Q: iTunes Match horribly slow lately?

I've been having the same issues. Unbelievably slow. I'm getting stuck on "sending info to Apple". Taking between 15-30 minutes to match music.

Playlist syncing is also slow for me.

Same here. Stuck on sending info to Apple. Just updated iTunes but it hasn't fixed the problem. Very, very frustrating. At this rate I'll switch to Amazon!

Same here (Germany).

Also synching track information, number of plays, playlists etc.. takes forever. Its never fast, it takes at least minutes, sometimes hours. Its not only since 2014, i had these issues before.

If the server performance for iTunes in the cloud is not improving dramatically, i might switch to GooglePlay Music. Their interface is not as good as itunes, but their server performance never disappointed me for a sec.

E.g. synching contact information in my apple contacts is always instant across my devices. Why not music?

Same issues for months it sometimes takes days for playlists on match to sync

I called Apple support today because I was tired of waiting over an hour to add a single song to itunes match. I spoke with two different apple reps, both people told me this was standard waiting time for itunes match to add a song.

I stopped them and re-explained my problem "I'm not trying to upload my library, I'm just trying to add a song" -- both apple representatives told me that it could take MULTIPLE HOURS to upload a single song. I got typical excuses like 'shared servers', internet speeds, blah blah blah.

I asked both reps to escalate me to the next level of support. The first rep got disconnected, and the second rep talked with his "senior support staff" who echoed the same story that it's shared servers and waiting this long is completely normal.

Does anyone else feel completely over sold on itunes match?? This product has been out for three years and it still feels like it is barely out of the beta program. syncing playlists have always been a problem, but now that adding songs is taking multiple hours, it just seems like a total rip off.

And in defense of the second support rep, he did seem genuinely sorry about the issues (or non-issues?) that I was having

I completely agree. I use Google's service as a backup, and it's fast and reliable.

While I was talking to the first rep, I used Google and Dropbox as an example for how long it should take to upload a file to 'the cloud'. An 8mb file takes approximately 20 seconds to be uploaded to dropbox. If Apple is matching the song, and skipping the upload process, I would expect it to take less time, not more.

Of course this example was useless, and was told that my scenario was like comparing apples to oranges, and that apple 'didn't use dropbox'. sighhhhh... if they did it would be a lot faster

addition: It is not only the syncing process within iTunes which takes forever.

Even after a new album is synched within iTunes - whether matched or uploaded - it takes a LONG time until it´s available on my iPhone. In average i´d say it takes more than 6 hours. Sometimes 1-2 days. Not exaggerating.

My setup: iPhone 5S, Macbook Air late 2013.  100 MBit WiFi or LTE connection.. So I think it is not my end that takes hours to sync an album.

I even reset my whole iPhone to factory settings and reset iTunes on my mac, because i thought i might have a messed up library after using it for months.. But no changes.

Totally agree about iTunes Match getting worse and worse as time goes on. When I first used it, there was more flexibility and the service was quick and effective. Now it takes eons to connect to Apple's servers, upload and then find the material on other devices. Super buggy, totally screwed up all my album artwork and now it is severely unreliable and slow. I produce high quality rips from vinyl and would love it if this service worked as originally advertised but more and more I find myself endlessly frustrated whilst arm wrestling these devices into communicating with each other and with the iCloud servers.

It seems to me Quality Control at Apple is on a serious downturn. This is just one example of a never ending list of issues with their software that seemingly never get fixed. There are still severe bugs and design issues that have plagued iOS since it was first released back in 2007 that have amazingly never been corrected. Now instead of the stability and reliability of OSX making its way to iOS it seems the flakiness and buggy software is becoming the norm on my Mac too.

Worried Apple has the lost the plot in the QC department. Perhaps less time spent chasing features and competing with Google, Samsung et al. and more getting back to the quality, design and stability that brought them the customer base they currently enjoy.

Wake up Apple, you're slipping!

I'm in the same boat as the others. Google Music now uploads new music faster than iTunes Match does its matching.

It's taking sometimes up to hours to add a simple album to the cloud. Apparently it's getting hung up on Step 1: Gathering Information..."

I've been "Sending information to Apple" for days.

Contacting Apple support has not helped. Signed out, signed in, turned off iTunes Match, turned on iTunes Matc, etc, etc.

Very little sympathy from the support team on these issues. Encouraged to try again tomorrow, suggested it was my internet provider's problem (umm.. it's not)

I'm starting to feel a little bullied to purchase music directly from the iTunes store. I normally shop around at Amazon because they have great deals on music. Lately I find myself doing a cost benefit analysis of saving 2 dollars / waiting 5 hours to be able to listen to my music.

Basically if I start purchasing music only from iTunes, the benefit of iTunes match would be.. playlist sync? Which is slow and buggy as well.

Extremely disappointed with Apple, iTunes Match, and their customer support.

I am very disappointed. Subscriber since 2012, iTunes Match is worse. The service is slow, it may take 3 hours to sync my library ...

I will cancel my subscription if you don't fix this problem.

Just so you know, Apple doesn't specifically go over these forums looking to solve problems. These are User Forums.

Has anyone files a Bug Report with Apple? I just files Radar: 16727125

I guess we'll see what happens from there....

iTunes Match is a big mess. It is unbelievable slow on both the Mac and the Apple TV. I guess that this feature will be dropped in the next major overhaul of iTunes oder the iTunes store. In no way it does even comply the lowest quality requirements one might have for an Apple product.