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iTunes Match - clean vs explicit version

D

diamond3

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2005
886
402
Does anyone have any experience on how iTunes Match handles clean versions of a song in your library and having it download a higher quality song in the explicit version or just the opposite with explicit-->clean?

What's the best way to have it recognize the correct version so I don't end up with the explicit or clean version of a song that is different then my original?

I'm not a developer and don't have access to iTunes Match yet, but I just want to know what I should be doing now so when I'm able to get it, there aren't major mistakes.

Any help or insight appreciated.
 
It really depends on whether iTunes match uses the ID3 tags to determine the song or some kind of audio fingerprinting. As far as I know no one has mentioned which method they're using. I'd imagine fingerprinting as it is most likely much more accurate.
 
The iCloud has me wondering about something else, too... What if the artwork for a song is inappropriate, and I intentionally don't want the artwork. Will it be constantly giving it back to me, every time it syncs, or "checks" itself with the cloud?
 
Yumunum said:
The iCloud has me wondering about something else, too... What if the artwork for a song is inappropriate, and I intentionally don't want the artwork. Will it be constantly giving it back to me, every time it syncs, or "checks" itself with the cloud?
Click to expand...

I think it's annoying more than anything.

The only reason I paid for iTunes Match was to get some box sets upgraded to 256Kbps and I did that. Years ago I had purchased the Complete Depeche Mode and Complete Led Zeppelin. I had gotten a refund on Led Zep a week after purchase because it was defective and iTunes pulled the box set for several weeks. Complete Depeche Mode was never offered in iTunes + and it was pulled from iTunes after about a year.

When our purchase history was made available to download through iTunes a few months back, Led Zep was still there so I downloaded it. With iTunes match, I was able to get the Complete Led Zep downloaded at 256Kbps.

Complete Depeche Mode was also there but at 128Kbps. iTunes Match allowed me to grab about 80% if the Depche Mode tracks at 256Kbps.

The artwork shows up only on some of the tracks and it's really annoying. It's just a case where the artwork never downloads or is just so darned slow it takes days to show up. The artwork is not embedded in each track and it does this weird artwork database thing that iTunes does so this is why songs are missing the artwork.

I have all the tracks upgraded on my MBP that I want and have now turned off iTunes Match on my phones and MBP and am just syncing them the old way where I get the artwork for everything.
 
I would also like to know how itunes match handles clean vs dirty songs.

If I can somehow receive both, that would be awesome, as I personally believe that once you have bought a song, you should have access to the clean and dirty version.
 
I purchased Eminem's "Recovery" from Amazon, and got the Explicit version. I downloaded the MP3s, imported and ran iTunes Match, and when I downloaded to my iPhone, I wound up with the clean version.

On my PC, the MP3 that I imported (explicit version) is what plays. On the iPhone, the tags still match the original MP3 (they say "[Explicit]"), but the f-bombs are definitely filtered out.

Dammit. :(
 
Well, personally I'm glad it defaults to the clean version but I understand a lot of people would be disappointed. I'm probably going to wait a few weeks before I go through with iTunes match. Apple really needs a better way of determining track information. They should have a shazam-like feature for the tracks that the regular get track info doesn't work.

I also wish they would have enabled in iTunes Match a way to scan your library and place a symbol next to the track that shows which songs are in the cloud. If it found it in the cloud, you could click the logo and it would show it in the iTunes store so you could verify. All this done of course before you pay for it.
 
Ugh. I just figured out that some of the tracks are explicit, some are cleaned. It seems fairly random. I hope they can fix this soon.
 
Explicit vs Clean lyrics

I have noticed a randomness as well to the songs I replaced in my library. Thank god for my time capsule!

Fix this soon, Apple!
 
?

I have not figured out a way to force clean or dirty, but its a problem I am now running into with iTunes match. A large number of original albums that I had that were not the clean version are now clean when I download them through iTunes Match, yet another frustrating thing about iTunes Match for me
 
Quite annoyed by this as well. I purchased explicit music (yes I buy music:p) and I get a clean version when matched in iTunes. I like the idea of the service, but a Kanye song with a bunch of gaps in it just sounds stupid when you've heard the explicit version lol. Apple should include a setting to allow you to choose clean/explicit for your collection when matched.
 
Yumunum said:
What if the artwork for a song is inappropriate, and I intentionally don't want the artwork.
Click to expand...

As far as I can tell artwork and tags are what you feed it. If you match with inappropriate artwork it will persist.

The explicit/clean thing album/single version is scary. I need to check some of my explicit/clean tracks.

B
 
live/studio?

What about live vs studio versions?

I was planning to implement iTunes Match this weekend, but this explicit/clean and possibly live/studio issue has me scared away for now.

Do you have to match all your songs in your library or can you select which ones?
 
I love the idiot that's downgrading comments with legitimate complaints about the service, some people are so ignorant and live in their own little world where its all sunshine and butterflies with Apple.

I can deal with clean if the censors are done right but some of them are awful and play the swear words in reverse completely ruining the flow.
 
Clean Vs. Explicit Still a problem

I just ran into this problem a little while ago. I reinstalled the software on my iPhone 4S and instead of syncing with my computer, I turned iTunes Match on and downloaded my most used playlists and artists. I noticed right away that any music I had bought on Amazon and brought over to iTunes, even though it was 'matched' was now the clean version of a song that used to have Explicit lyrics. The version on my computer was still fine, so I ended up just turning off iTunes Match and syncing with my computer.

I'm in week 2 of chats with Apple, and aside from 5 free songs (I count 87 that are affected in my library so far), they haven't been able to give me any answers. Glad to know I'm not the only one with this problem though. I don't even want the free songs, I'd just like for iTunes Match to work, or for them to refund my $25.

Please let me know if Apple finally comes through for anyone, and I'll do the same if I happen to be the lucky one.
 
I just got iTunes Match last week week and yesterday I notice that some of my songs are the clean version which sucks because I wish I knew of this issue, If I did I would have waited to get iTunes Match. I'll be on the phone with Apple today hopefully they can fix this soon.
 
lsvtecjohn3 said:
I just got iTunes Match last week week and yesterday I notice that some of my songs are the clean version which sucks because I wish I knew of this issue, If I did I would have waited to get iTunes Match. I'll be on the phone with Apple today hopefully they can fix this soon.
Click to expand...

There's really no point in calling. They have acknowledged the issue and said they are working on it. Phone reps aren't going to be able to give you any additional help or an ETA when it will be fixed.
 
Has anyone tried to take the problematic albums, burn them to CD, and try to re-import them into itunes (after deleting the current files)? I'm wondering if this might match to different songs? worth a try I suppose..
 
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