iTunes Match explicit/clean music switch

JiminMissouri wrote:

I was going to suggest you now have all the ammo to contact Apple on this, but you're way ahead of me.

I still wonder just when in the track the explicit language shows up. If it's in the first 10 seconds or so that would REALLY surprise me. It shouldn't matter obviously, particularly not on a purchased track.

But if the "purchased" tag does nothing more than acknowledge you own a version of the song, Then, it falls to match to figure out which version.

So if you follow me, then if the matching is done on the first 10 seconds, perhaps at the tail as well, then if Jay-Z stays G-rated during those sections, Match doesn't access anything that tells it that it's explicit.For all intents and purposes, What Match sees is the same for both versions, so it goes with "clean"

Again, this isn't how it should work, but it might be what's happening.

I haven't checked this entire album (yet) but the three tracks I have checked were all affected. I didn't want to Match the rest as I didn't know if there was any caching going on. But I'll try the rest of them. I was 3 for 3 with clean songs, so far.

As far as we know, someone tweaked something during beta testing for this particular album, and never untweaked it. Or maybe there's some album ID in the matching process and the clean and explicit versions got switched. Wouldn't THAT be interesting?

Agreed - Apple would be delighted to have such an excellent trouble-shooting resource!

The essential ingredient would be to identify the appropriate Apple executive as sponsor. They will of course already have trials in progress but your contributions and tenacity would be an asset.

Part of the challenge for any major corporate is identifying the high quality, well motivated and reseached feedback leaving aside the unhelpful, often ill informed high volume of opinions - hence the importance of gaining the correct Apple sponsorship.

Keep up the excellent work, it is hugely appreciated - especially when results match!

I'm sure you would have both my support and Jim's support should you decide to approach Apple to become a recognised source of service feedback - suspect others would support to.

One more item of note, because I like to be thorough:

For this track, 4:06 time is the Explicit version, and 4:05 time is the Clean version.

For this purchased track now, if I only have a local downloaded file (clean), it's 4:05 and not listed as Explicit. But if I delete that file and look at the iCloud only version, it's listed as 4:06 and Explicit, but plays back the 4:05 version, as shown in the playback screen. I'm assuming that if I Matched the clean file later, it would be 4:05 version all across the board but I haven't gotten that far yet. And it may not even show as purchased.

So in the case of this purchased track, it actually matched to the right song, but it's not playing back the right song. Interesting.

Well I have an Apple store near me, two actually within 30 minutes, but It wouldn't have occurred to me to approach anyone there.

I think we have to assume that there are things Apple is doing related to iTunes Match (and other products) that we're not likely to hear about, unless we get very lucky in who we get on the phone (or email or whatever). It's hard for me to imagine that in addition to having engineers assigned to work on Match that there aren't people assigned to scan the forums, since it's a goldmine of information, not only of problems, but of potential solutions. My guess is that what they glean from us eventually ends up being factored into fixes, support docs, etc.

Still as the days, weeks, months go by without resolution to any of these issues, you do have to wonder if some major update intended to fix a lot of things at once, isn't being worked on.

Worth remembering that the metadata source is with you and not provided by iTunes Match - can be very confusing!

The behaviour for Purchased of course will be different since the iTunes Match service is not being used here - it is simply ensuring that the identity of the Song you purchased is the same for any subsequent download.

Mine is about an hour away, but I will be out-of-state this weekend. I should check and see if there's an Apple Store near where I will be and have my laptop ready to go. I wonder if they would even look at iTunes Match issues?

I have an appointment with a Genius on Saturday afternoon. This should be fun. 🙂

I've actually never set foot in an Apple Store before, believe it or not. Just never had one close enough to warrant a visit. But since I will be near one Saturday, it will be interesting.

You sure someone from Apple doesn't have an appointment with a Genius named roebeet?

Actually I can pass on that every time I've worked with a genius they've been very helpful, though I'm not entirely convinced that the fact that I've got so many products under Applecare doesn't help me a bit. I've always enjoyed dropping in. OK, it gets pretty crazy around the holidays, but other than that, the experience has always left me wondering why I don't get the same warm fuzzy feeling when I go into any other retailer.

Well I just read through the first 8 pages of this thread and figured I'd give my experience with this mismatching.

Extra info: I'm on the newest version of OSX 10.7.2, iTunes 10.5.3, iOS 5.0.1 (iPhone 4S)

I've had iTunes match since day one, but already had alot of music synced to my iphone with usb and itunes. When you enable itunes match on the iphone for the first time it states it wipes all your music but I'm pretty sure it didn't. I was only adding a few songs here and there with itunes match and slowly started noticing that some songs that weren't on the iphone before itunes match were downloading edited.

At first I was having problems with music no matter what the original source was. I was having other problems with my iPhone (random shutting on and off) so I wiped my iPhone a few days ago, restored and just started putting music on again via itunes match only. This is when I noticed alot of music is now edited on my iphone that wasn't edited before the restore. This is what leads me to believe that previously synced music wasn't actually wiped from the phone even though itunes match said it would be. I think it just states that becuase when the phone starts running out of HD space it will delete music to make room for new music. Hopefully you're not confused yet!!!

Today I was on the phone with an apple rep and they told me to go on my iPhone go to the settings > general > restrictions (they were disabled, I had to enable them and set a passcode) > Music & Podcast > explicit (explicit was already on, but if it's off turn it on). Then go on my computer, open iTunes Preferences > Parental > Uncheck Restrict explicit content (it was already not checked). I think this might have solved iTunes purchased music to now be downloaded in explicit. I went through some of my music and it seems for the most part that anything I bought through iTunes and has the red explicit tag next to the song title is matched correctly. So when I download these to my iphone they are still explicit. I've done it with 2-4 tracks per album, with different artists, and different genres (hip-hop and rock). They all seem to be correct now even though a week ago when I downloaded them some were edited. To be specific, I downloaded some tracks from Kanye West & Jay Z Watch The Throne and they were edited prior to this, before the restore.

Only 1 cd I bought/downloaded from Amazon has explicit lyrics in it and this now downloads to my iphone correctly now. It didn't previously. A track from this cd was originally one of the songs I noticed previously downloaded edited. In itunes the cd doesn't show the red explicit label next to the song title but it says "[Explicit]" after each song title as well as after the albumn title. The iTunes info states these are 256 kbps mp3s, ID3 Tag: v2.3, Encoded with: Lame.

Now for the fun stuff! I have two full albums I got from "other places," but are said to be ripped from original CDs. They are both 320 kbps mp3s. One cd is Drake - Take Care and the other is Game R.E.D. Neither of these say Explicit anywhere in the info. The album artwork does show the explicit cover... probably doesn't matter but I figured I'd add that anyway. On both albums, none of the original mp3s are edited on my computer. I just listen through both of the cds to be positive. Some tracks are uploaded and some are matched on each album. I downloaded both cds via iTunes match to my iphone today. One cd has 20 tracks the other has 21. Only 4-5 tracks on each cd downloaded Not edited. Some of these not edited songs were matched some were uploaded. As for the rest of the tracks, it DOES NOT matter if they show matched or uploaded to icloud on my computer, they all downloaded to my iPhone from the cloud Edited. I actually have the list of whats uploaded and matched and what downloaded edited/not edited if anybody is curious about that. This post is already pretty long so I didn't want to add that to it.

As for CDs that I have personally ripped to my computer, I couldn't find any that added the explicit label to them in the info, I know some people asked about that in this thread. I've used all different programs to rip them including itunes. Some were ripped 10 years ago and some as recently as a couple months ago. Most are from a couple years ago or more though. Maybe I'll try to pull a couple cds out and re-rip them and see what happens. I've probably ripped 100 or so cds myself. Alot were also ripped from previous roommates from CDs and some are ripped from vinyl. Had a roommate with some turn tables not sure what he used to rip/record them. Some of these are matched, some are uploaded. Some tracks on each album are matched while others are uploaded. I think this is pretty much the same as everyone else's experience. As for these tracks, it also DOES NOT matter if it's uploaded or matched. Some tracks download edited and some do not.

Is anyone else seeing tracks that are stated as uploaded to the cloud, downloading edited?

I'm not sure why they don't just make an option to download either edited or non edited and let you be able to change it in iTunes match settings. I have clean and explicit music because my girlfriend teaches dance and needs clean music. I find it ridiculous that we have to pay for both explicit and clean music anyways, when she needs to use clean and I already purchased the explicit version. I understand paying if its a remix of the song but it's usually not. Anyways this would at least be a short term solution!!

Forgot to add that when I went in to the genius bar, I was told to call in about the iTunes match. The last thing I was told over the phone was to go through all my music and delete the tracks I was having problems with from my iTunes library and the Cloud, but not to delete the local files on my computer. Then make a list of the problematic tracks and send it to them. Then re-add each song to itunes and re run itunes match. On their end they would delete the link of the matched songs from censored and link it to an uncensored version of each track. I have a decent sized library of 10,000 tracks and I know a lot of people's is even larger than that. So I think that's a totally insane request. I was told I would be contacted by another itunes match specialist via email about this; I was and this was the response:

I understand that iTunes Match is matching a lot of songs and album as censored though they are not. I am sure you are anxious at this time and I will do my best to help you.

Apple is currently working toward a resolution for the issue you have reported. You will receive an email after the matter has been investigated and further information is available.

Thank you for your patience. Apple wants your iTunes experience to be as enjoyable as possible.

Nothing was stated about the re-linking so if anyone else is told that I wouldn't recommend wasting your time. That was what initially motivated me to go through a couple albums with problems though. I'll probably just sync with iTunes - USB mostly for now, and just use iTunes match if there is a song or two I forget to sync that I want to hear. For $25 I'm not going to complain too much!! I've always been taken care of before with hardware problem so this isn't really isn't that big of a deal. Hopefully they get it figured out in the coming months. I'll check back here if there's anything else you guys are interested in or to let you know how it goes when I re-rip a few CDs.

Just curious - did an L1 rep tell you this? Or was it an L2 rep, over the phone? Because I called them yesterday about my Jay-Z album issues and was told to just write it up in the feedback form.

This is exactly my concern, here -- it sounds like their support area needs to be streamlined a bit. If, for example, they can fix edited songs on the fly like this, then shouldn't this be part of their "script" when people call?

I'm still planning to visit the Genius bar tomorrow - I expect no resolution but it'll be more ammunition for when the end of the year comes and if these problems still aren't fixed yet.

This is what leads me to believe that previously synced music wasn't actually wiped from the phone even though itunes match said it would be. I think it just states that becuase when the phone starts running out of HD space it will delete music to make room for new music.

You're correct. iTunes Match does not replace the music you already have on your iPhone. The confusion comes from the alert language, which says something like "iTunes Match will replace your library." They're talking about the database, not the actual music files, though admittedly a better choice of wording would help here.

Today I was on the phone with an apple rep and they told me to go on my iPhone go to the settings > general > restrictions (they were disabled, I had to enable them and set a passcode) > Music & Podcast > explicit (explicit was already on, but if it's off turn it on). Then go on my computer, open iTunes Preferences > Parental > Uncheck Restrict explicit content (it was already not checked). I think this might have solved iTunes purchased music to now be downloaded in explicit. I went through some of my music and it seems for the most part that anything I bought through iTunes and has the red explicit tag next to the song title is matched correctly.

It's a good reminder that if you don't have the restrictions disabled, that alone will cause you problems.

However, reports to date indicate that people who have full access to restricted content are still getting clean versions for some tracks. It does seem to be track-specific.

I'm not sure why they don't just make an option to download either edited or non edited and let you be able to change it in iTunes match settings.

The assumption is that Apple's legal department has required that there be a firewall of sorts so people who don't want their kids getting to explicit content won't have to worry about them just pushing a button.

I agree. If someone actually managed to get an e-mail response stating that "apple is working towards a resolution" that's more than anybody's gotten so far. Don't suppose there's an address tied to that e-mail???

Time to call them up , again - if there's a way for them to actually fix this on their end, I want an L2 rep to state that and have them fix it. Luckily (or unluckily?) I have one album affected so I will know if they fix it or not.

EDIT: Btw, no parental restrictions on my end. That's the first thing I checked. 🙂

Not sure if it was L1 or L2 rep. I was transferred a couple times and they were speaking with someone else about it too. I was told over the phone that they haven't heard of this problem before. Had to hold back the laughs. At the apple store when I was told to call about it, they said it was a known issue and they are working on it. If I called in they may be able to help with me with it, as well as give them some more info about the problems.

The email response I recieved does have a reps name on it, but it looks to have came from a generic email address. iTunesStoreSupport@apple.com