Disable automatic downloading of iTunes Match songs on iOS

[Scriz]

I'm playing iTunes Match songs on my iPhone 4s..so when I select a song to play it automatically downloads it while playing. I've made sure I am NOT pressing the cloud icon.

I'll play the song and skip to next song and go back, the little download circle comes up and it finishes. The cloud icon is now gone and I can swipe left on the song and select delete. This is very annoying. I don't want to download the song, I thought that was the whole point of the "cloud?"

 

[Menel]

I'm playing iTunes Match songs on my iPhone 4s..so when I select a song to play it automatically downloads it while playing. I've made sure I am NOT pressing the cloud icon.

I'll play the song and skip to next song and go back, the little download circle comes up and it finishes. The cloud icon is now gone and I can swipe left on the song and select delete. This is very annoying. I don't want to download the song, I thought that was the whole point of the "cloud?"

It is exactly what it is, did you not read the description of what you signed up for?

Here’s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to iCloud. Since there are more than 20 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it on any of your devices. Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.

 

[Scriz]

It is exactly what it is, did you not read the description of what you signed up for?

All of the videos that I see online only show it streaming from iCloud, not actually downloading from iCloud. Even videos FROM APPLE.

What if you have a 25,000 song library and go on a long drive. You shuffle your music and get to the max of your device of, we'll say a 16gb iPhone.

What happens after you fill up your hard drive with songs you didn't even know were automatically downloading from the cloud..no more music?? You have to self-police all of your music files to see which ones you need to purge before you can listen to a new song?

Something doesn't seem correct, to me, about that. For some reason I don't believe its supposed to automatically download.

 

[WisdomWolf]

All of the videos that I see online only show it streaming from iCloud, not actually downloading from iCloud. Even videos FROM APPLE.

What if you have a 25,000 song library and go on a long drive. You shuffle your music and get to the max of your device of, we'll say a 16gb iPhone.

What happens after you fill up your hard drive with songs you didn't even know were automatically downloading from the cloud..no more music?? You have to self-police all of your music files to see which ones you need to purge before you can listen to a new song?

Something doesn't seem correct, to me, about that. For some reason I don't believe its supposed to automatically download.

It most certainly is supposed to automatically download. Apple has been adamant that this wasn't a streaming service. I suspect the reason has to do with licensing and RIAA nonsense regarding streaming services.

 

[Menel]

All of the videos that I see online only show it streaming from iCloud, not actually downloading from iCloud. Even videos FROM APPLE.

I referenced Apple's official site where they explain what it is.

I can also reference common media outlets.

While a video making the rounds today makes it seem as if Apple’s upcoming iTunes Match service will stream music from Apple’s servers to a user’s device, that’s not the case. An Apple spokesperson confirms that any music you want to access from your cloud-based “locker” will still need to be stored on your iPad, or iPhone, or whatever device you’re using to listen to the song.

Apple says that what looks like a “stream” is really a simultaneous listen and download — users can hear the song while their machine ingests it.

http://allthingsd.com/20110830/apples-cloud-still-isnt-streaming/

I can lead you to the info, but only you can shed the ignorance and denial.

 

[JohnDoe98]

It most certainly is supposed to automatically download. Apple has been adamant that this wasn't a streaming service. I suspect the reason has to do with licensing and RIAA nonsense regarding streaming services.

Perhaps it is designed as intended, but his scenario brings up a good point. I wonder what happens too. If it says, cannot play new music, delete songs manually, then try downloading again... well then it will seem Apple didn't really think this through...

 

[Scriz]

I referenced Apple's official site where they explain what it is.

I can also reference common media outlets.

http://allthingsd.com/20110830/apples-cloud-still-isnt-streaming/

I can lead you to the info, but only you can shed the ignorance and denial.

Menel, it was a simple question. Please don't be an arrogant prick-face .

I should have expected Apple to go completely against the grain, and thank you John. Atleast someone sees my point.

Now having used it for a short period I can see why Apple chose this. I, like most other Rhapsody/Spotify/Pandora/Slacker Radio users, get tired of losing a little bit of cellular signal and having the song stop midway through only having to close out of the music program and go back in and start the process all over again.

I was hoping for an Apple competitor to Google Music, but Apple is "different" in their business strategies.

 

[milo]

It most certainly is supposed to automatically download. Apple has been adamant that this wasn't a streaming service.

Where? The one quote here from apple DOES say streaming. If anything, Apple has been vague and a bit misleading about it.

And it absolutely IS a streaming service on macs and appleTV, the streaming is only disabled on mobile devices. I completely agree with the OP, it would be a nice improvement if they could either add a streaming preference to mobile devices or give the user the ability to choose between downloading or streaming a given song.

 

[CyberAly]

Once you're done shuffling, go to Settings > General > Usage > Music and then swipe over and delete all of your music at once.

 

[Frado]

Is there a way to disable the fact that the iphone downloads 3 songs when you only want 1? When I select a song to stream(and store), it also starts downloads for the next 2 items that come after this song. I want to disable this since I don't need that wasted bandwith and space.

 

[Bob Coxner]

Where? The one quote here from apple DOES say streaming. If anything, Apple has been vague and a bit misleading about it.

And it absolutely IS a streaming service on macs and appleTV, the streaming is only disabled on mobile devices. I completely agree with the OP, it would be a nice improvement if they could either add a streaming preference to mobile devices or give the user the ability to choose between downloading or streaming a given song.

This. I don't understand the logic of downloading to devices with limited storage space (iPad, iPhone, Touch) but streaming to devices (Macbook Air, Pro, iMac) with large storage.