How does iTunes match handle songs that segue, i.e., side two of Abbey Road?

Question

Level 1

14 points

How does iTunes match handle songs that segue, i.e., side two of Abbey Road?

I am annoyed when songs that are meant to flow together, i.e. prologues, epilogues, concept albums, live versions - are separated when shuffling which I frequently do. On music I have converted from vinyl to digital, I am able to keep these songs together.

Will iTunes Match replace these as separate songs thereby losing continuity that I set up?

iPhone, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Jan 18, 2014 7:20 AM

Reply

Answer 1

ed2345

Level 9

63,626 points

Jan 18, 2014 7:39 AM in response to uconnhusky2

Will iTunes Match replace these as separate songs thereby losing continuity that I set up?

Husky,

iTunes Match uses the same version that is sold in the iTunes Store. For Abbey Road, each song is a separate track.

iTunes does not have the ability to say "I want to shuffle songs, but certain tracks should be kept together." However, it does have a few settings that will help:

You can choose to shuffle by albums or groupings rather than by songs. (Controls > Shuffle)
Also, you can choose to exclude certain tracks from shuffling by setting them to "Skip when shuffling." (Get Info > Options)

Reply

Answer 2

uconnhusky2 Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 18, 2014 9:04 AM in response to ed2345

But-would iTunes recognize the songs if I have converted them from vinyl as a single song?

And related-would iTunes Match give me the same version when it replaces my songs, i.e. I have all long versions where available?

Can I download the updated/replaced versions into my library? I store all my songs on an iPod Classic, so it would be nice if I had the versions that did not skip or pop.

I'd like Match to give me cleaner and higher quality versions as well as have my full library in the cloud since it's too big for my phone, but I don't want to end up with problems.

ed2345 thanks for the prior answer and thanks in advance if you know the others. I'm pretty knowledgeable about Apple but I've never known the answers to the Match questions I have.

Reply

Answer 3

ed2345

Level 9

63,626 points

Jan 18, 2014 9:53 AM in response to uconnhusky2

uconnhusky2 wrote:

But-would iTunes recognize the songs if I have converted them from vinyl as a single song?

And related-would iTunes Match give me the same version when it replaces my songs, i.e. I have all long versions where available?

Husky,

iTunes Match matches songs by a proprietary algorithm that uses a combination of length, tag data, and audio fingerprinting to try to match a given track to something it has in the Store. Since the "long" (segued) versions of Abbey Road are not in the Store, I don't see how that would work. However, you can check over in theiTunes Match Forum for a few additional tips and tricks for improving things.

Reply