Itunes match stuck at sending information to apple

This a great example of why "the plural of anecdote is not evidence".

With all respect to Nico44044's 'solution', not all iTunes users use Macs, so this isn't going to be effective for many people who are experiencing this problem.

Even if there was an equivalent workaround for Windows users, and even if this workaround was effective for everyone experiencing this problem, it still does not constitute a 'fix'. A 'fix' would result in the iTunes software working reliably, and delivering the service that people had paid for, without the need to reboot, hold down special keys, enable/disable features, perform mystical rain-dances, etc.

I think it would be inappropriate to consider marking this issue as 'solved' until Apple actually fix their software so that such workarounds are not needed.

I agree the overall issues aren't completely resolved.... BUT... I also think there ARE fixes and workarounds, some real easy to do, that would help a lot of people.

Stating that Apple is terrible and suggesting they go to Spotify or some other service (as some are now doing) isn't the answer either. Match has some odd behavior and we all wish it "just worked" but it is also possible with the complexity of whats going on it might just need a nudge now and again.

I'd like to see the thread more about possible solutions than crabbing that the service ***** and people should just move on. Frankly there are millions using the service that aren't having issues. I believe soon Apple is doing to have higher quality audio as well, which will make Match quite appealing.

Thanks to everyone that are sticking with it and sharing your fixes.

lundejd wrote:

Stating that Apple is terrible and suggesting they go to Spotify or some other service (as some are now doing) isn't the answer either.

Actually, without wanting to get into a row about this, for those of us approaching a service renewal date, I think it really *is* a viable answer.

Apple have had more than ample time to fix this problem properly, or engage openly and honestly with their paying customers regarding this problem. They have done neither. For those of us approaching a renewal date, it simply doesn't make sense to pay for further year of this service, in the vain hope (against all previous evidence) that Apple might actually change their tune and do something to address this problem. That's just throwing good money after bad.

I agree though that, for people who are *not* approaching a renewal date, it does no harm to keep trying workarounds.

Actually the quote "the plural of anecdote is not evidence" is illogical and sets up a false premise. When several people report that something specific and repeatable works for them (assuming the placebo effect does not apply, which is a nonissue in this case), those reports cease to be "anecdotal" and become, in fact, evidence. Perhaps not proof, but certainly evidence.

I fully agree that ultimately Apple needs to fix this. That goes without saying. But that doesn't negate any solutions, workarounds (call them what you want) that help people achieve the desired result. If it doesn't work for you, because you're on Windows, I'm sorry about that. Truly. But you don't have to be an *** and rain on everyone else's parade like a spoiled child.

I'm not your average user who's susceptible to the fallacy of believing that two events that occur coincidentally constitute causality. I'm not that guy. I'm a power user who gets calls from friends and family to fix their Mac and iOS issues. I'm not perfect, but I pay attention to detail. Regardless, like most, this issue had me stumped. And yes, I repeat: The real fix should come from Apple. But until that happens, tips and workaround are viable and are helpful.

So, after trying absolutely EVERYTHING that was suggested, all over the web, and after iTunes Match was stuck for 4 WHOLE DAYS, despite turning iTunes Match off and back on at least 15-20 times (and probably more), I finally tried Nico's tip: I restarted the Mac in safe mode, fired up iTunes, and the very first time I selected "Update iTunes Match," it WORKED.

Will it work for every, single user? Probably not. But is it likely to work for some? Yes. Perhaps even most. At what cost? A simple restart. For any user (on a Mac), it certainly won't hurt to try.

If it doesn't work for Windows users, I feel your pain. But attacking me for exclaiming that I found a solution that DOES work — at least for some of us — doesn't accomplish anything except making you look bad. There friendlier, more constructive, and more accurate ways to get your point across.

Sorry if you think I'm "attacking" you, or trying to "rain on your parade". I think if you re-read my comments, you'll see that I'm not actually trying to do that, but it's not really worth arguing about -- I've wasted enough time trying to get iTunes Match to work properly, and I certainly don't want to waste any further time engaging in a name-calling row (asterisked-out or otherwise) on a forum topic about iTunes Match.

I'll maintain that, for those of us who are nearing our renewal date, looking into alternatives is a very viable option, especially given Apple's apparent lack of interest in fixing this persistent problem, and the competition in this market. However, people can decide for themselves whether they want to go that way or not.

For those happy to continue with workarounds, well that certainly does no harm either. Again, people can make up their own mind for how long to persist with this approach, and whether they want to keep paying for this service.

It's broken again for me. iTunes Match hasn't been working for a week. I called support again and so now I have t open cases on this issue. One is over 5 weeks old and I can't get anyone to address it. I did screen sharing with the Apple Rep and showed him that this was happening on all 3 of my Macs. It seems like whatever servers I am hitting for match and iTunes in the cloud timeout and so the process just hangs. I din't understand why this has been going on so long. I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall. Please fix this Apple !!

This sounds like a true mess. I must be one of the lucky ones...

I had many problems getting the initial sync done, but since then any new music that I've added to my master iTunes library on my MacBook has quickly and accurately synchronized across all of my devices without any further problems. Other things related to a Match subscription like commercial free Apple Radio, etc, have all been working fine. I'm crossing my fingers that things keep working.....but I'll monitor this thread for possible solutions if/when things come off the rails.

Maybe OSX Yosemite and iOS 8 will have some magic in them to fix this nonsense.....

I tried it on Yosemite beta and it still doesn't work.

Sent from my iPhone

JUST BOOT YOUR MAC HOLDING THE SHIFT KEY (until you see a progress bar).

Then in itunes disable and re-enable iTunes Match.

It should rescan all your library and eventually works.

At the end just reboot your Mac normally.

After a month of working on this problem sporadically, this is what solved the problem for me.

Thank you!!!

I've been using the latest iTunes with Yosemite (now release candidate) and it has finally started to work on its own with no forcing of sync etc.

Its back the way it was originally before things started to get "stuck".

I'm hoping this means its been fixed and its not just me. It actually started working about a month ago with I think the second beta release of the new iTunes and probably the 6th release of Yosemite.

I, too, am using iTunes 12 in Yosemite and have seen improvements in recent weeks, but with caveats.

Of the couple of dozen albums I've uploaded in recent weeks, only one or two got "stuck." One was a 4-CD set with 86 tracks, which may have been a factor. But after restarting my computer and relaunching iTunes, all 86 tracks said "Uploaded." Albums of typical size have been uploading reliably.

However, iTunes Match still refuses to permanently update artwork I've attempted to change on a dozen or so albums. I've attempted this, weekly, in hopes that either repetition or changes to the servers would make the changes "stick." Each time I apply the new artwork, it appears to "take," but within an hour or two, it reverts to the old artwork.

I'm seeing the stuck album art etc. as well. I find if I don't have a real clean album before I place it in iTunes, match takes what it looks like initially and won't let go.

My work around is to delete the album(s) from my main computer, disable match, then update the metadata from a second Mac that has match enabled. Let that sync, match, then re-enable Match and download the Apple version to my original Mac. It sounds terrible but its actually not all that bad.

Still... not ideal.. especially since I'm pretty anal about my music being labeled. TuneUp also doesn't work with Yosemite (at least not for me) but I think it was causing more issues than it fixed do the the above issue. I'm afraid I'm going to have to make sure my albums are clean and labeled before they are placed into iTunes. Hopefully this gets better soon as well.

What Apple should do is add an "update iTunes copy" option or something that tells iTunes Match that your local copy is the master, not theirs. I believe once they have a copy, theirs is the master and any updates you try to do are essentially just overwritten... which is why deleting and re-adding is the workaround.

Or if an album is matched, by all means it should bring down the accurate metadata. Maybe a "Get Album Metadata" option instead of just "Get Album Artwork" would do the trick.

Yes I've thought of doing something similar, except that changes the metadata for "Date Added," which in many cases I'd prefer to preserve.

It's cumbersome that iTunes Match gets to work the moment that tracks are added. Because of this, I've had to resort to using 3rd-party tag editors like "kid3" (which isn't for the faint of heart — lol) to get all metadata in order before importing into iTunes.

That wouldn't be necessary if we simply had the option to add tracks to iTunes Match when we're ready to do so. That way, we could upload an album, spend a couple of minutes making sure everything's as we like it, then select the tracks and select "add to iTunes Match." The fact that Match kicks in the moment anything is imported is clunky and lacks Apple's typical refinement.

I may have stumbled upon an odd workaround for the album-art-not-sticking bug.

A few days ago, I changed the artwork for an album, and within 20-30 seconds it reverted to the previous artwork. Feeling determined, I kept reassigning the new image to the album, 4 or 5 times in a row, with the same result.

Finally I decided to reimport the entire album. The plan was to locate the album's folder in Music > iTunes > iTunes Media > Music and have it visible and ready, change the album art in iTunes, then quickly select the album's folder and hit ⌘D to quickly duplicate the album — while the tracks still had the new artwork embedded (that is, before iTunes Match had had a chance to revert the artwork). Then I was going to delete the "stubborn" version from iTunes and simply reimport it, with all tags (and new artwork) intact.

But I discovered that after quickly duplicating the folder as described, the original album's artwork did not revert.

Ever the skeptic, I've since done this on two more albums, and once I duplicate the album's folder in the finder, the artwork sticks (and then I just delete the duplicate). I wonder if this might work for anyone else. I've now done it 3 times, and neither album has reverted.

For the record, I'm running iTunes 12 (beta) in Yosemite (beta). This may or may not work with other configurations (and it may or may not work with the same configuration)!

Three successes is probably not enough to warrant a conclusion, but it's harmless to try. So I'm throwing it out there in case anyone else wants to give it a go. :-)

This solved the problem for me!