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iTunes Match - Step 2 Freeze - Solved

Just resolved the apparent Step 2 freeze! Steps taken were as follows:


1. Stop iTunes Match in iTunes client;


2. Close iTunes client;


3. Restart computer from cold;


4. Start iTunes client;


5. Watch iTunes Match proceed through Step 1 to stall in Step 2;


6. List Music library on iCloud status - noted Songs marked 'waiting' and Songs marked 'duplicate in iCloud';


6a. Took backup of all Music files concerned;


6b. Using iTunes client deleted Songs with status shown in (6);


7. Repeated steps 1-4;


8. iTunes continued successfully through Steps 1, 2 and 3;


9. iTunes Match now reporting all Songs available in iCloud!


Please do try and report the results in this thread so we can see if this proves to be a general fix.


Note: Prior to this iTunes client had been left for 20+ hours with no change, apparently hung at iTunes Match step 2.

iTunes 10-OTHER, Windows Vista, iMatch giving inconsistent results

Posted on Jan 18, 2012 3:23 AM

Reply
48 replies

Jan 18, 2012 3:55 AM in response to ateringcateringcat

ateringcateringcat wrote:


i've done that, and it works, but when i add the songs back in again, the process stalls and i'm back where i started.


i've taken out songs that were previously matched, re-added them, and that will stall Step 2 as well.


Exactly my experience yesterday. The only tracks which can be added that do anything are iTunes purchases. Otherwise it just stalls, whatever I add.


I have just noticed that some tracks appear to have matched overnight. It looks like there may have been some movement during the night, but it has stopped again now.

Jan 18, 2012 3:57 AM in response to ateringcateringcat

Good to see it is possible to move past the freeze - alarming that adding the file back caused the service to stall again on Step 2. Have tried two routes to resolve:


1. Re-purchased one Song from iTunes Store as a trial - this worked perfectly and was immediately added to iCloud without issue;


2. Re-loaded one Song (previously successfully 'matched') - the stall at Step 2 appeared again - removed the file and no stall.


It looks like we have a successful route to restore iTunes Match to a working state if new files are sourced from the iTunes Store. However, for some Songs (even those previously successfully 'matched'), the step 2 stall is persistent. With regret, it looks like the overload on the Apple infrastructure remains a major factor.


Suggest (a) restoring iTunes Match for existing libraries, (b) leaving new matching for several days to allow the apparent Apple infrastructure overload to ease. The only exception to (b) is for Songs purchased new from the iTunes Store, this worked perfectly with the Song added to iCloud and replicated to all other libraries / devices.

Jan 18, 2012 4:32 AM in response to mracole

Whilst the solution certainly works, unless the Songs concerned are re-purchased from the iTunes Store attempts at recovering them cause the Step 2 stall to recur.


The issue appears still to be with the Apple infrastructure since even trying to restore a previously 'matched' Song causes the stall.


As an illustration, the example below shows a Song from Jet that had been successfully matched. The 'get info' to the left is that for the newly re-purchased Song, the 'get info' on the right is for the previously 'matched' Song.


Example:


User uploaded file


At present the previously 'matched' Song in the iCloud is shown as available for download, however, it is greyed out allowing neither download or play. With the local version of the Song removed iTunes Match completes Step 2, attempting to restore the local file causes Step 2 to stall - this despite successfully playing the Song in iTunes in its originally 'matched' state earlier this morning.


Whilst we can use the solution to restore iTunes Match to working order at least for current and new Songs, it appears we will have to wait for a solution from Apple before existing Songs will complete the matching process. All indications are that we will need to allow several days for the current high loading on the Apple infrastructure to ease.

Jan 18, 2012 7:50 AM in response to mracole

as well as posting here, i also emailed apple. i just got this reply:


"I'm sorry to hear that for the last 24 hours you have been unable to get any newly added songs past Step 2 in iTunes Match. My name is Dianne and I can certainly understand how this could be disappointing for you, please be assured that I'm happy to help.


The good news is that iTunes Match was just released in 19 more countries, the bad news, is that this appears to be slowing down our servers causing delays in the processing of information, which is step two. It is likely to be a few days before the service balances given the sheer number of new iTunes Match clients!"


so there we are. seems it is confirmed that apple are having issues at their end. they also gave me a couple of itunes movie credits for my troubles.

Jan 18, 2012 9:18 AM in response to nrose101

I complained to an L2 rep today and said the same thing. They didn't learn from last month's mistake and for that I feel that whoever green lighted this should have their butt chewed out. If it were me, i'd actualy have that person fired.


The first time (last month) was an honest mistake as they misjudged potential load. But this time? No excuse.

Jan 18, 2012 11:36 AM in response to Community User

It is a pity to see no official general announcement from Apple. Many would be saved hours of effort and research with a simple post by Apple to acknowledge the 'server overload' issue and recommend a course of action.


It would seem wise to leave 5-6 days in order for the load to ease - followed by a limited trial of a few tracks overnight.


What was the recovery time for the service during wider release last month? We ought to be able to do a rough calculation and estimate the likely effective 'service out' time ... suggestions very welcome ...

Jan 18, 2012 11:47 AM in response to mracole

After 10.5.2 was released, there was a short slow down - maybe a day with varying rates of speed. And after the 17 countries in December were rolled out, the service was up and down for at least several days, and possibly up to a week. Eventually it did stabilize and was pretty fast, up until early AM EDT on 1/17. Usually an "outage" for me would be several hours at most, then the process would at least run for a few hours before it went down again.


I use Match almost daily, as I Match only a few albums a day on average. I would guess that my "normal" Match time is 5-10 minutes at most.


What I've been noticing with this slowdown (or "outage" being a better term) is that it's been fairly consistent for the last 36 hours in that I haven't seen any window (yet) where the speed ever increases. For example, last night I ran 190 songs and, 9 hours later, I checked up on it and it was still running (0 of 190 songs). I have never seen the Matching process this slow, for this long a period.


I agree that Apple should really make an announcement - this isn't a 2-3 hour outage like I've seen in the past. I think they are having some serious infrastructure issues right now.

Jan 18, 2012 12:08 PM in response to nrose101

I'm testing mracole's solution in the first post, now (in my case, it's fairly easy to do as my Match library is not the same as my main media library - so I can add / delete songs at will). It's been about 15 minutes so far and I'm not at Step 2, yet. But this might still take a while even if it's "fixed".


If this does work however, I have a theory as to why. But it's really just a guess.

iTunes Match - Step 2 Freeze - Solved

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