iTunes Match - download all songs?

For those travelling outside of their home country or interested in managing their data plan, "hard" downloading of songs to the iPhone is a must. The iTunes Match and the iCloud are great and I use them all the time; but, download 5 songs and you have used a tremendous of your data plan - Do that internationally and you have a giant tab to pay.

Also, on a plane, downloading doesn't work so well unless you pay the fee for WiFi.

This is a great thread of information with many good ideas.

Stay iTuned!

IMatchingYours,

***4CT

thank you so soo much! def. streamlined project 😉

1. go to "album" view.

2. select all.

3. right click.

4. select download.

Thanks - this worked perfectly! Now 6843 "items" are slowly downloading. The sandwich is optional, I assume?

ok just so im clear.... if i turn itunes match on itll remove my content so that i wont be able to access it unless connected to wifi and even then itll be a reference to the music and not even what i had to begin with? im fuzzy on this stuff...

i really need more storage on my phone and its like they have made it to where you have to purchase more cloud space. but i live in the country and wifi is very few and far between. also how do i use the cloud storage on my phone for photos?

ughhhh i suck at this!.. i backed up my phone with the cloud and it only freed up like 200MB which DID NOT help. and the strange thing is on my 3gs i had SO much more stuff apps and content etc but never got the "not enough storage available" whats that about??

Swtshawty wrote:

ok just so im clear.... if i turn itunes match on itll remove my content so that i wont be able to access it unless connected to wifi and even then itll be a reference to the music and not even what i had to begin with?

No, that's not correct. If you turn on iTunes Match, it will make an extra copy of your music that you will have access to through the network. Whatever music that you have on your phone or computer will stay where it is, unchanged. (Disregard the confusing message about "replacing your iTunes library" when you turn on iTunes Match - it's only replacing the "table of contents" for your music, not the music itself).

As noted by most of the conversation above, you can download songs while you do have network access, then listen to them when you don't have network access.

also how do i use the cloud storage on my phone for photos?

Turn on "photo stream" in the icloud settings. But be careful, this is completely different from iTunes Match - it is not "cloud storage". Photo Stream is meant as an easy way to transfer your photos between your phone, ipad, and computer. The photos get deleted from the stream after a while. If you want permanent cloud storage, look at using another service like Flickr.

i backed up my phone with the cloud and it only freed up like 200MB which DID NOT help. and the strange thing is on my 3gs i had SO much more stuff apps and content etc but never got the "not enough storage available" whats that about??

"Backups" do not save space - they take up twice as much space! That's because when you backup your phone, you make a second copy of everything.

The message about "not enough storage" is probably because your new phone is larger, so your backup needs to be larger too. The easiest solution is to plug your phone into your computer (with iTunes running) and turn off the iCloud backup - that will put the backup on your own computer, with no space limitations (other than your hard drive size). Just remember to plug into your computer every so often, to make a new backup. If you want to keep using iCloud backup, it's better to ask this question in the iCloud topic area.

The option to download all items in a playlist does not appear in iOS7 beta. It looks like the only option is to hit each cloud icon individually.

ok i got ya! thank you so much. ok so i have one more question since you seem very knowledable the computer i use has been used by my girlfriends mother for her iphone and it was under my account on itunes i do believe so.. i have been scared to plug mine in for fear of losing my info and getting hers.. is there a way to fix that? i know this is not the thread for that but i have asked on one for this and havent gotten any help yet..

swtshawy, you really should post this question to the Using iPhone forum.

Ok - iTunes on primary laptop shows ALL music as cloud. In order to import it to my older iPod, I need to download the songs.

When I hit 'download from the cloud' it dumps a second copy of the songs I already have into my media library.

How do I tell iTunes that this laptop has the original music and does not need to download a second copy of each song, but merely to just look into the library?

I turned off Match, but it still showed all of my songs as being in the cloud.

I'm confused. You say the "laptop shows ALL music as cloud" (I'm not sure what that means). Then you say the original files are still on the HDD of the MBA. Those are two conflicting statements.

Where are the music files? On the internal HDD of the MBA and in the iTunes library? If so, then there should be reason, or way, for you to download it from the cloud. If the music files are on the internal HDD and in the iTunes library then the iPod will sync with no problems.

Describe what your situation in more detail so we can better help you.

I used iTunes to rip a bunch of CD's and had a bunch of purchased songs as well. I then subscribed to Match (for reasons that I am doubting...).

All songs have phsyicall copies on an external hard drive which is the media folder and iTunes library.

New laptop. The external hard drive is conncted to the laptop. I have correctly made that drive both the media folder and the library. iTunes has the cloud symbol next to ALL songs when displayed in iTunes. Every one. I chose one song and said 'download from the cloud' - and it put a second copy of the song in the media library right next to the original.

I need the iTunes to acknowledge the physical copies because my iPod cannot interface with the cloud.

Does that makle sense?

You have to add the music to the library on the new computer. With the external HDD connected, launch iTunes while holding down the Option key (Shift for Windows). Select "choose library" and navigate to the folder on the external HDD that contains the iTunes media. Choose it and select OK.

I have done that - BUT the library file (.itl) on the external hard drive I copy and pasted - the default library file created by iTunes on the local hard drive.

Do I need to some how create a new library file on the external hard drive?

My music still shows as all being in the cloud.

lkscovil wrote:

I have done that - BUT the library file (.itl) on the external hard drive I copy and pasted - the default library file created by iTunes on the local hard drive.

I'm afraid I do not understand what this means.

On the computer disable iTunes Match. Go to ~/Music and move the iTunes folder to the Trash. Launch iTunes while holding down the Option key (Shift for Windows) and select Choose library. Navigate to the iTunes Library.itl file on th external HDD and choose it. This should add all the music to the iTunes library along with playlists and all associated metadata. Once you have determined that is down you may enable iTunes Match.