Hi,
When I subscribed to iTunes match, it moved all my imported songs (i.e. songs from cds that I owned) into the cloud. I finally got fed up of this, and cancelled my iTunes match subscription, and now all my imported songs have disappeared !! Can someone please help me get them back !!!
Thanks,
DId you back up your music before subscribing to match? Did you redownload your music before subscribing to match? If the answer is no to both questions, you lose access to all music in the cloud and will not be able to recover it.
Music purchased from iTunes store should be available to redownload. You will need to reimport all your CDs again.
Jim
Hi Jim,
I have got backups from before installing Match, but since then I have imported dozens more albums. iTunes Match is meant to do away with the need for backups isn't it ? Because its all in the cloud...
Anyway, why would iTunes match delete imported CDs from my laptop ? And, if I cancel my subscriptions, why would it not re-download all my albums for me? You sound like you think they've done nothing wrong, but personally I was a lot happier when all my music was on my hard drive and I was responsible for my own backups.
By the way, I just re-activated Match on my laptop and all my music came back, so you weren't quite right to say I could not recover it.
Next step is going to be for me to re-download everthing and cancel Match properly...
Pete.
ITunes Match (or iCloud in general) DOES NOT relieve you of the need to do backups. And it has never claimed this. You are still responsible for backups!
Turning off iTunes Match on a computer will remove all tracks from your library that you have not downloaded. The correct procedure would be to download everything first, and preferably make a backup of the whole library, THEN turn off iTunes Match. There may be a grace period after you cancel your subscription in which Apple keeps your music just in case you need to recover it - you were fortunate.
PS - you say "Apple moved all my imported CDs into the cloud, I got fed up with this" - this is exactly what iTunes Match is for and what it was designed to do. I don't know what benefit you thought it would provide if you didn't want it to move your music to the cloud.
Matt
Hi,
I echo Matt's comments that you were fortunate. I am not sure how long Apple maintains the match account once it has been cancelled. Read this FAQ: Why iTunes Match Can Not Be Used as a Backup
JIm
Hi Matt,
You say I am still responsible for backups. Can I ask how I am supposed to back up all my cds, since iTunes match removed them all from my hard drive. They only exist 'in the cloud' now. Are you suggesting I download ALL the thousands of songs I have on a regular basis, just so I can back them up, and re-upload them to the cloud ? If not, can you please tell me how I can back them up from the cloud,
Thanks,
Pete.
Jim
Having read that note, I am astounded that anyone uses this service. If I had fully understood what match did I would never have subscribed in the first place. I am now going to put a bit of effort into understanding how I can extract myself from this service without losing all my music. I no longer have most of the original cds, since I binned a lot of them when I first ripped them into iTunes. Back in those days I used to back them up myself to external hard drive, so I dumped the hard copy discs. Since going to match its no longer possible to back up as far as I can see, so any advice you can offer on what I should do if I want to cancel would be greatly received.
Thanks,
Pete.
peterallan68 wrote:
Since going to match its no longer possible to back up as far as I can see, so any advice you can offer on what I should do if I want to cancel would be greatly received.
You need to import tracks to your computer in order to add them to match. You should back up those tracks before deleting them from your main computer
Make and keep a backup of your iTunes library, and only stream from the cloud.
As you did not keep the originals on your computer, I suggest that you create a new library on the external drive and download them. You would need to do this in any event if you decided not to renew match. Use this library to manage your music in the cloud - new tracks added will be available in the cloud once match completes it's scan of your library.
Jim
I cancelled iTunes match and all my imported music has disappeared. How do I get it back. Please !!!
