Do I Need iCloud and iTunes iMatch?

Question

Level 1

14 points

Do I Need iCloud and iTunes iMatch?

I have iTunes version 10.7, and operating system Mountain Lion OS X version 10.8.2

1) Last week I signed up for icloud and ITunes iMatch. I have no other devices - just my IMac desktop.

I did this as a backup for my ITunes music on my IMac, in case I accidentally delete my iTunes songs. I don't use the Icloud for calendars, photos or anything else. Was paying for iMatch a waste of my money? Is using iCloud worthwhile for me?

By the way, I do plan to buy an IPod Touch next year, mainly to listen to music in my car. I'll only have internet access with the IPod Touch when I am at a cafe with wifi access, which is not often.

2) This concerns Google Play. (Sorry, I know this is the wrong forum but I get no responses at the Google forum.)

I had backed up all my songs onto Google Play, which is in the cloud. But then I deleted them because I had some problems with my playlists. I figured I could upload my songs back to Google Play a second time.

However, before uploading again to Google Play, I signed up for iCloud and ITunes iMatch with Apple. Then all my ITunes songs were uploaded to the Apple iCloud. Then I tried to upload all my iTunes songs to Google Play. I could only upload new songs in ITunes to Google Play, not songs that were already in ITunes. My guess is that all my ITunes songs that went into the iCloud via ITunes iMatch were somehow prevented from also going to Google Play.

(Please note that I switched last week from OS Snow Leopard to OS Mountain Lion in order to be able to use iCloud and iTunes iMatch)

Any suggestions for how I can upload songs to Google Play?

Posted on Oct 8, 2012 10:07 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 24, 2013 5:19 AM in response to Henry R

I have an IPod Touch and IPad MIni, neither have 3g wireless. DEEPLY REGRET signing up for ICloud. Now the only place I can access my music is at home. I can no longer sync music or apps, and will probably have to PAY Apple to help me. There are NO fixes online for this.

If you buy an IPod, make sure it's wireless. Otherwise, you'll probably have the same problems.

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Answer 2

ed2345

Level 9

63,774 points

Feb 24, 2013 5:28 AM in response to Henry R

My guess is that all my ITunes songs that went into the iCloud via ITunes iMatch were somehow prevented from also going to Google Play.

Google Play Music Manager, Amazon Cloud Player Premium, and iTunes Match all work kind of the same. They look at the song file on your computer, and they either match it to the same song in their catalog, or upload your copy (sometimes with transcoding).

If the file is on your computer, they do not care if there is also a copy in another cloud service. However, if the file is not there, they do nothing; they do not look at what is in your other clouds.

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Answer 3

Feb 24, 2013 6:13 AM in response to GoldNotSilver

On your iOS devices (Ipod touch and iPad) just tap the Settings icon then iTunes & App store icon and slide iTunes Match to Off

On your PC/Mac launch iTunes.

ALL YOUR MUSIC REMAINS LOCAL on your PC/MAC its NOT deleted.

Now string your USB cable to your PC/Mac and sync as you always have !

Alternatively if you have a home Wifi network and your PC/Mac and iOS devices are all connected to the same area you can now setup Sync over wifi in the summary panel of iTunes for EACH device.

This will semi- automate the sync process.

When you place the iOS device on charge and within the same Wifi area,and launch iTunes sync'ing automatically takes place.

The caveat is your iOS device MUST BE PLUGGED in either to the mains or your PC/Mac its still not cable free.

By the way you can have several differing iOS setups - i have my iPad setup to use Match but my iPhone 4s to sync manually loading only songs i want to listen too so as to manage storage on the device.

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Answer 4

Feb 24, 2013 6:24 AM in response to ed2345

Nothing is removed from your computer HDD/SSD by these services - Your master copy remains and in the case of iTunes on your PC/Mac when you play to track its remains the LOCAL copy.

To use the iTunes matched track on your PC/Mac you have to actually delete the LOCAL copy and download the replacement version !

When you select a track on an iOS device with match activated the track is DOWNLOADED to your device by default so you have a local copy. That can now be repeatedly played even when you have a no radio (Wifi/3G/LTE) connections

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