iTunes Match Step 1 is stuck! What can I do?

I had the same issue for some weeks now and finally found this and it magically helped, without tinkering with my iTunes Library

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1276151

To view the hidden folder - follow the steps below - to first show hidden files and folders - delete the SC Info Folder (as described above), then hid back the hidden files and folders as per instruction below.

I found this far more straight forward than messing with the iTunes library - that actually almost stuff up my music collection. So be careful if you chose to not follow this method but go down the iTunes Library option. Having said that, each of us might have a problem specific to our environment. Hope this works for you.

I was also having this problem after having successfully used iTunes Match previously. The problem appears to be when there are two version of songs and one of them has the iCloud icon made using a dotted line. Here's what solved it for me:

1. Identify your duplicate files. I have a large library, so I elected to use Dupin Light (available on the Mac App store). I suppose I could have used iTunes duplicate finder too, but I prefer the flexibility of Dupin.

2. Once you have identified your duplicates, find them in iTunes. In my case Dupin identifed 50, from 19,000+ tracks, so for me it was not a large number to check manually.

3. When you find the duplicates, if one of them has the aforementioned dotted line iCloud icon, this is the one you need to delete. If you accidently delete the other version, you can always download it again if you have purchased it from iTunes. In any case, it seems to be the tracks with this icon that it is causing iTunes Match to stall, so you will need to delete all of these.

4. Once you have completed step 3, iTunes Match should not proceed and complete.

I turned off iTunes Match and then turned it back on and it got past step one and complete the upload of my itunes library.

The "SC Info" option worked for me. Many thanks

Deleting the "SC Info" file worked well for me. I had been stuck on Step 1 for a month. After deleting the "SC Info" file, Step 1 completed in less than 3 minutes.

Thank you so much!

Tried deleting the SC Info file to no avail. Deleting duplicates did, however, work for me!

Thanks. Turning iTunes Match off and restarting iTunes and turning iTunes Match back on was the fix. Too easy. It worked for me. I'm glad I tried this before delecting SC file.🙂

De-duping worked for me, too. I used Dupin Lite. Thanks for the tip.

Spoke with Apple Care who fixed my issue of iTunes Match being in an infinity loop after upgrading to Mountain Lion:

This is what he asked me to do:

1. Go to your Macintosh HD drive in Finder (system drive)

2. Go to Library

3. Drag the 'System Configuration' Folder onto the Desktop (creates a ** copy - just in case)

4. Delete the 'System Configuration' Folder within the 'Library Folder' (empty the Trash Bin - just in case)

5. Reboot - This recreates the network files (automatically)

6. That's it!

Works now like a charm

P.S.: Just in case if you have done custom network configurations, write them down first.

PPS: I did the above and it works, but please don't hold me liable for anything you do on your own machine : )

I followed the instruction deleted the SC folder (after keeping a copy)

When I rebooted, it didn't recreate the network files? now I don't have wifi support, it says no Hardwear installed??

In system preference when I click network it hangs that window which I have to force quit..

I restarted few times and it's the same.. When I copied back the 'copy of' SC folder back to library folder and restarted, still nothing changes, now I have no network support, no wifi, no Internet..:(

Any advice?!?

Only thing that worked for me : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Now iTunes Match works like a charm.

Only thing that worked for me : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Now iTunes Match works like a charm.

Worked Like A Dream!!

THANK YOU!!!

Was having this problem since I upgraded to to iTunes 11 a month ago. Deleting bad duplicates as described by ms82981 on Apr 27, 2012 above worked.

Thank you!!

Bad duplicates is one reason why match could stall. But I don't think that's the issue being discussed here. The problem here is about match is looping in the process of trying to upload unmatched songs. Some people were able to work around this by using another internet connection. Like me, I thered my Mac to my iPhone.