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Delete uploaded Music from Cloud for re-match?

I have used iTunes Match from day-one and have many uploaded songs that didn’t initially match (and they were uploaded). I understand that matching has improved somewhat since iTunes Match was first implemented and I wanted to attempt to rematch those songs.


I thought there was a way to delete the song from the Cloud service, while maintaining the song in iTunes (plus all the meta-data), then attempt a re-match. However, I can’t figure out how to do this without deleting the song from iTunes and reimporting. Am I missing anything?


I am also now subscribed to Apple Music, if that makes any difference.

Posted on Jul 2, 2015 10:32 AM

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Posted on Jul 2, 2015 1:24 PM

Hi,

Read this help topic Add music from the Apple Music catalog to your library - Apple Support

I have found that to get previously uploaded tracks to match is to delete track from library, convert it from MP3 to AAC or vice versa. I have not had much success as iTunes Match remembers that the track was previously uploaded.

Jim

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Jul 2, 2015 1:24 PM in response to David Strait

Hi,

Read this help topic Add music from the Apple Music catalog to your library - Apple Support

I have found that to get previously uploaded tracks to match is to delete track from library, convert it from MP3 to AAC or vice versa. I have not had much success as iTunes Match remembers that the track was previously uploaded.

Jim

Jul 2, 2015 5:56 PM in response to David Strait

User uploaded file


Those are the only options you get when clicking a song and choosing delete, basically.

You can delete it removing it from both iCloud and the library (then re-import it), BUT Match will not match it if it's been uploaded instead of matched before.

Or you can just remove download which will make the cloud appear so that you can re-download it from iCloud in better quality but that's not the case here.

That's about it. I don't think the uploaded songs can be turned into matched songs...at the end of the day.

When you update Match I think it matches everything that can be, if they stay uploaded is because they can't match (for now?)

But does it make any difference? I don't think so. I mean still you get to have them all in iCloud and synchronised across devices and save device space and all.

I don't think that them being uploaded or matched makes a difference...am I wrong?


Maybe if you deactivate Match completely, and then reactivate it so that it does the match all over again for your whole library.

But don't think so, I've had that happen to me many times. Had to signout of Match because it encountered errors, and signing in again meant basically activating it again and matching my library again. Still, to this day, I have both matched AND uploaded songs. So...no fix.

Jul 2, 2015 6:50 PM in response to applewarm

I was unaware about the "Update iCloud Music Library" command, so I was hopeful that in the past few years a few more songs would be matched. However, out of 2536 uploaded songs, not a single additional song was matched after executing this command. Either there has been no improvement in matching songs since iTunes Match was introduced (contrary to what I've heard), or this command doesn't actually re-match songs that have been uploaded.

Jul 2, 2015 6:55 PM in response to David Strait

That's just the new name for Update iTunes Match, the command is the same as always. Yes that's what happens, when you update it only matches NEW songs that are new to the library and have never been matched. Because uploaded songs stay uploaded, no one turns into matched. This is the conclusion that I've come to... So I don't know it means that the upgrade hasn't been that huge, and I don't know if there's a way to get those uploaded to match. But in the end what's the point? I mean does it really matter? Think it changes nothing really...if they're matched or uploaded.

Jul 2, 2015 9:45 PM in response to David Strait

I've experienced the same issue and to answer your question, I don't believe there has been another way to delete

a song from iCloud without having to re-import it and perform another upload. But assuming you have a portable Apple

device, you can now delete songs from the iCloud if your device has been upgraded to iOS 8.4. This is the first update

which allows a user to perform any major function relating to music in iTunes Match. I just deleted a song from my iCloud

via my iPhone. That song is immediately erased from all devices but remains on your primary device where you can edit

Artwork, etc and re-upload to your iCloud. I hope u this helps.

Jul 3, 2015 3:08 PM in response to applewarm

Yes, I got it to work. My goal was to “upgrade” songs that were originally not “Matched” and were ripped at 160 kbps. It worked, but I’m not completely sure if it will reliably Match previously uploaded songs. Here are the steps I used:


- I used the “Remove from My Music” option from my iPhone to delete about 10 songs that were uploaded from the iTunes library on my Mac.

- I then used the “Update iCloud Music Library” in iTunes on the Mac. The status for the uploaded songs went from “Uploaded” to “Removed.”

- I then used “Add to iCloud Music Library” for each of the “Removed” songs. One of the 10 “uploaded” songs now was “Matched” and the others remained “uploaded.”

- I deleted the 160 kbps file from the one song that was matched. I then downloaded the 256 version from iCloud.


It should be noted that I have both iTunes Match and the Apple Music Trial. Without iTunes Match, I think the downloaded file would be DRM protected and disappear completely without the Apple Music subscription.


Lastly (and possibly most important), the song that was originally uploaded (and then matched) had another version of the same song in my library that was already matched, so this may be only reason why it was the only uploaded song to be matched. Even if this does work, it’s probably not worth the hassle except for a select few important songs. It is much more time-consuming than the initial match & re-download procedure when iTunes Match was first introduced. I haven’t tried any more files yet.


Bottom line: This is the only way I have found to delete the iCloud Version. Please post back here if you are able to Match previously uploaded songs to determine if my one song Match was a fluke.

Jul 6, 2015 2:06 PM in response to David Strait

Alrighty then, it works! Delete songs on the iPhone so that they disappear from the device, and change to "removed" in the iCloud Status on iTunes. Then right-click on them and choose Add to iCloud Music Library, status goes "waiting" (while it re-matches, basically) and finally goes "matched. Previously "uploaded" songs only, I mean. It's not even necessary to update iCloud Music Library, just delete songs then re-add them. 😎


ps: this is the WAY to simply remove and re-add them to iCloud, whilst keeping them in the iTunes library.

Delete uploaded Music from Cloud for re-match?

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