Will iMatch remove my current play lists on my iPhone?

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Level 1

8 points

Will iMatch remove my current play lists on my iPhone?

I just downloaded iMatch on my iMac. When I go to settings in iPhone and turn on iMatch, I get a message saying that "ITunes Match will replace the music library on this device." I was under the assumption that my current library would remain remain on my phone along with my current play lists. Is that correct or not? The problem is that a lot of the music currently on my phone is actually on my iTunes on my PC and the computer I used for initiating iMatch is an iMac that is more of a family computer. I don't want to start over with my play lists. I thought I had a decent understanding of how this works - maybe not.

Thanks!

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1.1

Posted on Nov 17, 2012 7:02 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Michael Allbritton

Level 6

16,951 points

Nov 17, 2012 10:38 PM in response to cherscribe

Apple really needs to reword that alert. It is completely misleading.

Any music that is stored on your iOS, and is in the cloud and in your iTunes library will not be removed from the device when iTM is enabled.

However Playlists will be removed from the device and replaced with Playlists from the cloud. So as long as all the playlists in iTunes get uploaded to the cloud they will then show up on your iOS device. Be aware, though, that the content of Smart Playlists might not be the same on the playlist in iTunes.

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Answer 2

cherscribe Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 18, 2012 7:28 AM in response to Michael Allbritton

That is helpful, thank you, and that leads me to a second question. I have not been using the Cloud previously. So if I haven't been using the Cloud I assume my play lists will be completely gone if I turn on the iMatch on my phone? I guess the next step would be for me to set up Cloud on my phone before I activate Match on the phone? I will admit I haven't even tried to learn about the Cloud and it looks like I'll be forced into that now.

Though it would be nice for simple backup purposes, the Cloud has seemed to be a difficult issue for me because we share a family account and none of us want everything we do to sync onto another family member's device. I definitely need to learn more about how it works. I understand with iMatch that it gives you access to all the music but you don't have to download it onto your device so that's perfect. However, we don't want our various play lists and pics syncing on each other's devices, etc.

Thanks again.

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Answer 3

Nov 18, 2012 7:46 AM in response to cherscribe

cherscribe wrote:

That is helpful, thank you, and that leads me to a second question. I have not been using the Cloud previously. So if I haven't been using the Cloud I assume my play lists will be completely gone if I turn on the iMatch on my phone? I guess the next step would be for me to set up Cloud on my phone before I activate Match on the phone? I will admit I haven't even tried to learn about the Cloud and it looks like I'll be forced into that now.

You do not need an iCloud account to use iTunes Match. The two services are seperate and are not really related.

cherscribe wrote:

Though it would be nice for simple backup purposes, the Cloud has seemed to be a difficult issue for me because we share a family account and none of us want everything we do to sync onto another family member's device. I definitely need to learn more about how it works. I understand with iMatch that it gives you access to all the music but you don't have to download it onto your device so that's perfect. However, we don't want our various play lists and pics syncing on each other's devices, etc.

FAQ: Why iTunes Match can NOT be used as a backup!

Additionaly, iTunes Match is designed and intended for single user use. It can be used by more than one person, but that comes with its own set of niggles. The main hurdle being that the iTune Store account that was used to purchase the service must be logged in on all devices.

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