iTunes Match explicit/clean music switch

Very cool! Is this app free like mp3tag? After I read these posts I keep getting excited thinking we figured it out, but then get bummed when someone says it doesn't work. I am anxious to try the mp3tag tonight, but will also try this on my macbook pro too.

Oh, yeah, Subler is open source. I should have posted a link <http://code.google.com/p/subler/>.

So if you currently have music you've ripped from CD and it is getting matched incorrectly, try using Subler to add the tag, delete the music from the cloud (wait at least 24 hours for it to clear out) and let it rematch. Let us know what happens.

Ideally we should be trying this also with music you haven't matched yet at all, but I realize that may not be possible.

Now if we can find someone to test this.

If Roebeet isn't already running an experiment, I'd wager it's because he's got REAL work that has to come first!

I tried it about an hour ago (my same QOTSA CD) - couldn't get it to "break". And agreed -- as far as I can tell, it treats CD's like everything else which is that iTunes has no idea if the song is Explicit or not.

I'm at my job so I scan here when I can. 🙂 Multi-tasking.

This really bugs me, however - I don't like mysteries but I have yet to find a pattern. And I bet there is a pattern somewhere, the question is how to find it....

EDIT: I'll try out Subler, but if it works like AtomicParsley, it probably won't have any effect, at least with me trying to "break" my Explcit tracks. I tried making Clean tags and I was still getting Explicit Matched versions.

Well I have been uploading/matching 1 album at a time, as crazy as that sounds. So I have plenty of fresh ones to experiment on. If match is going to give me clean music here and there, I am in no way going to upload in bulk.

We've been down this road before, though today's the first time you and Michael have had subler working for you.

I still think we've got two, maybe three things going on here.

(1) the explicit tag - which may be a factor, but not necessarily a deal breaker if it's not there.

(2) inaccuracies in matching overall, regardless of whether a mis-match is to an explicit, or a mono to a stereo, or a long to a short . . .

(3) the possiblity that the portion of track that is scanned does not have anything "explicit" in it. If it's the first ten seconds and those segments are the same . .

(4) Apple legal saying, "if there is even a small doubt, send them the clean version."

One thing - could somebody confirm that if you rip from a CD that's clearly sold as "explicit" that it NEVER shows up in iTunes with the "explicit" heading - even if as Michael says, the embedded tag we're talking about is an Apple only thing. If that is true, then one of the first things to ask anyone who has the problem is whether their original displays as explicit in iTunes.

p.s. I have subler now, but no source material. That comprehensive Olivia Newton-John collection of mine isn't going to help here. I mean, sure, there is an Explict version of "you're the one that I want" where she says to Travolta "come here you x!#$% Stud, but I don't have it and besides it's not for sale in the iTunes store for some reason . . .

Message was edited by: JiminMissouri

JiminMissouri wrote:

One thing - could somebody confirm that if you rip from a CD that's clearly sold as "explicit" that it NEVER shows up in iTunes with the "explicit" heading - even if as Michael says, the embedded tag we're talking about is an Apple only thing. If that is true, then one of the first things to ask anyone who has the problem is whether their original displays as explicit in iTunes.

I can confirm this. I have a CD by Meshell Ndegeocello that has the explicit label on it, and ripping it to iTunes I had to add all the tags myself. There was no "explicit" tag. Interestingly, it is not tagged in the iTunes Store as "explicit" depsite a couple of the song titles using a racal epithet. So this would not be a very good test for me.

This also got me curious so I've been glancing over my CDs and I'm noticing that the ones that do have the explicit tag on the CD, are not necessarily tagged as explicit in the store. All the tracks in my library that do have the explicit tag have been downloaded from the store.

Message was edited by: Michael Allbritton

Something I just thought of.

For the folks complaining about explicit tracks getting matched to clean tracks. Please double check and make sure this is actually the case. For example, looking at my link to the album in my previous post. The CD I ripped this from has the explicit label on it, but the tracks in the iTunes store are not marked as explicit. Nor are they tagged as clean, either, so if the tracks do not have either tag chances are your ripped tracks are matched correctly. But we just want to double check.

OK Michael. We just need some confirmation from others before we say, "check to see if the explicit tracks you are having matched to clean versions display the explicit tag. If they do not, you may improve your success rate by using a program like subler to add the tag."

Excellent point, Michael.

JiminMissouri wrote:

OK Michael. We just need some confirmation from others before we say, "check to see if the explicit tracks you are having matched to clean versions display the explicit tag. If they do not, you may improve your success rate by using a program like subler to add the tag."

Right!

x2 on this. If someone has a specific example, more detailed information is a good thing. The song name / artist, the source material (CD, eMusic, Amazon, iTunes purchase, "other" - I know some people might not want to admit the source, but without that info it's hard to troubleshoot), if a CD the tool used to rip the file, and of course what the source file looks like in iTunes - does it have a Clean/Explicit rating?

This is why I wanted to replicate the problem as I would document all these things. But so far I have not had this problem. Btw, no luck on Subler to "break" my tracks, at least not yet. Need to dig up another Explicit CD that I I haven't matched yet.

While I have absolutely nothing to back it up, I still think the problem is that you are just too good at what you do. If something's going on when other people rip explicit tracks, then while we might be able to show them a fix, every time they go rip something new, they'll end up with the same problem and have to use something like Subler to fix it.

I know MIchael says the Explicit tag is an apple-only thing, and maybe it is. But also maybe there is something we just don't know about that's in the header that gets stripped out when they burn from a CD in whatever way they do it.

I wonder what would happen if you dumbed down your ripping process, used programs you hate . . . would you still get matches?

I'll add that if this hasn't been tried using MP3s instead of AAC or AIFF, that could be part of it.

Message was edited by: JiminMissouri

Original format is another good thing to check. AAC's allow for extra tags that MP3's do not -- I noticed this with the AppleID for example, which only gets added to AAC's (even Matched and uploaded ones).

I honestly think there's a pattern , but it just hasn't manifested itself. If we can get more people to give us details, I bet you or I or Micheal or the other regulars here will be able to replicate it eventually. I don't think I'm doing anything special, I'm probabably just not doing something specific (or NOT doing something specific) that others are. Heck, it might even be specific songs only and I just don't have those in my library.

EDIT: Found this -- http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1278187.html I actually have that Jaz-Z album and I haven't matched it yet (another old WMA Yahoo! Music sourcem, I believe). Testing that out, now.

Well I have been only using MP3s for years. I rip a cd using EAC and LAME. Then import them into itunes. I have never seen the little red explicit tag applied. So maybe the little explicit tag only applies to AAC/Itunes store songs. Although I have not tried any of the methods to add the tag either. I will try both AAC and MP3 tonight. Something else I wondering is when you convert your mp3s over to aacs in itunes to try and get a better match, obviously the sound quality degrades some. Now I wonder if that plays a role in the matching algorithm.