iTunes Match in iOS 6 does NOT stream

I just had a chance to check out the Amazon Cloud Player app (I had previously only used their "web app" in Safari, but mostly I got confused with Google's web-based player).

The Cloud Player app does cache music and the music does take up space.

1st - the cloud player app is listed as 4.2 Mb on the app store, but after downloading I immediately checked the "Usage", and it was 6.2 Mb. That could be just an error on the itunes store information, but it could be that they immediately start by reserving 2 Mb of empty space for music.

2nd - I played two songs - not clicking the "download" button, just playing. then went back to Settings to check the usage. It jumped to 29.1 Mb.

So this is apparently working the exact same way that iTunes Match does, but it's hidden better.

I've never used Orb, but I'm willing to bet that it too has a cache of some kind, again probably hidden away in the app's size.

nickobee53 wrote:

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,

iTunes Match has to work for people who are traveling or commuting, and may not have wifi or cellular access or only have it intermittently. If Match worked like Home Sharing, they would instantly lose access to their music every time they hit a weak signal.

By caching the songs, the music keeps playing until they get back into an area that has cell service or wifi again, and while you're in "airplane mode" you still have access to any song that you played recently.

And technically Home Sharing also "caches" - but it deletes it as soon as you stop listening (and it maybe only caches a portion, 30-seconds or so, instead of the whole song).

I thought the option to download, not stream was for those who are traveling (No wifi) and want it on their device, is there a way that when streaming (not downloading) the cache clears once app is closed? the same way as it does over home network?

its time consuming having to manually do this after listening to music,

I really do think there is a terminology problem going on. Not sure where this notion of 'caching' began. When Apple says iTunes Match streams songs, what they mean is that you can listen to the song while it is downloading. Whether you play a song, or manually download it, the end result is the same: you've downloaded the song.

I have just been experimenting with this and there is a difference between just playing a song and explicitly downloading it:

• Downloads remain on the device if you turn iTunes Match off
• Songs that are just played are deleted from the device if you turn iTunes Match off

So the played songs are effectively "cached", i.e. not stored permanently.

Also, I see that if you turn iTunes Match back on again, then all the downloaded songs will appear in the library - you don't have to download them again.

When iTunes Match is on you cannot manually delete anything (downloaded or "cached"), but when iTunes Match is off, you can manually delete any song, album or artist with left-to-right swipe.

I would hazard a guess that whenever the device is running low on storage it will automatically purge songs from the "cached" songs, but not touch your downloaded ones. This makes sense to me - you download the stuff you really want to keep on the device, and just "play" the stuff you don't mind being removed.

I take back what I said then. That actually sounds cool! Instead of cloud icons to indicate which songs are in the cloud, perhaps instead we need an icon to indicate a song is local 🙂 I look forward to doing some testing as well. I'm very curious about the supposed auto-delete capabilities in iOS6 with iM.

I am a lot on the road with no wifi and have limited 3G so I used to download some albums and played them while driving. Now with iOS 6 I don't know what is on my device anymore. Do I really have to create a spreadsheet or something to log what is on my device. Until iOS 6 I was really happy with iTunes Match. Last week i had an 7 hrs drive with basically no music. If this is how it is going to work as from now I don't know if I will continue using it.

Could be I'm missing something obvious but can't see what. The iOS 5 way was a lot better at least I could see what was locally stored and delete songs/albums with a swipe and a tap. The only missing functionality was that I couldn't temporary filter out all the non-local songs except for going into setting etc etc...

Ok this does make sense and makes me like the IOS 6.0 itunes match better than 30 minutes ago.

However due to the fact I fly alot I need to know what is downloaded and local vs just streaming - maybe a cloud vs tape icon or something. I need to have a bunch of local content due to being offline a lot.

Also I want to ability to download song by song like I had in iTunes Match in IOS 5.0 as sometimes I want part of an album - multiple various copies of the same song or songs I don't like etc.

None of the functionality is gone - it's just a little bit harder to get to. Everything takes a couple of extra steps:

However due to the fact I fly alot I need to know what is downloaded and local vs just streaming - maybe a cloud vs tape icon or something. I need to have a bunch of local content due to being offline a lot.

You can, it just takes an extra trip to the "Settings" app. In "Settings", tap "Music" then turn "Show all music" off. Your music app will then only show the "local" downloaded music. Plus it doesn't even try to play anything that isn't local, for instance when you tap "shuffle" or play a playlist that has combined cloud and local music.

Also I want to ability to download song by song like I had in iTunes Match in IOS 5.0 as sometimes I want part of an album - multiple various copies of the same song or songs I don't like etc.

Again, you can still do it, with two extra steps:

1. Create a new playlist

2. Tap the songs you want to download (same as before)

3. Tap the cloud icon at the bottom of the playlist

It was definitely more convenient to do both in iOS5, but it's not impossible in iOS6 - and not even that burdensome. The change feels infuriating, because it was so convenient before.

i don't mind how it's set up now, other than deleting songs is more difficult than it needs to be. i may download an entire album, or a free song at starbucks, and decide i don't like all the songs as much as others, and since i do all my music purchasing on itunes through my iphone/ipad, i'll have to turn off Match just to get rid of those songs from time to time. otherwise in a few years, i'll have downloaded every single song purchased, whether i still want it on there or not. either having the delete option, or when you purchase the song in itunes having the option to add to your icloud or download locally immediately would be nice. and it seems obvious that the delete functionality that was already there would be easiest...

Problem for me is my music collection is way too big to fit on my iPad or iPhone so the new method of knowing what is and is not on those devices is crazy and a royal pain

Yeh I figured those tricks out but they are very non Apple like and clunky. It was cleaner before. Granted streaming now appears to work faster. However since I do tend to use both local and non-local content due to the size of my music library the to and fro *****.

Wanted to jump in here to say that for iphone 5 OS 6 the iTunes match is awesome. I use to have to download to listen in the car and now I can have it shuffle/play with no audio problems. It was almost imposible before, and I use to praise pandora for the way they delivered the music to you. I definitly think it is streamed now where as before it was downloaded as it played. It does cache because you can see the memory go up. Also, having the amazon app is kinda cool too because the cached tunes or ones that you download from the music app can quickly be filtered using the device option on the amazon app. Best of both worlds and the comfort that my tunes are backed up.

I just purchased match and am testing. I was on iOS 5 and had the cloud icons etc. I had no music downloaded to my iPad. I "streamed" a few songs and it appeared that they had been download. This was a few days ago. I read iOS 6 streamed so I updated to 6. The songs I streamed 2 days ago show up when I turn off Show All Music in settings and will play when I turn off wireless (I don't have 3G). These songs are still on the iPad! Also the cloud icons are gone so I don't know what is on the device unless I turn off Show All Music in settings.

The use case is a simple one. 1) I have more songs that I can store on the device, 2) I want access to all my songs, 3) I don't always have wireless or 3G/4G or 3G is slow so I need a 100 or songs on the device for no network/slow network, 4) the 100 songs keep changing so I need to be able to delete songs from the device and download from the cloud ONE SONG AT A TIME From the device, 5) it should be easy to tell which songs are on the device and in the cloud. Simple.

Someone mentioned the Amazon Cloud. It satisfies all the requirements of the use case and most of the time music purchases are cheaper. The downside is old iTunes purchases don't upload automatically (copyright stuff I guess) so you have to rip those to mp3.

I just realized a setting that solved my streaming problem (which may have been oversight on my part although I could have sworn I tried everything to solve it). I thought the streaming worked as soon as I enabled iTunes match but somehow went south after a little while. This is actually a setting to allow iTunes match to stream over cellular.

Go to Settings/iTunes & App Stores and turn on "Use Cellular Data" and Match streaming works. Make sure you're data plan supports this or you'll overshoot and get a penalty charge.