This past weekend, due to Music app issues I won't go into, I deleted and then redownloaded my entire music library. And as I was watching things download, I noticed that I was getting a weird hodgepodge of file types from Apple.
For old iTunes purchases:
Most of the old purchases were downloaded in 256 AAC, as you'd expect.
Some (~20%) got redownloaded as HLS Lossless, also probably expected since surely they're updating iTunes tracks over time (and, yay!)
But then about a third of it was downloaded in the old 128 AAC. Why? I mean, those were supposedly upgraded years ago on Apple servers, so why do they even exist? And I had iTunes Match since it was launched, so everything in my library should have been updated to 256 AAC years ago. And yeah, if I go to iTunes, those tracks are definitely available in 256 AAC or better.
OK, so for Matched tracks:
Surprisingly, most were redownloaded in HLS lossless (~95%). Again, yay.
The remainder downloaded in 256 AAC, as expected.
But...
A lot of songs that should be matched, apparently never were or for some reason are no longer, and of course they show up as "uploaded", and so then got downloaded in whatever format I originally ripped them at, typically 128 mp3. That's annoying, but understandable I guess - maybe the ripped song wasn't recognizable or something, right?
But the weird thing is this: if I remove one of those songs from my library, and then add it back, Music will then match it with an HLS lossless version. Yay, I guess, but I shouldn't have to do that. Plus it's real a pain make happen - you've got to move or copy the actual file someplace safe, then remove the song from your library, then add it back, then sync your cloud library and hope it gets matched, then remove the download, and then download it again (and then re-rate it, add it back to playlists, etc.) Whew. That's over 2,000 tracks to do - not gonna happen.
And also, those matched files will show up in iTunes as if I had purchased them, which I guess was always the way it worked, but... if Apple equates matched files and purchased ones, and the majority of my matched content got redownloaded as lossless, then why did relatively few of my actual purchases get downloaded that way? Surely my matched music doesn't just coincidentally line up with what Apple has updated on their servers.
So yeah, that's all silly. Is there no way to force Music to reexamine your library and automatically match and upgrade your tracks?
And again, why does Apple still have 128 AAC formatted tracks in their iTunes database?
For old iTunes purchases:
Most of the old purchases were downloaded in 256 AAC, as you'd expect.
Some (~20%) got redownloaded as HLS Lossless, also probably expected since surely they're updating iTunes tracks over time (and, yay!)
But then about a third of it was downloaded in the old 128 AAC. Why? I mean, those were supposedly upgraded years ago on Apple servers, so why do they even exist? And I had iTunes Match since it was launched, so everything in my library should have been updated to 256 AAC years ago. And yeah, if I go to iTunes, those tracks are definitely available in 256 AAC or better.
OK, so for Matched tracks:
Surprisingly, most were redownloaded in HLS lossless (~95%). Again, yay.
The remainder downloaded in 256 AAC, as expected.
But...
A lot of songs that should be matched, apparently never were or for some reason are no longer, and of course they show up as "uploaded", and so then got downloaded in whatever format I originally ripped them at, typically 128 mp3. That's annoying, but understandable I guess - maybe the ripped song wasn't recognizable or something, right?
But the weird thing is this: if I remove one of those songs from my library, and then add it back, Music will then match it with an HLS lossless version. Yay, I guess, but I shouldn't have to do that. Plus it's real a pain make happen - you've got to move or copy the actual file someplace safe, then remove the song from your library, then add it back, then sync your cloud library and hope it gets matched, then remove the download, and then download it again (and then re-rate it, add it back to playlists, etc.) Whew. That's over 2,000 tracks to do - not gonna happen.
And also, those matched files will show up in iTunes as if I had purchased them, which I guess was always the way it worked, but... if Apple equates matched files and purchased ones, and the majority of my matched content got redownloaded as lossless, then why did relatively few of my actual purchases get downloaded that way? Surely my matched music doesn't just coincidentally line up with what Apple has updated on their servers.
So yeah, that's all silly. Is there no way to force Music to reexamine your library and automatically match and upgrade your tracks?
And again, why does Apple still have 128 AAC formatted tracks in their iTunes database?
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