Level 1

0 points

iTunes match - on iPhone iPad split albums and wrong album artists

Hello everyone,

I'm having real trouble with iTunes match. So I have no issue actually playing the music, but the albums are being not only split but they have the wrong album artists. None of the issues are present on iTunes on my Mac, its all on iOS.

Firstly, I'd say my iTunes library was pretty much well organised pre-match. Albums had the correct art, the ID3 tags were such that everything looked correct and made for functional searches when using an iOS device.

All of my issues seem to be because of match. At first when I saw the split albums I thought it was just the ID3 tags being messed up somewhere but I've since wasted hours experimenting and I just can't seem to fix it.

I've tried (in no particular order)

Turning match on and off

Re-booting all devices

Making sure the iOS devices had all music wiped (via iTunes) before enabling match

Using iTunes to correct ID3 tags

Using the Yate ID3 editor to correct ID3 tags

When I say correct I mean select all tracks in a given album and make sure:

Album artist equal

Artist equal

I've tried the 'add a space on to artist / album artist then take it back off' trick

Remove any other 'mixed' fields such as composer

Check there is only one cover art file and it's the same for all tracks

Remove any mixed sorting fields

Renamed files

Renamed folders (then re-imported)

Now the interesting thing is that there is no pattern, some are correct and some are not. One album for example is Energy Never Dies by the black eyed peas. I bought this from a shop and ripped it. It's split into 3, one artist is the Black Eyed Peas, one is Elton John and one is Rhianna.

I've noticed the when the artist is wrong it's always the same artists (Elton John and Rhianna for example)

Interestingly, the wrong artists are different on the iPad to the iPhone, but the albums are split the same. Also, the one of the bad artists is one I made up for a mix tape, which makes me think the bad info is not on Apple's servers.

It's as if some old album artist data on the device from what was on there pre-match is corrupting things, but I don't fancy wiping the devices.

One way around it is to delete all artist and album artist info, but keep the album name the same (for grouped tracks). I can then search by album name and the album art is correct. This isn't ideal though as I cannot search by artist.

I've done some research before coming on here and I've tried quite a few fixes what have been suggested but I'm still no further forward. I'm hoping someone has some ideas otherwise I'm going to go through my library and remove all of the artist info as the work around like I say.

I'd like to report the bug to Apple but I can't seem to see a way of doing so. If anyone knows how to do this I'd appreciate a tip please.

Many thanks in advance,

Kai

Posted on May 4, 2015 3:01 PM

146 replies

Jun 29, 2015 2:52 AM in response to Guillaume_FR

If 8.4 fixes it i suppose iit's reasonable not to fix 8.3. But the deafening silence and lack of information from Apple is not good customer relations. I fear for the future

markhort

Level 1

9 points

Jun 29, 2015 2:54 AM in response to Guillaume_FR

I'm glad it isn't just me. Just couldn't understand iTunes was find on my Mac's but a complete mess on my iPhone and iPad. All weekend I've been trying to fix the mess. Nothing has worked.

I've now had to sync manually on iPhone.

MushuMax

Level 1

0 points

Jun 29, 2015 10:30 AM in response to Kai2k

Same problem here. It's incredibly annoying and gives me little faith in Apple's upcoming music service.

Jun 29, 2015 11:17 AM in response to MushuMax

I noticed this problem a few days ago, and I haven't used match in months. I got everything setup and matched / uploaded when I signed up and almost all music I buy is from iTunes now, so I don't have to match it.

Things I've noticed:

1) Only albums that are affected seem to be ones I matched/uploaded, not bought from iTunes.

2) This does seem to indicate they messed up the transition to Apple Music which is supposed to incorporate that part of match.

Things I will not do (even if they worked for some people):

1) Delete match and re-match, I pay $25 a year, I'm not spending hours on that garbage for the problem to probably randomly reappear.

2) Restore my iPhone, fix your crap Apple, this isn't a "fix." It's a kludge for your software corrupting metadata or something.

3) Setup my iPhone as new, absolutely not, since some data will be lost forever (SMS/iMessage, Watch Activity data, and Health App Data). If Apple wants to suggest this as their garbage workaround, be sure I can get back to the state I was in before resetting, I shouldn't have to lose data to fix your bugs.

I hope 8.4 fixes this, but I'm requesting a refund for this year's match, because its unacceptable to break working systems while prepping your new service and doesn't inspire much confidence in the new service either.

Ryu81

Level 1

4 points

Jun 29, 2015 10:40 PM in response to TheElSean

Ok Let us know about the refund! We prepare a "class action" .. 😁😁😁

Hope they fix this in a couple of days, it's definetely unprofessional this behaviour..

Ryu81

Level 1

4 points

Jun 29, 2015 10:48 PM in response to Ryu81

..or they are very smart and they do this to force you dowloading the new phone update, which fixes a bug BUT also in a way slow-down old phones increasing the willingness to buy the new model.. 😉👿

Anyway, I wanna buy things that WORK! And mostly do not have a bug which messes things ALREADY working..

The same happened a couple of years ago with the music-bug which created distorsion.. then new update, bug fixed .. hope this time they are a bit quicker as iTunes match is a PAYING SERVICE!!

Shkspr

Level 1

0 points

Jun 30, 2015 3:43 AM in response to Kai2k

Hey folks,

a short update on my behalf. After everything got worse over the past few days, I was so disappointed and angry that I decided to call the Apple customer service here in Germany.

Result: Was told by support member and technical staff that THE PROBLEM IS KNOWN TO APPLE and that they are fully aware of it. "You are not the only one experiencing problems with iTunes Match", they said. They told me to wait for today's roll-out of iOS 8.4 which should normally be able to fix this problem.

Hope this is of any help for all you other affected and highly disappointed people out there with messed up music libraries. Over here in Germany, iOS 8.4 is likely to be published around 5 to 6 p.m.

Jun 30, 2015 4:06 AM in response to Kai2k

Hia guys.

I have the same problem and can't wait for apple to figure out their bug. I have a huge music library, the cloud is also maxed up (25,000 tracks) and re-tagging is not an option, assuming of course that eventually apple will fix it.

My solution: use a 3rd party music player that supports itunes match (most doesnt) on your ios device. The best one I found is called "groove", and its free. The tags are all perfect there, while in the stock music player they are still messed up and hellishly split. In " groove" all is find and dandy with no effort whatsoever. Just remember to enable "iTunes match" in the app settings and you are good to go.

Hope that helps.

Jun 30, 2015 4:17 AM in response to JeanSibelius

sadly it didn't work for me... on Groove the albums are still all mucked up with the wrong artist

Ryu81

Level 1

4 points

Jun 30, 2015 4:46 AM in response to Shkspr

Great, good news then..

so let's wait and update (and if I didn't want to? ahh.. I HAVE to.. ehehe) 8.4

Thanks for your help, we will update this evening ..

Jun 30, 2015 6:44 AM in response to Michael Ward5

Michael: strange. I can provide screenshots to pay over that it works if requested. Others: check it out, see if it works for you.

Jun 30, 2015 6:47 AM in response to JeanSibelius

IM sure it works for you if you say so. Sadly not for me. Roll on 8.4

Jun 30, 2015 8:19 AM in response to Kai2k

iOS 8.4 solved the problem for me! Finally.

Eugeni

Level 1

0 points

Jun 30, 2015 8:27 AM in response to Michael Ward5

I had to restart my iPhone (again after updating) for albums and artists to properly set. Have you tried that? :-)

s2s

Level 1

41 points

Jun 30, 2015 8:28 AM in response to grassdragon

grassdragon wrote:

iOS 8.4 solved the problem for me! Finally.

yes but compilations are no longer listed as Albums?

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

iTunes match - on iPhone iPad split albums and wrong album artists