On my source Mac, can I stream from the cloud instead of play my local file?

Question

On my source Mac, can I stream from the cloud instead of play my local file?

I just set up Match, and I see most of my music on my iPad, so I know that it worked. Great!

I'm a bit confused, however, because on my home computer, the majority of the tracks (those that I am seeing on other devices) have no "cloud" icon next to them, there's just no icon at all in the cloud section. This raises the questions:

1. On my home Mac, am I streaming from the cloud, or just playing the source file? (as far as I can tell, it's just the source file)

(The reason I want to do this is to improve the quality over some of my crappy MP3 files)

2. If it is only playing the source file, can I switch it to stream from the cloud? And lastly,

3. Shouldn't I be able to download the cloud version of the files, or is that only for the non-source computers?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2), 2.5 quad-core i5, 4gb (2011)

Posted on May 3, 2012 4:45 PM

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Answer 1

May 3, 2012 4:54 PM in response to Nathan Edwards1

Quick follow-up: It's definitely playing the source file on my source computer. I can hear it accessing the hard drive, and it won't play if I disconnect the drive (I store the music on an external).

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Answer 2

May 4, 2012 3:21 AM in response to Nathan Edwards1

When you delete a track on your source computer you can keep a copy on the Cloud.

Then, you can hear your song by streaming, or redownload.

Test it on one track first, to be sure it works!

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Answer 3

May 4, 2012 3:23 AM in response to Nathan Edwards1

Hi Nathan, it's normal that you don't see a cloud icon next to your tracks - as long as the local files are there you won't. And yes, you are definitely playing the local files right now.

Only if you delete the files (from your harddrive, not from iCloud - so don't check the box that says "delete from iCloud") you will see the cloud icons and you will be able to stream your music from Apple's servers.

But you might want to upgrade your tracks to the higher quality files permanently - you can do that by deleting the songs (again only from iTunes / your harddrive, not from iCloud) and then downloading Apple's AAC versions of those songs. That only works for songs that got matched, though - the ones that got uploaded will be replaced with the exact same file you had before.

Personally, I upgraded all my lower quality files - it's a great feature of iTunes Match. In my case hard drive space isn't an issue, so I prefer playing the higher quality local files instead of streaming :))

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Answer 4

May 4, 2012 4:47 AM in response to Nathan Edwards1

Another possibility: you could create a second iTunes library and use that one just for streaming (without importing any files). You can do that by holding down the alt key while opening iTunes.

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Answer 5

May 4, 2012 7:56 AM in response to sweet-jane

Thank you both so much! This is just what I needed to know.

Here is what I ended up doing, in case it helps others:

- As instructed, I held down alt while opening iTunes and it gave me the option to start a new library. Upon doing so, it is as if I just opened iTunes totally fresh.

- I turned on iCloud, and in just a few moments, I saw all of my music from the cloud and was able to stream it. This is fantastic for people like me who want to listen to the upgraded AAC version of some of their tracks, or if someone had their music on an external drive but doesn't want to bring it with them somewhere.

- To stay organized, I created an alias of both my home and cloud libraries (just the main .itl file) and put them on the desktop. That way, if I open iTunes again holding alt, I can easily select which library I want to open. This allows me to choose whether to listen from the cloud or locally without having to delete my original library.

I love it, thanks so much!!

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Answer 6

May 4, 2012 10:24 AM in response to Nathan Edwards1

Glad to hear that it worked out for you! 😉

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Answer 7

May 6, 2012 7:21 AM in response to Nathan Edwards1

What a great advice, thank you. This way you can move the original itunes library to an external drive effectively freeing up lot of space on tour macbook pro + you can match more songs in icloud. Great!

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