List of Corrupted iTunes Match Songs

Out of about 10,000 downloaded matched tracks, I found about 40 that were corrupted in some way or another. "Get Info" identifies them as MPEG files, not Matched AAC.

I can add to your list once I get home from work. Somehow I managed to create a playlist that can detect the corrupt files. If a subsequent redownload grabs a good file, the track disappears off the list.

Here's one I can give you right now:

Morganspaziergang - Kraftwerk - Autobahn

The question that needs to be asked and confirmed here is were these tracks actually matched and replaced on your machine? Or were they your own tracks that got uploaded. If they were your own tracks that got uploaded it is possible that they got corrupted when they were uploaded. If that is the case you should be able to completely delete the tracks from itunes, and itunes match, then restore them to itunes from a backup and let itunes reupload them. If they are in fact matched tracks and your original file has been deleted from your computer, and replaced with the matched track from apple, then they should be confirmed and reported to apple. I can say that I have matched and downloaded Lullaby by The Cure, and the version I downloaded from itunes works perfectly.

These were matched tracks. I even used the playlist trick from MacWorld to make sure the list I was downloading from was a "matched" or "purchased" track. When I would do a mass download of Matched AAC tracks, the file would disappear from the Matched playlist, show up in the "corrupt" playlist, then disappear from that list if the file checked out.

I will periodically go back and attempt a redownload of the corrupt files. Little by little the list shrinks a couple of files at a time.

Like I said, I've only had ~40 bad out of ~10,000, so the percentage of bad files is incredibly small.

My reply was intended for the original poster.

I have this exact issue, and the list of songs that won't transfer to my iPhone or play in iTunes actually grew after a couple days (was just a mix of Joanna Newsom songs, and now a few Radiohead are thrown in). The songs were matched, but can't play in iTunes. I deleted them from iTunes (not iCloud) and re-downloaded them from iCloud, but no go. The iCloud synced versions will play on my iPhone without a problem. Very strange.

I submitted the issue to the Express Lane, and the reply was:

"When using iTunes Match and switching the files to be used in iTunes, some purchases may have already been corrupted and are unable to be used based on the third party site that was used." and a link about iTunes Match status icons. >.<

Here's a partial listing of corrupt files I've found. Repeated deletions and redownloads have no effect.

Full of Fire - Al Green

Mr. Moonlight - The Beatles

It Won't Be Long - The Beatles

Inwards - Big Country

Chance - Big Country

The Storm - Big Country

Hard Headed Woman - Cat Stevens

The Makings of You - Curtis Mayfield

Jump Study - Dr. John

Angelina - Herb Aplert

Little Girl Blue - Janis Joplin

Up From the Skies - Jimi Hendrix

Ladies Room (live) - KISS

My Little Red Book - Love

Time Has Told Me - Nick Drake

Jägerspiel - Laibach

I had a smart playlist with these settings:

Bitrate is 256 kbps

Media kind is Music

Kind contains MPEG

iCloud status is either Matched or Purchased

I'd used the playlist to find 256 kbps mp3 files, but then I noticed some of the tracks didn't leave the list after downloading. And they wouldn't play.

I also discovered that when upgrading the lower bitrate tracks, they would show up in this new playlist while the download was pending, then disappear once the file checked out as good.

Still holding at 39 bad tracks out of over 10,000. good percentage-wise, but of course some of those 39 are tracks I like to listen to. 🙂

Change the extension from .m4a to mp3 and they will most likely work. I've ran into several like this as well. This isn't a fix for the fact that Apple has the file type set on the files or the fact that Apple is sending out mp3's instead of m4a, but you can at least play the songs until they fix it on their end.

That worked, sort of. The bit rate is lower than it should be (can't say for certain if it was the bit rate as the original mp3 I started with). But that's good to know. I will add that information to the ticket I already have open.

I reported the list of my corrupt tracks to Apple right after my previous post. That was the last i've heard. Corrupt files are still corrupt.

Follow-up to follow-up. I purchased the track Morgenspaziergang from the iTunes store. The purchased copy plays fine. The Matched version keeps showing up corrupt and will not play.

When I compared Get Info screens, I see the Purchased copy is twice the size (8 MB good vs 3.8 MB bad).

Same song, same type, same bit rate. Shouldn't the files be the same size?