Access to library after match using same laptop in different locations

[len3121]

So I have my library on an external drive at home that is connected to my laptop. I signed up and ran the match process and have almost everything matched or in the cloud at this point.

Once the process is complete can I take my laptop to work (without the external drive) and have access to my library or can that only be done using another (different) computer?

 

[ER Doc]

Seems as though it should work, because you have songs in the cloud now - you're not connecting to your collection at home.

 

[len3121]

I agree but my only concern is that when I start iTunes on the laptop at work it will look for the external drive, not find it and act strange. I say this because all the language I see on apple's site as well as various guides refers to library access on a different device (not the same device under different circumstances).

 

[len3121]

It didn't work. After completing the match process I shut down iTunes, unplugged the external drive and restarted. I tried playing both an uploaded song as well as a matched song and got the following notification in both instances. "The file xxxx could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"

Anyone have any ideas if this can be fixed via some sort of settings I am missing?

 

[zhenya]

I don't think this will work, because any iTunes instance that references actual files looks for that file and only for that file. I ran into this problem in another way - on my work computer I have iTunes that has never had anything in it because I don't sync to that computer, and I don't want to store music on my work computer. With Match, I can now access my entire library there - and stream it. However, if you click on the cloud icon, it will download the file locally. If you then delete that file, it can't play the song, because the file cannot be located!

Here's something that may work for you though. Try using a separate profile in iTunes. Press shift while opening iTunes, and create a new library. Give it a default folder location, and open your new empty library. Now, connect this empty profile to your Match account. You should now be able to access all of your music, streaming only. (Disclaimer, I have not tried this, but I can't see why it would not work - let us know).

 

[len3121]

Yup that worked. Thanks. It'll get the job done even though it will require switching back and forth between profiles when I need to add/manage items in the library.

 

[milo]

Apple definitely needs to update to handle the situation of users with an external drive that may not always be there. Even if the library thinks a file should be in a certain place, if that file isn't there it should play from the cloud instead of just giving an error.

 

[ovrlrd]

The reason it doesn't act this way is because iTunes Match is not designed to be a streaming service. Maybe once they change their opinion about that it will be more possible to do what you are suggesting.

As it stands now, doing the weird opening second iTunes library for work causes you to download and store additional copies of whatever music you want to listen to. You can obviously delete them when you are done, but in an ideal world what you would want is a streamed copy, that would not store locally when you were done with it.

This is also why when the library can't find the file it doesn't go to iTunes Match to redownload it, because it would take over the place of the old one, since it downloads it, and does not simply do a stream. If it acted this way, when you went back and plugged in the missing drive, it would continue using the newly downloaded copy from iTunes Match instead of the original copies off the drive, which could be bad in some cases (people using lossless music files locally would get them replaced with lower bitrate files).

 

[bushido]

The reason it doesn't act this way is because iTunes Match is not designed to be a streaming service. Maybe once they change their opinion about that it will be more possible to do what you are suggesting.

As it stands now, doing the weird opening second iTunes library for work causes you to download and store additional copies of whatever music you want to listen to. You can obviously delete them when you are done, but in an ideal world what you would want is a streamed copy, that would not store locally when you were done with it.

This is also why when the library can't find the file it doesn't go to iTunes Match to redownload it, because it would take over the place of the old one, since it downloads it, and does not simply do a stream. If it acted this way, when you went back and plugged in the missing drive, it would continue using the newly downloaded copy from iTunes Match instead of the original copies off the drive, which could be bad in some cases (people using lossless music files locally would get them replaced with lower bitrate files).

not true, match does stream on a computer. I deleted my whole music on my mac book to save space and all i docis stream the songs now as im always on wifi. It doesnt download the songs

 

[marc11]

not true, match does stream on a computer. I deleted my whole music on my mac book to save space and all i docis stream the songs now as im always on wifi. It doesnt download the songs

How do you know it is streaming and not playing from a local source? Itunes match downloads as it plays any song which I select and which is not locally on my iPhone and PC, it only streams (or appears to stream) to my ATV2 or at the min it is downloading and deleting the songs on the ATV2. Otherwise it is downloading the media I play that is only in iCloud.

 

[bushido]

How do you know it is streaming and not playing from a local source? Itunes match downloads as it plays any song which I select and which is not locally on my iPhone and PC, it only streams (or appears to stream) to my ATV2 or at the min it is downloading and deleting the songs on the ATV2. Otherwise it is downloading the media I play that is only in iCloud.

bc i deleted every single song on my harddrive and my itunes library remains empty. If u click the song thats in the cloud it starts playing and the "download cloud icon" stays there, if i want to actually download the song i have to click the cloud button

 

[marc11]

bc i deleted every single song on my harddrive and my itunes library remains empty. If u click the song thats in the cloud it starts playing and the "download cloud icon" stays there, if i want to actually download the song i have to click the cloud button

Huh, interesting, I was under the impression this wasn't supposed to stream to devices capable of storing the songs. But a bit risky no? If iTunes Match poops the bed, you need to be sure you have a back up of your songs somewhere...

 

[bushido]

Huh, interesting, I was under the impression this wasn't supposed to stream to devices capable of storing the songs. But a bit risky no? If iTunes Match poops the bed, you need to be sure you have a back up of your songs somewhere...

thats true on the iphone ipad but on a computer it does stream