How do I disable ads in iTunes Radio AND sync music using iTunes?

I think you are out of luck for now. I have had this same problem. I have paid for iTunes Match to get ad-free Radio but I don't want the additional functionality of Match because I have experienced the exact local synch problem you described above.

Reading through this forum it appears not everyone has had this problem, even with iOS 7. It appears it was possibly not a problem in iOS 6, but that is unclear, and is water under the bridge in any event. Not sure what's going on here.

Apple Support in a chat said a workaround is to make a playlist with all of your iTunes songs on your Mac. Then iTunes Match will show that playlist (eventually) on your phone. Then you hit the button provided on the screen to download everything in the playlist from the Cloud to your phone! This could take hours or days, even on a wireless network as opposed to cellular.

Frustrating! I have sent polite feedback to Apple suggesting that they not require full Match functionality for someone who just wants to pay for ad-free Radio. I speculate that this requirement is possibly part of an Apple business decision to encourage more reliance on streaming (with its revenue opportunities) as opposed to the more old-fashioned local storage. Just a theory; maybe it's a smart business decision, that's Apple's call, but I find it unfortunate for my needs.

That might help except iTunes on my iPhone 5 never shows any of my playlists. I upgraded several weeks ago to iTunes Match and it still doesn't show my playlists and most of the songs that I manually dragged over in iTunes on my iMac to my iPhone device (which is supposed to be another way to get the song onto your phone). This happens even though after syncing the songs shows up in iTunes on my iPhone device under Music. They show up there, but not on my actual iPhone. Bizarre and frustrating.

I think the best workaround for now is to go to your "Settings" on your iPhone and, under "iTunes & App Store," turn iTunes Match ON after you've synched you phone. The obvious solution is to make sure that right above that ""Show All" is set to OFF for "Music."

Each time you connect to iTunes to resynch your iPhone it will basically "remind" you under Music that you have it on. Just turn it back off on your iPhone and sync the music as normal. After each sync go to your phone and turn it back on. It's an extra unnecessary step but it will work and it's easy to get used to.

As long as you leave the "Show All" settings turned to OFF you'll never see all your Matched stuff on the iPhone so you won't be able to download anything in the cloud even inadvertently. It's just a matter of flipping that one switch back and forth I guess.

EDIT: I just tried this and you have to wait about a minute for iTunes Match to load. I don't think it's re-downloading all of the stuff that was already manually syched but I can't be certain what exactly it seems to be downloading. (I have it set to only do this sort of thing over wifi.) Proceed with caution.

Here's an answer that I found elsewhere:

Q: I am a current iTunes Match subscriber, and have the service activated on my home and work computers as well as my iPad. However, with my iPhone, I prefer the old-fashioned way of syncing and copying my music with iTunes, so I’ve never turned on iTunes Match on it. With that being said, will my iPhone get the ad-supported or ad-free version of iTunes Radio?

- Anonymous

A: The short answer is yes. iTunes Radio looks at the iTunes account that you’re signed in with to determine if you’re an iTunes Match subscriber, and this has nothing to do with whether you have enabled iTunes Match on the iOS device itself.

This applies not only on iOS devices, but also on the Apple TV and even to iTunes running on your Mac or PC. In addition to allowing you to easily purchase iTunes Radio tracks from the iTunes Store, iTunes Radio also uses your iTunes Store account to keep track of your listening history and wish list and keep it in sync across all of your devices.

Note that you will need to be signed in to the same account on your device that you have subscribed to iTunes Match with, so if you use more than one iTunes Store account, be sure that you’ve signed into the correct one. This can be found under Settings, iTunes & App Stores in iOS 7, under Settings, iTunes Store on an Apple TV, or on the Store menu in iTunes on your Mac or PC."

Read more at http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/itunes-radio-requirements-for -ad-free-listening/#Y0X0kxfUkMK3RH2A.99

yogic2zones wrote:

Here's an answer that I found elsewhere:

This article from iLounge is incorrect. To get ad-free listening iTunes Match must be enabled on the iOS device.

Hi,

If find the reply odd. The question posed "will my iPhone get ad supported or ad free version itunes Radio". The answer starts of with "the short answer is basically yes" !

This is a poor answer from a source that often provides very good information on the use of iTunes.

Jim

Unfortunately as soon as you turn on match, you local (on the ipad) music library is replaced by match. No more local music. I don't think there is a way to sync and use paid for match radio and have an itunes controlled music library on the ipad. :-(

Pretty much a deal killer for me. I won't be renewing. I'll probably just pay for pandora.

This discussion was quite helpful. My family will stick with Pandora ad-free subscriptions. As a stock holder, I hate it when Apple shots themselves in the foot.

Unless I'm completely missing the point here, it is totally easy to have playlist and music on your phone or other IOS device. Even with iTunes match, all you have to do is look for the down arrow in a circle next to the name of the song and you can download the song. Doesn't this accomplish what you're seeking?

Yep, you are missing a few things. first, when you use iTunes match, you are getting 128k AAC. If you want higher quality, you are SOL If I'm wrong and you are getting 256k, then if you want smaller, you are SOL. If the quality is to your liking, then you are golden.

As for playlists, iTunes Match doesn't support smart playlist based upon other playlist. For example, I have rated all my music. I have a playlist called 3 stars or better. I have a second playlist that is based on the "3 starts or better" playlist, and adds genre = rock. I have a number of these nested play lists. Match doesn't support them.

I also have some songs unchecked in my playlist. iTunes can be set not to sync those, but match does it anyways.

FInally, I sync my iPad all the time. I assume my mussic is there after I sync with iTunes. With match, my music may or may not be there. If I want to listen and I don't have network, I'm SOL.

I also have a playlist in ALAC format. No way to get that to the iPad with Match.

All edge cases, but it means Match is not for me. That all said, I DO want the ad-free radio. I paid for it and that's all I really want. Unfortunately it's bundled with no way to turn match off. Oh well.

I'll give another case... I have a pandora account for ad-free music but I don't want my kids messing up the suggestions with theirs. I also bought iTunes Match for my phone - and while I've decided I hate it (partially for the reasons above and many more) but I figured it wasn't a total loss if I could let my kids have ad-free music through iTunes Radio on their iPads. No such luck since I don't want them getting my whole 10,000 song library. So, all that subscription has gained me is a totally jacked iPhone music library... The kids and wife left Match off. So, now I'm using Spotify instead if playlists on my iPhone for on-demand listening and Pandora for radio. Talk about a lot of wasted money!

Boo. I was wanting to put itunes radio on my phone. I want also to keep my regular itunes library. I wonder why they would not make it that way. I was using Pandora and then they started constantly harrassing me about doing questionnaires (no). I wonder if lastfm is still around.

You're incorrect in several points. iTunes Match files are 256 kbps. And if you have a playlist in ALAC format, the files will match, and you can access that playlist on your iPad; just not in that format. You'll get the 256 kbps files.

I think I'm only wrong on the point of 256k. All my other points are correct. If you don't want 256k, say so you can get more songs on your device, you are SOL. If you hav an ALAC playlist and you want the ALAC format on your device, you are SOL.

You are also SOL if you have nested smart playlists.

@ ToddB123

Likes and dislikes on Pandora are specific to the playlist, so if you name you playlist with, say, initials-playlist name, and your family stays within their playlist, you are OK.