Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

drcharlie

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2014
37
29
I am running iTunes on a Windows 10 PC. I am an iTunes Match subscriber, and iTunes Match is scheduled to renew in 8 days on July 26. Yesterday, I added about 100 songs and only a handful either matched or didn't match and got added to my iCloud Music Library. For the rest of the songs, the "Activity" in iTunes just keeps spinning and says:

"Activity
iCloud Music Libary
Matching your music with songs in the iTunes Store."

The major troubleshooting I did was turn off iCloud Music Library, then close iTunes, and then reopen it. That did not help. I also sorted my entire library by iCloud status and deleted all "ineligible" tracks, which had been in there for a long time and never caused a problem before.

Is iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library working for any of you or is it just not working currently? I have about a week to decide whether to renew iTunes Match. I like having my songs in iCloud Music Library so that they sync between my iDevices (iPhone, HomePod, etc). But, if iTunes Match is broken, I will have to think about canceling my subscription before it renews.
 

djbullard87

macrumors newbie
May 23, 2021
10
3
I am running iTunes on a Windows 10 PC. I am an iTunes Match subscriber, and iTunes Match is scheduled to renew in 8 days on July 26. Yesterday, I added about 100 songs and only a handful either matched or didn't match and got added to my iCloud Music Library. For the rest of the songs, the "Activity" in iTunes just keeps spinning and says:

"Activity
iCloud Music Libary
Matching your music with songs in the iTunes Store."

The major troubleshooting I did was turn off iCloud Music Library, then close iTunes, and then reopen it. That did not help. I also sorted my entire library by iCloud status and deleted all "ineligible" tracks, which had been in there for a long time and never caused a problem before.

Is iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library working for any of you or is it just not working currently? I have about a week to decide whether to renew iTunes Match. I like having my songs in iCloud Music Library so that they sync between my iDevices (iPhone, HomePod, etc). But, if iTunes Match is broken, I will have to think about canceling my subscription before it renews.
Been looking all over for someone with the same problem. I am now having so many issues and this was occurring on my M1 iMac and M1 MacBook Air. And I’ve tried the same as you and it just gets stuck. Some match and show, some don’t. I have a call with Apple tomorrow about it and I’ll mention it’s not just me. It’s really frustrating as I use match a lot but I assume most people just use Apple Music now which is why we don’t see as many people flagging the issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: drcharlie

drcharlie

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2014
37
29
Been looking all over for someone with the same problem. I am now having so many issues and this was occurring on my M1 iMac and M1 MacBook Air. And I’ve tried the same as you and it just gets stuck. Some match and show, some don’t. I have a call with Apple tomorrow about it and I’ll mention it’s not just me. It’s really frustrating as I use match a lot but I assume most people just use Apple Music now which is why we don’t see as many people flagging the issue.
Thanks for calling them. If it's not fixed before my annual renewal, I will have to cancel my subscription and move on. It'll be a pain manually syncing my iPhone. I have enjoyed iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library, but I do recognize that Apple wants people to subscribe to Apple Music. I am concerned iTunes Match will end within the next few years anyway.
 

djbullard87

macrumors newbie
May 23, 2021
10
3
Thanks for calling them. If it's not fixed before my annual renewal, I will have to cancel my subscription and move on. It'll be a pain manually syncing my iPhone. I have enjoyed iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library, but I do recognize that Apple wants people to subscribe to Apple Music. I am concerned iTunes Match will end within the next few years anyway.
I have a feeling it may do too. Trouble is it does a much better job of it than Apple Music does. If it was the same I would be happy but match is far more accurate. I’ll see what they have to say tomorrow as I’ll say others are having these issues too.
 

djbullard87

macrumors newbie
May 23, 2021
10
3
I had a thought. I’ve been having all sorts of bugs and glitches since lossless was introduced. Perhaps they haven’t updated iTunes Match to support it. And when it finds a song that is lossless just falters perhaps. I’m sure it worked only a little while ago.
 
  • Like
Reactions: drcharlie

drcharlie

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2014
37
29
I had a thought. I’ve been having all sorts of bugs and glitches since lossless was introduced. Perhaps they haven’t updated iTunes Match to support it. And when it finds a song that is lossless just falters perhaps. I’m sure it worked only a little while ago.
This is a good point, and it may be the explanation. I looked through my history of when files were added and when iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library worked and then didn't work. The last time I tried it and it worked was July 11. The next time I tried it was July 17, and it did not work on that date. So, iTunes Match has a recent history of working on my PC and stopped working by July 17. It may be that there is a bug related to those lossless files, which are ineligible for iTunes Match. If this is the case, I hope they fix it soon.
 

drcharlie

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2014
37
29
I have a call with Apple tomorrow about it and I’ll mention it’s not just me.
How did your call go? You inspired me to contact support also. I did a chat that took a long time and then ended with a case ID and was told Apple would call me. Apple did call me. While I was describing the problem, the call stayed connected but I couldn't hear anything on the other end. I later called Support. Got transferred twice. I was told to turn off iCloud Music Library sync and turn it back on. I said I did that. I was put on hold again and when the customer service rep came back, she told me to call Windows and ask for support. So, that's it--if iTunes for Windows doesn't finish Matching and Syncing, one is left calling Windows for support. Good luck with that. I have about a week to figure out if I wish to subscribe to another year of Match or to cancel my renewal.
 

daydreamingdude

macrumors newbie
Jul 21, 2021
11
5
Hey all, I've been working on this issue for the past couple days. As far as I can tell, iTunes Match is not working for anyone. Here's an Apple Discussions thread that I've been participating in:


Yesterday I got off the phone with a Senior Support Manager who broke down the iTunes Match issue for me like this. This issue is only going to get fixed if everyone experiencing a problem calls in, escalates our cases to IT, and be forceful that this is a widespread issue. On Monday when I initially called, I made the lady who took my call write down the URL of the Apple Discussion thread in my case notes and that really helped cut through BS yesterday when I followed up. No one tried to make me reinstall iTunes, sign out/in of iTunes, or resync my iCloud music library because I was forceful in telling them that many users are experiencing this.

If you want to get this fixed:
1) Call in with your case reference #, ask to speak to tech support, and tell them about this thread or the Apple Discussion thread. Do not let them try and fix the issue on your end. You might have to be kind of a jerk about it but it will save you time. Make sure they write down the URL thread in your case notes.
2) Additionally, go to https://apple.com/feedback/ and send in feedback about iTunes. I selected "broken feature" for my subject feedback. The senior manager guy told me specifically to do this.

Essentially, each time one of us gets our case escalated through to the software engineers, it adds a "vote" on issues that they need to fix. The more votes a specific issue has, the more likely it is to get fixed. Since there aren't many iTunes Match users, its really imperative that if you are experiencing difficulties, that you do all of the above. Calling in creates a "vote" for the issue, as does sending in feedback through the website. Hope we get this sorted out soon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: robd003

Eisselmann

macrumors member
Mar 10, 2014
30
8
Yeah, same thing here. Experienced it today after I wanted to match a new CD.
Meh…

Will give them feedback through their website.

Don‘t wanna call them.
 

daydreamingdude

macrumors newbie
Jul 21, 2021
11
5
Yeah, same thing here. Experienced it today after I wanted to match a new CD.
Meh…

Will give them feedback through their website.

Don‘t wanna call them.
I'd really encourage you to do both. Calling in actually adds 2 votes to the issue if done right by the person on the phone, because it can be sent in under your Apple ID and your case ref #. If you call in and also do the website, that's 3 votes in all. It took me about 30 minutes in all to get to the support manager on my last call. You just have to be kind of a dick to the people who are going to try to make you reinstall itunes and sign out/in. Like, still be polite, but be forceful and tell them from the beginning that all you want is to escalate the case up, that you are certain they cannot help you. In my experience with tech support people in general, telling them outright that you want it escalated almost always gets it done immediately.
 

djbullard87

macrumors newbie
May 23, 2021
10
3
I have a feeling it was the lossless update that botched it for some reason as I've just installed MacOS 11.5 and it seemed to sort the issue right out. Hope you all have the same luck!
 

Eisselmann

macrumors member
Mar 10, 2014
30
8
I'd really encourage you to do both. Calling in actually adds 2 votes to the issue if done right by the person on the phone, because it can be sent in under your Apple ID and your case ref #. If you call in and also do the website, that's 3 votes in all. It took me about 30 minutes in all to get to the support manager on my last call. You just have to be kind of a dick to the people who are going to try to make you reinstall itunes and sign out/in. Like, still be polite, but be forceful and tell them from the beginning that all you want is to escalate the case up, that you are certain they cannot help you. In my experience with tech support people in general, telling them outright that you want it escalated almost always gets it done immediately.

Sorry.
It‘s too stupid.

I don‘t wanna **** around with that standard procedure stuff with people that don‘t even understand what I want.
I am paying for that ******** and tbh, iTunes Match has been broken for YEARS now.

Diappearing cover art, non downloadable music although uploaded to the cloud, revoked access to the music livrary and so on…
Now this ****.

The get feedback from me but I have better stuff to do than calling their dumb hotline.

I am sorry, but I am just frustrated right now.

Übrigens: do you also have the issue that when you put in custom cover art it cuts of like the two farthest columns of the picture on the right side and put it on the left side of the cover?
I annoys me since day one.
 

drcharlie

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2014
37
29
Works again.
Hi! Thank all of you for contacting Apple and complaining Match wasn't working. I was trying it first on my PC and then also started trying it on my Mac. It hadn't worked since at least Saturday on either platform.

The good news: suddenly today iTunes Match is working both at my home PC (on iTunes) and on my work Mac (on Music). Maybe it's fixed for good? I hope so. I'd like to think enough people complaining to Apple got them to fix it.

Thank you, everyone! Let's hope it keeps working now.
 

drcharlie

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2014
37
29
It's still stuck on "Waiting to upload songs" for me
Mine worked this afternoon on a PC and a Mac. I added more songs at home on a PC and it worked. Then, I added another group of albums...and it's not stuck on "Waiting to upload songs". So, it looks like there was a small window of time when it was working and now it's stopped working again. Bummer.
 

daydreamingdude

macrumors newbie
Jul 21, 2021
11
5
Mine worked this afternoon on a PC and a Mac. I added more songs at home on a PC and it worked. Then, I added another group of albums...and it's not stuck on "Waiting to upload songs". So, it looks like there was a small window of time when it was working and now it's stopped working again. Bummer.
It does appear that something is different. I got the one song I've been trying to add for four days uploaded, only it made some kind of a duplicate? I deleted the one that wasn't uploading on my phone and accidentally deleted the one that got uploaded too 😑

I delete the song and then added it back into iTunes, and selected "Add to iCloud Music Library". This time it did actually seem to "complete" its process. Whereas the past few days its been stuck on Upload eternally, this time it does seem to consider it complete at some point. Except...it still doesn't upload. If I click it to Update iCloud Music Library, it also doesn't hang forever and it even said it was adding 500 tracks, listing track names, except those were already added in the library so I don't know what it was doing. That also "completed" yes my song is still waiting to be added to the cloud. I suppose at least this might mean they're working on it?
 

daydreamingdude

macrumors newbie
Jul 21, 2021
11
5
Also, when on my phone in the music app, the track has a spinning icon where the download icon usually is. So they're at least being attempted to be processed, it would seem.
 

daydreamingdude

macrumors newbie
Jul 21, 2021
11
5
Okay update, I got the song uploaded. There was a bit of a lag between when my phone first showed them as uploaded and I was able to play them, and then when iTunes itself displayed them as being in the cloud. But yes, it does appear to be working better but not as well as it did before Thursday. For now though I'm considering this a success and will not think about it for a few more days, haha. This ordeal wiped me out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: drcharlie

pharmdy

macrumors newbie
Feb 3, 2019
9
5
Same issues as everyone else. Never had an issue before this weekend. Uploads would hang at the matching stage forever and would only randomly filter through. It started working again for a couple days but stopped again yesterday. Only some songs filtering through. Have tried logging out/deauthorizing/unsyncing libraries ad nauseum with no resolution. Have a rep working on it.
 

drcharlie

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2014
37
29
Same issues as everyone else. Never had an issue before this weekend. Uploads would hang at the matching stage forever and would only randomly filter through. It started working again for a couple days but stopped again yesterday. Only some songs filtering through. Have tried logging out/deauthorizing/unsyncing libraries ad nauseum with no resolution. Have a rep working on it.
Same here. Worked for years, stopped working last weekend, worked a day or so during this week, and now it's back to only slowly and randomly letting some songs into my iCloud Music Library.
 

chalkmoon

macrumors newbie
Jul 24, 2021
2
2
Hi, same as everyone else - had the same issue since 17/07/2021. Sporadic bursts of it working and then not working again, always getting stuck at the 'Matching your music with songs in the iTunes Store' stage. Have raised a case on the feedback site.
 

Porco

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2005
3,349
7,111
Yep mine is quite broken right now too. Hopefully they fix it soon. I sent them feedback too.
 

malnar

macrumors 6502a
Aug 20, 2008
634
60
It's not just iTunes Match. It's Apple Music as well. I've been trying to match/upload an album since this time yesterday and it's hit or miss. It's extremely slow even when it does match, but some tracks it just will not match or upload. I've got a stack of CDs next to me that I want to rip but I know little of it's going to be available and the whole experience of trying to coax iTunes into behaving is just going to piss me off. So frustrating.
 

Porco

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2005
3,349
7,111
It's not just iTunes Match. It's Apple Music as well. I've been trying to match/upload an album since this time yesterday and it's hit or miss. It's extremely slow even when it does match, but some tracks it just will not match or upload. I've got a stack of CDs next to me that I want to rip but I know little of it's going to be available and the whole experience of trying to coax iTunes into behaving is just going to piss me off. So frustrating.
Oh, selfishly as an iTunes Match subscriber (but not Apple Music) I am encouraged if it’s a problem for Apple Music users too (sorry!), in that it might make it more likely to get fixed for both/all of us! Fingers crossed. I agree it’s frustrating.

I got two of the problem tracks matched earlier… only left it about six hours like… :rolleyes:
 
  • Like
Reactions: drcharlie
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.