How Many of You Guys Use iTunes Match?

[seasurfer]

Just wondering?

I just subscribed and I really like it. The convenience of able to sync all your music/audio files across all Apple devices and keeping the metadata at the same time is unbeatable. Can't think of any service that match this.

 

[JackieInCo]

I had iTunes Match since the beginning and after this year, decided to cancel because of all the headaches. There are bugs and glitches that have never EVER been fixed since the beginning.

Months ago, I spent an entire night going through my 13,000+ songs and removed the thousands of duplicate songs that had been downloaded to my library sometime when I had no idea it was happening. I don't know if music was being copied from my iPhone/iPad back to the computer and iTunes couldn't tell it was already there and downloaded multiple copies over and over each time I synced. There were some songs that had 10-15 copies that I had to go and delete. Music videos were the same. Why it thought I needed 5 copies of Piano Man, I don't know, one was enough. Each time I synced my devices, the duplicates would then be synced to my devices so I had those same 10-15 copies of each of those tracks.

Then there was all the album art that iTunes Match decide to mix and match. It put Pink Floyds the wall artwork on Metallics Justice for all. Fixing all the artwork took hours and hours.

Then there was adding new music that would never show up to the cloud even weeks after adding it. This was even after telling iTunes Match to manually do it's thing.

I just had enough and bought a 128GB 6S+ this time around to keep as much of my music with me as possible. Not renewing in February.

I wish you all the luck in the world. Just be on the lookout, it will likely happen to you.

 

[Tech198]

Just wondering?

I just subscribed and I really like it. The convenience of able to sync all your music/audio files across all Apple devices and keeping the metadata at the same time is unbeatable. Can't think of any service that match this.

I do use match now in the U.S Seriously Apple needs to do more with closing the loophole.

There is one problem though

This is is the first time i'm using AM + iTunes match together, its not exactly how i remembered it..

When i was using iTunes match, standalone, it matched and all no problem adjust meta data when required since it scanned the song for a match..

But with both services combined, it seems this feature is lost, and regardless of having both services, it insists on matching via meta data ony, which is why i still get all "unknown" albums, despite they are on the iTunes store..

What's even more strange is iCloud status reports them as "matched"

Whats going on ?

 

[McGiord]

I have big library >300 GB and I had been using it for a couple of years, excellent that I just log in into my iOS devices and all my music library is there.
It has some bugs like not showing up the album art for all artists, as well as splitting the songs from one album into various albums, this happens with old albums that are "collections" I haven't done any homework to fix them.
It's a shame that basic things like Lyrics are not well supported by Apple, not even songs you bought from iTunes.
Having the portability and cloud is good enough.
Be mindful to have your own master library in your Mac and have a traditional good back up in an external HDD therefore is something goes wrong with Apple cloud services and mess up your music in one of those bad updates you are ready to recover from it.
I don't subscribe to Apple Music, I buy most of my music in CDs, mainly from Amazon.

 

[seasurfer]

Yeah, those automatic downloads is a problem. I have to delete them one by one myself. I hope Apple fix it.

 

[markhort]

My subscription is due to renew tomorrow, which I'm going to let it renew. Purely for the fact I've got a lot of albums which I've bought over the years which aren't available on Apple Music, plus I don't want to store them locally.

 

[Paco II]

Long time iTunes match user, but I'm enjoying it even more with the increased limit. Got 60,000 tracks in the cloud and loving it. There are definitely bugs and glitches, but still love the convenience.

 

[Rigby]

I have used Match for several years and am still happy with it. Never had any serious issues; sometimes album artwork took a long time to show up on iOS devices, and the matching isn't always perfect, but overall it works pretty well. Be careful if you want to add Apple Music though, that seems to have screwed things up for many people.

 

[KimBieber]

I don't use Match.

 

[JackieInCo]

In the stupidest mistake I have made in recent months, I wiped out my entire 4TB drive losing all my iTunes purchased movies and music. Luckily, I can simply redownload it all which will take a few days at least. My music is still in iTunes Match of course because my sub doesn't expire till next month.

I'm downloading everything starting with my music. Maybe I'll extend my iTunes Match sub once again.

Luckily, Comcast has no bandwidth limit in my state yet.

 

[BroadcastDoc]

I've used it since they first launched it. Love it!

 

[Blujelly]

I've had it for 2 years to be honest I could get away with not having it, but the convenience of having all my music files on all devices has had its uses!

My subscription is due to renew tomorrow, which I'm going to let it renew. Purely for the fact I've got a lot of albums which I've bought over the years which aren't available on Apple Music, plus I don't want to store them locally.

agreed!

 

[nburwell]

I've had iTunes Match for about two years. It's due to renew this March, but I'm more than like going to cancel it. I haven't purchased a song or album in probably 2-3 years. I already subscribe to AM, so essentially any music I want to listen to, I stream. Plus, I can live with hearing ads when listening to the radio feature of AM.

 

[Paco II]

Did the iTunes match-like component of Apple Music also get increased to 100,000 songs, or was that specific to iTunes Match? Any one know? I pay for iTunes match just for access. I too would stop paying for it if I had Apple Music, assuming AM also has the 100,000 limit now.

I've had iTunes Match for about two years. It's due to renew this March, but I'm more than like going to cancel it. I haven't purchased a song or album in probably 2-3 years. I already subscribe to AM, so essentially any music I want to listen to, I stream. Plus, I can live with hearing ads when listening to the radio feature of AM.

 

[Tech198]

i'm thinking of turning off Apple music just to see how well iTunes match does alone.... This is driving me nutz.

 

[gsmornot]

I've had iTunes Match for about two years. It's due to renew this March, but I'm more than like going to cancel it. I haven't purchased a song or album in probably 2-3 years. I already subscribe to AM, so essentially any music I want to listen to, I stream. Plus, I can live with hearing ads when listening to the radio feature of AM.

...before you cancel, did you see the article stating the only way to access AM radio stations going forward will be with a subscription? They didn't say how this change will apply to Match users so you may be in the same position but before you cancel and expect radio service, you might want to see what happens.

 

[kastorff]

Used iTunes Match since it's inception. It hasn't been without a learning curve of sorts, but I've managed 25k songs in a "portable" library without issue. I'm adding new tracks since the 25k limit was raised to 100k, and it's solid, except for the iOS download bug. I'm also a happy Apple Music subscriber, and once you learn how the two services work, and then work together (which isn't easy, I must admit) things work pretty well.

 

[Paco II]

So unless one needs to download their own music DRM-free on another computer, if using Apple Music, what's the point of also using iTunes Match? Other than the DRM-free download on other computers, doesn't AM replicate the other functionality of iTunes match (streaming and offline access to personal library)?

Used iTunes Match since it's inception. It hasn't been without a learning curve of sorts, but I've managed 25k songs in a "portable" library without issue. I'm adding new tracks since the 25k limit was raised to 100k, and it's solid, except for the iOS download bug. I'm also a happy Apple Music subscriber, and once you learn how the two services work, and then work together (which isn't easy, I must admit) things work pretty well.

 

[kastorff]

So unless one needs to download their own music DRM-free on another computer, if using Apple Music, what's the point of also using iTunes Match? Other than the DRM-free download on other computers, doesn't AM replicate the other functionality of iTunes match (streaming and offline access to personal library)?

I've collected physical media most of my life, so DRM-free copies of my media is important to me. I use Apple Music as a way to explore music I don't own, not to add music permanently to my collection. Once I decide something merits a place in the permanent collection, I purchase it. I like knowing that music is mine to keep, regardless of service subscriptions. I can see how one service or the other would work for others, but the combination fits into the way I manage my music. I've also used iTunes Match to upgrade the rips I made long ago, when 128, 160, and 192 CBR seemed to be the right choice for my rips.

 

[Paco II]

I don't understand. Apple Music won't affect the music you've purchased. If you've already upgraded the rips you've done, I'm still not understanding the need for you having iTunes match as well. You can stream all your tunes, have offline copies, etc. What are you currently getting from iTunes match that apple music isn't already providing?

I've collected physical media most of my life, so DRM-free copies of my media is important to me. I use Apple Music as a way to explore music I don't own, not to add music permanently to my collection. Once I decide something merits a place in the permanent collection, I purchase it. I like knowing that music is mine to keep, regardless of service subscriptions. I can see how one service or the other would work for others, but the combination fits into the way I manage my music. I've also used iTunes Match to upgrade the rips I made long ago, when 128, 160, and 192 CBR seemed to be the right choice for my rips.

 

[kastorff]

I don't understand. Apple Music won't affect the music you've purchased. If you've already upgraded the rips you've done, I'm still not understanding the need for you having iTunes match as well. You can stream all your tunes, have offline copies, etc. What are you currently getting from iTunes match that apple music isn't already providing?

Nothing. Since that's the answer you want, there you go.

 

[Paco II]

Your response is puzzling and somewhat hostile. I have no agenda. Merely want to understand the value that iTunes match provides if one is already paying for Apple Music, beyond the ability to download drm-free tracks on other computers.

Nothing. Since that's the answer you want, there you go.

 

[Alrescha]

I subscribed to iTunes Match mostly to just mess with it and see how it worked. I kept it because of iTunes Radio. Even though I have plenty of my own I will happily pay a couple of bucks a month for some ad-free music when I need to hear something new.

I had turned off renewal last year (I was over the track limit and tired of the hassle) but then Apple increased the limit. I turned it back on. Now it looks like Apple is killing the iTunes Radio part of Match, so I have turned off renewal again.

There have been a lot of changes lately and the iTunes platform is starting to seem unpredictable. As I have third-party music software that I use for formats unsupported by iTunes, I have moved my music there. I'll continue to use iTunes as the movie server for my Apple TVs.

A.

 

[Macwick]

I'm also a happy Apple Music subscriber, and once you learn how the two services work, and then work together (which isn't easy, I must admit) things work pretty well.

Can you help me understand this @kastorff ? I have been a Match subscriber for years and just signed up for AM. I'm trying to understand why I would possibly want to keep Match, if 'iCloud Music Library' will allow me to listen to my existing purchased/matched music on all devices.

I know that Apple has a page explaining this, but I must be slow as I still don't get the distinctions. Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
[doublepost=1454211406][/doublepost]

Can you help me understand this @kastorff ? I have been a Match subscriber for years and just signed up for AM. I'm trying to understand why I would possibly want to keep Match, if 'iCloud Music Library' will allow me to listen to my existing purchased/matched music on all devices.

I know that Apple has a page explaining this, but I must be slow as I still don't get the distinctions. Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Hrm not to answer my own question, but Apple's page states the following about iCloud Music Library:

"We make these matched songs available to your other computers or devices in high quality 256 Kbps AAC, and they can be played on them only while your Apple Music membership is active."

So does this mean:

1) I sign up for AM as an existing iTunes Match subscriber with ~20k songs uploaded/matched.
2) These matched songs are 'converted' to Apple Music 'matched/uploaded' songs.
3) If/when I ever cancel my AM subscription, I lose access to these songs on all devices?

And if this is the case, will this *not* happen if I keep my iTunes Match subscription? Ugh, so confusing.

 

[Paco II]

The main distinction is how you access your music.

With iTunes Match, you can download your music on other devices you are signed in to, and get a full DRM-free version.

With Apple Music, downloading your songs on your other devices will simply download an Apple Music version, which is basically a DRM'ed version. Cancel your subscription and the songs are no longer playable.

In either case, your music on your source computer should remain untouched.

Can you help me understand this @kastorff ? I have been a Match subscriber for years and just signed up for AM. I'm trying to understand why I would possibly want to keep Match, if 'iCloud Music Library' will allow me to listen to my existing purchased/matched music on all devices.

I know that Apple has a page explaining this, but I must be slow as I still don't get the distinctions. Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
[doublepost=1454211406][/doublepost]

Hrm not to answer my own question, but Apple's page states the following about iCloud Music Library:

"We make these matched songs available to your other computers or devices in high quality 256 Kbps AAC, and they can be played on them only while your Apple Music membership is active."

So does this mean:

1) I sign up for AM as an existing iTunes Match subscriber with ~20k songs uploaded/matched.
2) These matched songs are 'converted' to Apple Music 'matched/uploaded' songs.
3) If/when I ever cancel my AM subscription, I lose access to these songs on all devices?

And if this is the case, will this *not* happen if I keep my iTunes Match subscription? Ugh, so confusing.