iTunes Match in iOS 6 does NOT stream

I just bought iTunes Match. You issue is very simple to correct.

Simply to into settings/general/usage - click on the 'music' app in the list of apps, click edit then delete. Do this when you've finished listening to music. Sorted!

That's only the beginning of what is wrong with iTunes Match in iOS 6 I'm afraid.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4310579?start=0&tstart=0

All "streaming" music players cache the music while playing. You can't see the cache with the amazon or google players, but it's still there, still taking up space, and working essentially the same way as iTunes Match.

Try going into your settings app, and go to the Safari settings. Tap Advanced, then tap Website Data. Does it list amazon there? That's your cloud player cache.

With iTunes Match, it's not hidden away, and you can see in more detail how it works.

I am not yet on iOS 6, but I've been following with interest this issue whether iOS 6 streams or not when using iTunes Match. One thing is for certain: if 'streaming' with iOS 6 results in an ever-increasing 'cache' file on the device, than that is not streaming in the way we all expect. That is no different than songs being downloaded as it does in iOS 5. A small cache file is one thing, but if it is constantly growing, that is something else entirely.

To Only XM: if it turns out iTunes Match does not stream, and you are looking for a streaming solution, I've used both Audiogalaxy and Audiotap, and they both work great. Unfortunately, neither appear to have received any recent updates, but I can say thay work great on 5.1.1.

It's an interesting case, because the Apple Website talks about iTunes Match as if it was still simultanious/manditory streaming + downloading on the FAQ's on this page, just like it was in iOS 5.

However, when youy play a song on iOS 6, it plays instantly. When you go into airplane mode, it remains. Now this could just be a temporary cache.

But the most interesting part is even after you play a song from iTunes Match and it is downbloaded (or cached), the cloud-shaped "download" icon still appears next to the album (this particular example album only had one song, so in theory, that icon shouldn't be there if it auto-downloads). So it is still giving me an option to "download" the song, even though it is cached on the iOS device. Here were my possible conclusions:

• The song has downloaded, and the cloud-shaped "download" icon is an error.
• The song is temporarily cached after one play, and the cloud-shaped "download" icon is used for permenantly downloading the song to the device memory.

In order for this second possibility to be true, the cached song would have to dissapear from my phone at some point, right? So far it has been 24 hours and the song is still (possibly) chached on my phone. I will keep you guys posted if anything changes.

-Michael

Hi all ...

Why can not I delete songs in the iPhone when iTunes Match is enabled?

If you turn off itunes match, then I can ...

IOS5 when I saw the device and which song is which of the Cloud ... Now why do not you? I do not understand, this is an opaque!!!

I hope soon be resolved!!

bye

The song has downloaded, and the cloud-shaped "download" icon is an error. THAT IS NOT CORRECT

The song is temporarily cached after one play, and the cloud-shaped "download" icon is used for permenantly downloading the song to the device memory. THAT IS CORRECT...if you play a song that is cached it will stay cached until your cache memory exceeds and will start replacing it (no word on how much cache memory total they give us). If you tap the cloud icon you are downloading permanently to your device.

I'm still not convinced that iOS6 has streaming*. Note, I do not yet run iOS6. However, the iOS6 manual has the following statements:

"Songs are downloaded to iPhone when you play them. You can also download songs manually."

"When iTunes Match is turned on, you can’t delete music. If space is needed, iTunes Match

removes music for you, starting with the oldest and least played songs."

Nothing mentions streaming. It does mention that songs can't be deleted, and that they are automatically removed as necessary, which is a big change from iOS5.

As I mentioned in another thread, the manual also does not indicate what would trigger music being removed. Would App installs do it? Would photos taken with the camera do it? Or will those things be blocked if your iPhone is 'full' of music?

* An addition to my post. There seems to be some confusion between streaming and downloading. I should qualify that if a song file is ultimately downloaded to my phone, I make no distinction between 'downloading' and 'streaming', as the end result is the same.

"Songs are downloaded to iPhone when you play them. - they are downloaded to a cache which is not permanent space on your memory. Just like when you go to a website on your computer you are downloading data to a cache memory file. It is stored locally on your computer so that next time you go to that website the you dont have to download the data all over again. But is not being stored like files you save to your hard drive. Cache files will never over-ride files you save and will get replaced by other cache data once a certain limit is exceeded. The question is how much cache data is Apple giving us?

In my case, after turning off itunes match, I can still play the songs that I didn't downloaded. No space was released. I think there are some big bugs in this version.

When you play songs from itunes via your ipad using the local network, using the shared option, it streams nicely, none of the songs remain on your device, why cant itunes match function like this, I am a recent apple user, and I thought it was meant to be easier than PC's, its the opposite everything is a challange to figure out, Itunes match is so frustrating! Hope Apple fixes the stream to a real stream in future updates, or allows users to set the size of the cache!