iTunes Match not working

First off, I'm a long time Apple customer since 2001, so I'm very familiar with iTunes and the requirements for iTunes Match. I've tried everything and everytime I turn on iTunes Match is starts gathering information about my iTunes library and it goes no further. I've tried it 5 or 6 times since Monday and the same thing happens. I've even uninstalled iTunes 10.5.1 and reinstalled and still no luck. I thought maybe it just took some time to gather the info so I let it sit idle for a few hours and it still is stuck on gathering information. I've emailed iTunes support and all I get is generic response of their website and it's no help.

Anyone have a clue on what I can do? It ***** to pay $25 for something and for 3 days of trying to get it to work, it still fails. BTW, I have a macbook.