iTunes Match ... sync playlists?

[benguild]

So, my question is the following:
Because my iPhone only has 16GB ... I have about 10 playlists of songs that I sync, and that's it.

iCloud is perfect for me because if I want to play a song I don't have with me, I can just download it! Great, right?

Well, the thing is ... iOS 5 is warning me that this will replace my music library on my phone with a wiped copy.

Q: How do I get my playlists back, if music syncing is also disabled at that point? (iTunes Match disables music syncing, no?)

... This is all kind of unclear at this point and my music library is something I treasure.

 

[Senseotech]

A workaround, and yes I know it sucks, is to activate iTunes Match on your device, let it kill all the locally stored music, then go to the playlists section and at the bottom of each playlist you have, theres a download all button. In my quick 5 minutes of looking for a solution, this is all I can see at the moment.

 

[Peace]

iTunes Match "matches" the playlist from your Mac to the cloud so when you go to music on your iPhone the playlist is already there. After the match is complete you can creat a new playlist on your iPhone and it will then be matched in the cloud.

 

[ToddJ]

It seems when i play something on my Mac, it doesn't show up on my iPHone or iPad in the recently played playlist. Is anyone else having this problem?

 

[Crotonmark]

It seems when i play something on my Mac, it doesn't show up on my iPHone or iPad in the recently played playlist. Is anyone else having this problem?

Yes - for now and for whatever reason, smart playlists don't sync correctly between the Mac and the iOS device.
Frustrating but Match is still great

 

[PNutts]

Well, the thing is ... iOS 5 is warning me that this will replace my music library on my phone with a wiped copy.

Q: How do I get my playlists back, if music syncing is also disabled at that point? (iTunes Match disables music syncing, no?)

iTunes match does not remove songs already on your phone and will bring your playlists over (depending on the size of your library it will take a while for everything to show up.

 

[HoldFastHope]

iTunes match does not remove songs already on your phone and will bring your playlists over (depending on the size of your library it will take a while for everything to show up.

If you do this, it downloads the files from the iTunes server via Wifi/cellular, correct? Is there a way to just transfer the files from a Mac? For example, I have match enabled on iPhone and my Mac, and a whole heap of music on my Mac that I want on my iPhone. Do I really need to waste bandwidth when I already have those files on my Mac?

I'm probably just missing something

 

[matt8]

If you do this, it downloads the files from the iTunes server via Wifi/cellular, correct? Is there a way to just transfer the files from a Mac? For example, I have match enabled on iPhone and my Mac, and a whole heap of music on my Mac that I want on my iPhone. Do I really need to waste bandwidth when I already have those files on my Mac?

I'm probably just missing something

This is exactly where I am. I just downloaded a ton of music (not from itunes) and now I have to wait for it to upload to iCloud so then I can download it to my iPhone & iPad? Absurd. Just let me sync my computer to my iPhone.

 

[milo]

This is exactly where I am. I just downloaded a ton of music (not from itunes) and now I have to wait for it to upload to iCloud so then I can download it to my iPhone & iPad? Absurd. Just let me sync my computer to my iPhone.

Exactly, you're not missing anything, Apple has a braindead implementation in place. You have gigs of content sitting right there on your hard drive and instead of just quickly copying it over to a device, Apple wants everyone to download that data from the internet over and over again. Just makes no sense. Apple REALLY needs to change it so it allows sync (either wireless or USB cable) when Match is enabled, no reason to force users to only have one or another.

 

[ripratm]

Exactly, you're not missing anything, Apple has a braindead implementation in place. You have gigs of content sitting right there on your hard drive and instead of just quickly copying it over to a device, Apple wants everyone to download that data from the internet over and over again. Just makes no sense. Apple REALLY needs to change it so it allows sync (either wireless or USB cable) when Match is enabled, no reason to force users to only have one or another.

Its a crappy solution but you can turn off iTunes Match of your IOS device. Sync everything over from your PC/Mac. Then turn on iTunes Match again. This will NOT remove music that is already on your IOS device.

Example: I just created a huge playlists from a 1000 songs that I don't want to redownload. Turn off iTunes Match on iPhone and plug it into your computer and sync that playlist via cable. Once synced turn iTunes Match back on and that playlists along with the music will remain on your IOS device.

 

[Ingot]

Its a crappy solution but you can turn off iTunes Match of your IOS device. Sync everything over from your PC/Mac. Then turn on iTunes Match again. This will NOT remove music that is already on your IOS device.

Example: I just created a huge playlists from a 1000 songs that I don't want to redownload. Turn off iTunes Match on iPhone and plug it into your computer and sync that playlist via cable. Once synced turn iTunes Match back on and that playlists along with the music will remain on your IOS device.

Nope. March 2nd 2012 I lost all my playlists on iPhone. I still have all the songs, but the playlists are gone. I turn off iTunes match on both iPhone and iMac and the playlists come back. But then I turn on match on both the playlists disappear from the phone again. Only started on MArch 2nd. Now one day later it is still happening. Very frustrating.

Oh yes. I have to sync my phone to iTunes every time to get the play playlists back on the iPhone. I am now going to keep iTunes match off for now until a solution becomes apparent.

 

[swordfish5736]

Nope. March 2nd 2012 I lost all my playlists on iPhone. I still have all the songs, but the playlists are gone. I turn off iTunes match on both iPhone and iMac and the playlists come back. But then I turn on match on both the playlists disappear from the phone again. Only started on MArch 2nd. Now one day later it is still happening. Very frustrating.

Oh yes. I have to sync my phone to iTunes every time to get the play playlists back on the iPhone. I am now going to keep iTunes match off for now until a solution becomes apparent.

Are those playlists on your Mac in iTunes? I think when I did it any playlist that was on my iPhone was lost but any on the Mac I use with iTunes match showed up on my phone


I know that smart playlists don't work but does anybody know why a new playlist created on my Mac doesn't show up on my phone? Ive even turned match off then back on on the phone and nothing


So i just turned off match on my iPhone then my iMac and then back on the mac and let it do its thing. Now a playlist i made on my iPhone that didn't pop up on the iMac before is there. Waiting for playlists to load back up on the iPhone now. Wondering if this is what has to be done to sync playlists. It'd be nice if there was a way to force updates or something. There is a update iTunes match option in iTunes but it never seemed to do it. I think it is there just to check for any new music you added or something


and yes the newly created playlist on my iMac is now on my phone after its re-added everything.

 

[garyddavis]

iTunes Match playlist deletion - a way to fix

This won't fix the underlying issue, but if you don't mind not using match until Apple fixes the mess, this WILL restore your playlists:

I have been experiencing the deletion of play lists in iTunes no-thanks to iTunes Match. Reading the online postings gave hints but not a workable solution. I finally nailed it. Here you are.

For the record, I am using a Power Mac G5 running OS 10.5.8 (Leopard) and iTunes 10.5.3, and an iPhone 4S running iOS 5.1 (same problems were happening with iOS 5.01).

You will need to make changes on your computer and your iOS 5 device (iPhone, iPod or iPad).

Don’t have the iOS device connected to the computer for this operaition. Go to the Settings panel, scroll down and select Music, and turn OFF iTunes Match. That should do it for this device.

For the computer, there are multiple steps:
First:
Quit iTunes if it’s launched.
Turn off your internet connection. I did this by going to the System Preferences > Network pane, clicking Built-in Ethernet (which is how my system gets to the internet), then clicking the Configure dropdown, selecting Off, and finally clicking the Apply button. The green indicator next to Built-in Ethernet should go red.

If you’re using a wireless connection, then turn it off using the top menu bar icon for airport/wi-fi conneciton. Test by launching a web browser and trying to find a page; if you cannot browse a common page like Google or Yahoo, you can proceed here. If you can browse, discover how you are getting that internet connectivity and shut it off.

Second: Go to a Time Machine or other backup of your iTunes folder and grab a recent copy of the iTunes Library.itl file from a time BEFORE the iTunes Match issue arose (e.g., a copy WITH your playlists intact). I also grabbed the iTunes Library Genius.itdb and Itunes Library Extras.itdb files just in case they were necessary. Copy this into the current iTunes folder.

Third: Launch iTunes (internet still not connected) and verify your playlists are intact. If so, then click the top menu Store > Turn OFF iTunes Match. (Make sure you have turned it off by again clicking Store. It should now read Turn ON iTunes Match… but don’t drag and select this).

Fourth: Reactivate your internet connection. Either go to System Preferences > Networks and use the Ethernet > Configure drop down to select DHCP (or whatever setting you first had going) and click Apply, or use your Wireless/airport icon in the top menu to turn this connection back on.

Finally, connect the iOS device to your computer and sync it with iTunes to get the songs/playlists you want transferred.

Hint: My iTunes library is way too large to fit on my 32 GB iPhone, so in the “Music” tab for the phone in iTunes I uncheck “Entire music library” and instead check “Selected playlists, artists, albums and genres.” Then I can manually check the specific playlists I want loaded on the iPhone. Once that’s done, I click “Sync” in iTunes.

Further hint: If the iTunes Library.itl file you restored was saved before you loaded recent apps on your phone, you will perhaps get a message that this sync will erase apps from the phone. Don’t worry about it; you’ll have a chance to also back up recent apps during the sync; do that. Then they will be preserved on the phone.