I have an iTunes Match subscription and iTunes Radio, but I am still receiving commercial advertisements on iTunes Radio. Why?

If this is on your iOS device you must have iTune Match enabled to be able to listen ad-free.

Really? It needs to be turned on on the device you're using to play iTunes Radio? I don't want to turn it on for my phone because I have a lot of music on the phone which I want to be always accessible -- even if I have no network access. Turning on iTunes Match will delete all that.

Pandora knows I have a paid account no matter which device I'm on. Apple should be able to do the same, regardless of whether or not iTunes Match is enabled for that particular device..

paul355 wrote:

Really? It needs to be turned on on the device you're using to play iTunes Radio?

No. You need iTunes Match enabled to listen ad-free. You can listen to iTunes Radio without an iTunes Match subscription. But you do need an Apple ID to be signed into the iTunes Store.

paul355 wrote:

I don't want to turn it on for my phone because I have a lot of music on the phone which I want to be always accessible -- even if I have no network access. Turning on iTunes Match will delete all that.

As long as the music on your iPhone is also in the cloud (which means it is backed up in your iTunes library) no it won't.

paul355 wrote:

Pandora knows I have a paid account no matter which device I'm on. Apple should be able to do the same, regardless of whether or not iTunes Match is enabled for that particular device..

iTunes Radio is not Pandora. It is not going to work exactly the same way.

Mayby you should first try before posting inacurate information

paul355 wrote:

I don't want to turn it on for my phone because I have a lot of music on the phone which I want to be always accessible -- even if I have no network access. Turning on iTunes Match will delete all that.

As long as the music on your iPhone is also in the cloud (which means it is backed up in your iTunes library) no it won't.

Actually, iTunes Match did delete all my locally stored songs on my iPhone. Like the OP, I just want commercial-free radio without the other Match complications.

Michael Allbritton wrote:

No. You need iTunes Match enabled to listen ad-free. You can listen to iTunes Radio without an iTunes Match subscription. But you do need an Apple ID to be signed into the iTunes Store.

I misspoke slightly - I realize that I can listen to iTunes Radio without an iTunes Match subscription, but I think it should still skip ads on a device on which I haven't enabled iTunes Match if I have a subscription. It obviously recognizes my Apple ID, as it's correctly loading my personal iTunes Radio stations. So, it should also recognize that I have a paid Match account, and skip ads on all my iOS devices.

I've sent Apple feedback to this effect.

Michael Allbritton wrote:

As long as the music on your iPhone is also in the cloud (which means it is backed up in your iTunes library) no it won't.

Not sure I'm reading this right... Do you mean I have to backup my library to iCloud for the music to stay when I turn on iTunes Match? Isn't it enough that the same music is included in iTunes Match? Or is that what you mean?

Thanks,

Paul

mckaz@optonline.net wrote:

Mayby you should first try before posting inacurate information

I have been using it. Maybe you should be more polite to someone trying to help, rather than being rude.

PugetSoundguy wrote:

Actually, iTunes Match did delete all my locally stored songs on my iPhone. Like the OP, I just want commercial-free radio without the other Match complications.

That should not have happened. That is not the way the service is supposed to work.

However, that does not change the fact iTunes Match must be enabled on the iOS device to get ad-free listening.

paul355 wrote:

Not sure I'm reading this right... Do you mean I have to backup my library to iCloud for the music to stay when I turn on iTunes Match? Isn't it enough that the same music is included in iTunes Match? Or is that what you mean?

No, that's not quite what I mean. What I mean is as long as the music on your iPhone is also in your iTunes library and has been mirrored in the cloud by iTunes Match then it will not be deleted from the iPhone. If you have music on your iPhone that is only on your iPhone and was not bought from the iTunes Store then you need to get that music into the iTunes library before you enable iTunes Match on the iPhone. Otherwise you will lose it.

iTunes Match is not a backup service and should not be relied on to be such. You are responsible for backing up your personal data to a local, external HDD. If you are not currently doing this you will eventually lose data.

Cool - thanks for the clarification, Michael. Once iTunes Match finishes uploading everything, I'll turn it on for the phone. And yes, I have backups. 🙂

Message was edited by: paul355 for typo

You're welcome.

Actualy, it's your anwers that are condesending, and yes inacurate. When you anable iTunes Match on the device it replaces the library on that device with the library on iCloud whitch means delets every last song on it. You can then download whatever you like, from your library.

Since you're just cluttering up the thread this will be the last time I reply to you.

The iTunes Match service is not designed to delete music that is already stored on an iOS device. I've been using it since the beta and I have never had it do that to my device. I'm not saying you haven't had it happen, I'm simply telling you that is not how the service is designed to work and for the vast majority of people who use it what you describe has not happened. You had something else going on with your iOS device that caused that.

iTunes Match did delete all the local content on my iPhone. Apple Support said it was supposed to and that the only way to get music back on for local storage would be to download an "all songs" playlist from the Cloud via Match. That would take forever.

I want it to work the way Michael describes above but for me it doesn't and unless I misunderstood Apple, it's not supposed to. I wonder what's going on here and why we are having different experiences.

PugetSoundguy wrote:

I wonder what's going on here and why we are having different experiences.

That is certainly a very good question. In my opinion the person who told you that was mistaken. The way I have described the service working for me is the way it has always worked for me, and, I believe, the way it is supposed to work. That is not to say that some people have had a different experience because they have. But the reason is not clear. So either it is a bug for you, or it is a bug for me.

At any rate, you might want to give this a try: Restore your iPhone to factory settings by going to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings then set it up as a new device. Don't restore from the backups you've made. This is a drastic step, I know, but if anything will clear up what I see as a problem this will.