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Please sign in again. iTunes Match has encountered an error.

Every time I launch iTunes and try to update iMatch, I receive the following error.


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iTunes Match has encountered an error. Please choose Sign Out and then Sign In from the iTunes Store Menu



I am running Windows 7.

This happens every time I launch iTunes. I need to log out and log back in.


Why? How can I fix?

Posted on Nov 17, 2011 5:54 PM

Reply
105 replies

Apr 25, 2013 1:54 AM in response to snowdream

Snowdream, i'm working 11 on a Mac. Maybe on Win 10 there is no button. Have you seen my additional information? When iMatch is not running, itunes has desabled the checkbox "itunes in the cloud-purchases" in the itunes settings (store). Don't know why. After setting the mark again and entering the itunes password, it works... But on Win it's a different story...

Jul 28, 2013 12:11 AM in response to NSABER

Possible fix:

http://www.masteryourmac.net/master-your-mac-blog/itunes-match-error-4001-soluti on.html


Hold down the Option Key (Mac) or Shift Key (Windows) and at the same time click ‘Turn Off iTunes Match’.


Supposedly this clears the iTunes Match cache and forces a clean restart the next time you turn on iTunes Match.


Shoot. Doesn't work for me. It still crashes at the beginning of the step where it's uploading unmatched content.


Aug 14, 2013 8:55 PM in response to Jason-sct

I'm slowly Matching iTunes library.


Here's my workflow:


Match your library in pieces. Divide and conquer. Try small pieces to learn the workflow and try large pieces to make progress faster.


  • Start iTunes.
  • Menu --> iTunes Store --> Turn OFF iTunes Match ... a) don't worry, the server remembers your previous progress.
  • Open "Songs" tab --> right-click "Name" column header --> add "iCloud Status"
  • Click column header "iCloud Status" to sort.
  • Scroll to the "Waiting" iCloud status section and copy all "Waiting" tracks to a new playlist called "iCloud Waiting".
  • Menu --> iTunes Store --> Turn ON iTunes Match.
  • Interupt Match, hurry, before it crashes, Open Match tab --> click [stop].


Now repeat the following steps over and over until you isolate all of your bad tracks:

  • Open your "iTunes Waiting" playlist.
  • Select an easy to remember group of tracks. All artists that start with "R" for example.
  • Right-click the selected tracks --> Add to iCloud
  • Click the Match tab, note the progress made during Step 3:
    • If it crashes immediatly at Step 3, "1 of x", then one of the tracks you've crashed on previously is in your selection. Next time choose a smaller sub-selection and try to isolate the bad track.
    • If it crashes after matching a few tracks then you've likely found another bad track. Nest time choose a smaller sub-selection and try to isolate the bad track.
    • If it finishes then you've made good progress: a) remove those matched tracks from your iCloud Waiting playlist, next time choose a larger selection and try again.
  • Turn OFF iTunes Match
  • Turn ON iTunes Match
  • Open Match tab --> click [stop].
  • Repeat above steps. Rebuild your "iTunes Waiting" playlist from time to time.


I've done these steps 15 times and isolated bad tracks to these sub selections: Artists that start with A, D, T, and X. All other tracks Matched. My main issue is that I have tons of DJ mixes and bootleg mixes that need to be "Uploaded" so the progress is going REALLY slow. I've progressed from about 2000 of 9000 waiting unmatched tracks to 500 of 9000.


Good luck!

Sep 16, 2013 10:38 PM in response to sbaj

sbaj wrote:


Nickerbacker:

This is what worked for people running Windows

  1. Launch iTunes as an admin (right click on your iTunes icon and click "Run as administrator."
  2. When iTunes loads, sign out, then sign back in.a) At this point, upon signing back in, my Match icon was gone from the Music folder, and it was looking for me to turn on Match again.
  3. De-authorize the computer, then authorize again.
  4. Now turn Match back on (the process seems like a quick check, and did not take as long as the first Match scan).
  5. After iTunes Match is complete again, I was able to close iTunes open again with "Run as administrator," and my match was all good.
  6. Close iTunes and reopen without "Run as administrator" and it's still good, updates Match with no issues.


Step 5 should not be necessary.


This worked for me.


I run my main iTunes Library on my Macintosh. My windows notebook doesn't have any music files but only uses iTunes Match. I got that f... error message only on the windows machine. It worked at first but after some updates (for Windows and iTunes) it stopped working.


The above steps solved it.

Oct 9, 2014 9:46 AM in response to NSABER

I seem to have found a cure to this common problem:

  1. In iTunes: sign out of iTunes, de-authorize the computer, and exit iTunes (basically, go back to a clean iTunes setup)
  2. Right click on your iTunes icon and click “Run as administrator.”
  3. Sign in, authorize computer and turn on iTunes match (which requires you to sign in again). Your iTunes in the cloud songs/albums etc now appear
  4. Exit iTunes and reopen iTunes normally (not as an administrator)

This did the trick for me, and I can now access my iTunes in the cloud from my second Windows 7 machine. Hurray!

Feb 26, 2015 3:38 AM in response to Nickerbocker

I've been having this problem ever since I renewed my iTunes Match subscription a few days ago.


I've tried the suggestions in this thread and it makes no difference.


Every time I start iTunes I get the same message and then waste 30 to 60 minutes re-adding my computer to iTunes Match.


It's now reached a point where as soon as the process it finished and I try to use iTunes Match, it immediately gives me the same error and I have to go through the while process again.


Does anyone at Apple even care about their products ... this is not a new issue, people have been reporting it for over 3 years and yet it persists.

Mar 30, 2015 8:53 AM in response to NSABER

Windows 7 User here. Finally after searching forever about this problem, and trying sign out/sign in suggestions from Apple support I figured out something that worked for me. My problem was when I close the iTunes application re-opened it, I could SEE all my songs in iTunes Match but they were all greyed out and would not play. I would have to sign out/in - let iTunes rematch my library and it would work. Close the iTunes Application....rinse and repeat.

I created a new Windows User (mostly out of desperation) just to see what would happen. I installed iTunes using this user and THAT FIXED IT. Closed iTunes...reopen...can see and play all my songs, works flawless. This was a relatively new Windows install, so I ended up reformatting my HDD and creating a new user, still working great. I don't think one should have to go to these lengths just to get iTunes Match working, but I'm not sure if somehow the user/permissions or something had become corrupt. Hopefully this post helps someone else out there, like I said, I searched forever and no amount of signing in/out, deauthorizing/authorizing...or clearing caches or anything like that helped my situation.

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