iTunes Match

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

iTunes 10.5.1 was just released and has iTunes Match enabled. Who's signing up? Is it everything you've ever wanted?

 

[Ns1]

might sign up for a month - question is, what happens after you cancel?

if iTunes match is true streaming and not syncing then it's a no brainer for me (music is taking up WAY too much space on the phone!)

cheaper than $10/mo spotify if streaming.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

It's $25/year. If you cancel you get to keep everything you matched. You just won't be able to "stream" using iCloud.

 

[Ns1]

srsly, my GF's phone is out of memory. Need to confirm streaming capabilities!

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I think it downloads and then plays?

 

[prism]

Does it download music to your computer for you to keep, ala a regular iTunes purchase?

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Does it download music to your computer for you to keep, ala a regular iTunes purchase?

Looks like, if it matches your content and you want the higher bitrate, you delete the song off your computer, then a iCloud icon shows up and you download it at the higher bitrate and then you keep it, even when your subscription expires.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Is this just a cloud backup or can you rent music a la Zune pass?

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Is this just a cloud backup or can you rent music a la Zune pass?

It's not a subscription. It gives you the ability to have access to your library even when you're not at home.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

so Google Music essentially?

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

so Google Music essentially?

Without all the time to upload and the ability to get higher quality versions of your music.

 

[boomhower]

It looks pretty good, I think I might bite to free up room on my phone and more importantly ipad. You get your stuff stored in the cloud for streaming and the record labels get some money back for years of pirated music, it's a win win.

 

[VashHT]

Without all the time to upload and the ability to get higher quality versions of your music.

It's pretty easy to get higher than 256kbps quality music, right now the biggest plus they have going for them is that they're allowing (supposedly) people to essentially legalize their illegal music through itunes. I have to think this is going to be changed somehow, I can't imagine record companies being onboard with this policy at all.

 

[gus6464]

I've been using it for over a month and here is basically how it works:

1. First it makes a list of all the music in your itunes library and tries to match it with what's available on the itunes music store.

2. If a match is found it will then put a cloud icon next to the track on itunes.

3. At that point you can either, A. Replace what you have with a 256k AAC from itunes store or B. Leave it as it is.
This is great if your original track has a lower bitrate.

4. If the track is not available on the itunes store it will then proceed to upload it to your icloud account just like google music and amazon cloud.

5. When you pull up the library on your iOS device it will then give you the option to stream or download the music directly to the device. If you decide to stream it will create a cache of the file on your device and it will stay on there until space fills up and then it will begin to purge the songs you have not heard in a while. This feature is great if you are currently listening to a specific album or track all the time as it will keep a cached copy so you don't have to stream it all the time.

That's basically the gist of it. You can change the size of the cache of the iOS device in settings. I have mine set to 1gb.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I have to think this is going to be changed somehow, I can't imagine record companies being onboard with this policy at all.

The whole point of iTunes Match is that Apple does have the record companies onboard with this. For a set fee, $25/year the record companies get money that they would otherwise have not been able to due to some users "pirating" their music.

It gives the people who rip CDs the ability to listen to their music on any of their devices.

 

[Ns1]

5. When you pull up the library on your iOS device it will then give you the option to stream or download the music directly to the device. If you decide to stream it will create a cache of the file on your device and it will stay on there until space fills up and then it will begin to purge the songs you have not heard in a while.

How can you tell if the song is sitting on your iPhone temporarily or permanently?

 

[gus6464]

How can you tell if the song is sitting on your iPhone temporarily or permanently?

There really isn't a way to know. When the cloud icon pops up if you click on it will download the song but if you click on the entire song it will stream. Once you stream the cloud icon disappears because it is already cached on the device. You have to purge cache for the cloud icon to appear again.

 

[Ns1]

There really isn't a way to know. When the cloud icon pops up if you click on it will download the song but if you click on the entire song it will stream. Once you stream the cloud icon disappears because it is already cached on the device. You have to purge cache for the cloud icon to appear again.

Thanks.

So it's theoretically possible to have 0 songs permanently stored on your phone...sounds like it's worth 25/yr to me.

 

[gus6464]

Thanks.

So it's theoretically possible to have 0 songs permanently stored on your phone...sounds like it's worth 25/yr to me.

Yeah I have 0 songs on my phone but still have access to my entire music library which is around 14k songs. It is definitely worth the $25/year and I honestly would pay even $50/year for this service.

It does take a bit to sync your library to the icloud servers though if you have a ton of songs but if you start the sync when you go to bed it will be done when you wake up.

 

[Ns1]

Yeah I have 0 songs on my phone but still have access to my entire music library which is around 14k songs. It is definitely worth the $25/year and I honestly would pay even $50/year for this service.

It does take a bit to sync your library to the icloud servers though if you have a ton of songs but if you start the sync when you go to bed it will be done when you wake up.

seriously, thanks. You've answered all the ???'s I had regarding the service.

 

[MotionMan]

I've been using it for over a month and here is basically how it works:

1. First it makes a list of all the music in your itunes library and tries to match it with what's available on the itunes music store.

2. If a match is found it will then put a cloud icon next to the track on itunes.

1. Does it do a Shazam-type match if your titles are messed up?

2. How does it handle the same song from different albums (original album, Best Of, soundtrack, etc. - Some Beatles songs are on 5-6 albums!)

3. The limit is 25,000 songs. If you have more than that can you trim down to less than 25k, match those, backup, delete, reload and match the rest?

Thanks.

MotionMan

 

[gus6464]

1. Does it do a Shazam-type match if your titles are messed up?

2. How does it handle the same song from different albums (original album, Best Of, soundtrack, etc. - Some Beatles songs are on 5-6 albums!)

3. The limit is 25,000 songs. If you have more than that can you trim down to less than 25k, match those, backup, delete, reload and match the rest?

Thanks.

MotionMan

1. Matching is only by the id3 tag. If you tag is wrong it will think it's a different song.

2. I will use my Beatles box set as an example. I have the usb stick which had the entire discography in FLAC which I converted to ALAC. When matching it did a carbon copy of what was on my itunes library so it does show the same song on different albums with itunes match.

3.Only a total of 25k songs will be matched per itunes account. If you have more than 25k a workaround is to have 2 separate itunes libraries in itunes and then tell itunes match which one you want sync online.

 

[MotionMan]

1. Matching is only by the id3 tag. If you tag is wrong it will think it's a different song.

That is not what I understood would happen. Now I am not as excited as I have a lot of screwed up songs.

2. I will use my Beatles box set as an example. I have the usb stick which had the entire discography in FLAC which I converted to ALAC. When matching it did a carbon copy of what was on my itunes library so it does show the same song on different albums with itunes match.

I am not sure I understand. I will backup before I try anything...

3.Only a total of 25k songs will be matched per itunes account. If you have more than 25k a workaround is to have 2 separate itunes libraries in itunes and then tell itunes match which one you want sync online.

25k for the life of the account? That seems a little odd.

MotionMan

 

[Ns1]

25k for the life of the account? That seems a little odd.

MotionMan

25k/16 = 1,562 albums @ 16 tracks each

I might have 100 albums...lol

 

[MotionMan]

25k/16 = 1,562 albums @ 16 tracks each

If I have 30k songs, then 5k are excluded from iTunes Match forever? And all my new (non-iTunes) songs, too? Forever?



MotionMan