iCloud, iTunes Match, and Apple Lossless

[NecroFillak]

Can anybody shed some light on how iTunes Match will handle Apple Lossless files?

I have a hundred or so albums ripped from CDs in Apple Lossless. I would probably guess that at least 90% of them can be found on the iTunes store.

If I run these through iTunes Match, what will happen? Will it just match the albums available on iTunes, then give me rights to the official 256 kbps AAC files? Or will it recognize that my files are of a higher bit rate, and just upload them?

 

[LaazyEye]

Can anybody shed some light on how iTunes Match will handle Apple Lossless files?

I have a hundred or so albums ripped from CDs in Apple Lossless. I would probably guess that at least 90% of them can be found on the iTunes store.

If I run these through iTunes Match, what will happen? Will it just match the albums available on iTunes, then give me rights to the official 256 kbps AAC files? Or will it recognize that my files are of a higher bit rate, and just upload them?

You'll get official 256 kbps on other devices that are running Match and do not have the song, if everything works right. ALAC will only be on source computer, so do not delete!

 

[NecroFillak]

What about albums I have in ALAC that iTunes does not have? Will Apple downconvert these files to 256 kbps AAC?

 

[superstrikertwo]

Anything not matched will be uploaded as is no conversion or anything.

 

[LaazyEye]

What about albums I have in ALAC that iTunes does not have? Will Apple downconvert these files to 256 kbps AAC?

It did that for me. (im pretty sure a lot of my music is not on itunes)

 

[mallbritton]

I'm also interested in this question.

I have a couple hundred live shows in ALAC that I know will not be in the iTunes Store. So, if I turn on Match those will have to be uploaded. According to what I've read they will be uploaded as-is, as ALAC. But what about when I decide to download them?

Are they down converted to 256 Kbps? And if so doesn't that mean they are no longer lossless? I also wonder how long it will take to upload over 200 GB of lossless files, but that's not really a question for this forum.

Regards,
Michael

 

[mactmaster]

I'm also interested in this question.

I have a couple hundred live shows in ALAC that I know will not be in the iTunes Store. So, if I turn on Match those will have to be uploaded. According to what I've read they will be uploaded as-is, as ALAC. But what about when I decide to download them?

Are they down converted to 256 Kbps? And if so doesn't that mean they are no longer lossless? I also wonder how long it will take to upload over 200 GB of lossless files, but that's not really a question for this forum.

Regards,
Michael

ALAC is converted to 256kbps using the "iTunes Plus" setting in iTunes. This is done before being uploaded so you don't actually upload the ALAC files. This process does NOT replace your original ALAC files though. The conversion happens on the fly only for the iCloud upload.