not to work and the smart playlists are still a mess. So I'm in the process of removing Match from my iphone and ipad. I'm actually amazed that no one has heard anything from Apple about a possible fix/soltion for this problem. How disappointning considering how many of us are left to feel like we threw away $25..

I'm amazed too. 😟

Remember to ask for a refund, everyone. It's just plain broken, and we shouldn't pay for defective products. $25 isn't much, but it's still rewarding a faulty product, and sadly a company will often only fix their crap if it's actually losing them money.

Fixed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have discovered a way to update play counts when using iTunes match. Don't know if this has been posted already?

So you turn on iTunes match on your iPhone and play your music but before you sync it to iTunes turn off iTunes match. It seems to only update with iTunes Match turned off. Then after you have synced you can turn it back on to play more music.

Unfortunately, that is no fix whatsoever, that's the usual behaviour we all know and love from times before iTunes Match. It only proves that the play count data is still stored somewhere within the song file on the device but isn't transmitted to iCloud. The supposed benefit of iTunes Match was that I don't have to worry about syncing anymore. If I replaced the syncing with turning Match on and off all the time on all my iOS devices, I don't see any improvement at all. I'm sorry, but I expect something better than that from iTunes Match to use it on a daily basis – and to pay for it.

Even that is not working now. It must have been a fluke that they were updating play counts before and now it's not. I refuse to use it until this is fixed. I sent an email to Apple asking would the play counts be getting fixed? They replied that iCloud does not support play counts but didn't say wether or not they were going to fix this or wether that is just the way it is. Not very helpful at all I'm afraid.

I've come to rely on playcounts, but it seems I'm being misled.😮

I have songs that have a 'last played' date however the associated playcount has no number?!

Playcounts 'seem' to be working when playing direct from iTunes on PC; but nothing registering when played through 3rd Gen iTouch.

I'm not playing anything through 'The Cloud', but have installed iMatch ready for future 'plans' (now on hold).

Turn off itunes match in settings - music. Plays won't register if this is turned on.

I always listen to my 'Songs Never Played' Playlist on my 1st-Gen iPod touch. Now the songs I've listened to aren't being removed from the playlist. **** you, iTunes Match! :nP

I've definitely seen this too. I had thought I was going crazy originally, but it's really easy to see the bugs if you create a "never played" playlist and then listen to them all.

Sometimes days later or sometimes weeks later tracks will show back up on it.

In most of those cases the track even has the correct last played date (so clearly it has been played) but play count has reverted to zero so it's still on a "never played" playlist.

So my auto-playlists are now playing most of the same things repeatedly since it has incorrect last played or play count stats, which means I've basically gotta turn off iTunes Match completely for now.

I'm sure they'll get it straightened out but it's too frustrating to use at the moment.

P.S. These bugs occur even if I'm listening in iTunes on a Mac, not just via iPad or iPhone.

I'm very reliant on last played dates. I had to delete some tracks to get under the 25000 song limit so I need the information to manage my library.

I have a workaround until it gets fixed, relying on this script:

http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/download.php?sc=newlastplayed

It means I have to go in every day and mark the tracks played. Not very convenient and far less than I expect from Apple.

I would like to see playcounts incremented and find it sad that it does not happen. Most of my listening is done on my iPhone during the work day - away from home and in my car.

Since reading more about how iTunes Match works, I believe that play counts are just not part of it.

It is all part of Apple's drive to have devices which are independant from iTunes. You no longer need to have a Mac or PC to own or sync music. You no longer need a Mac or PC to own and use an iPad.

The devices can operate on their own.

That's just how I see it as how they work. No longer are my i-devices backed up to my MacBook Pro, they are backed up to iCloud. So I deleted all of my iPhone backups on my MacBook iTunes. No longer are the iPhone/iPad applications being synced to iTunes - they are also backed up to the iCloud. So I deleted those from iTunes as well.

This looks like another way in which Apple are forcing us all to upgrade our devices to ones that run on iOS 5.

By the way, I have the Sony Ericsson Walkman/mobile to Mac sync app iTuneMyWalkman which installs a script that can increase the play count on selected tracks. I'll just have to use this until I finally upgrade my iPod to what that runs on iOS 5.

I wish Apple told me this would happen before I bought iTunes Match.

Maybe there's a good reason for it, but why can't these playcounts be kept track of in the cloud? Just because you don't have to sync with a computer doesn't mean playcounts and last played data needs to be eliminated. For now, I've turned off iTunes Match on my iPhone, iPod, and iPad, because I want the smart playlists to work more than I want access to all my music at any time. iTunes Match would be wonderful if it was really ITUNES Match.