iTunes Match Question

[kilcher]

Question about iTunes Match...

I have about 10,000 songs in my iTunes. Most were burned from CD's I purchased, maybe 100 were purchased from iTunes, and some were downloaded elsewhere. With iTunes Match, which I plan on purchasing, I know all of my songs get upgraded to 256kbs in AAC format. Question is...

If I lose my iPhone/iPod does that mean all of my (matching) songs will be available to sync up to a new/replacement device? Or only songs that were purchased through iTunes?

I'm always paranoid about something happening to my digital music collection. Just curious if this will pretty much remove the possibility I'd lose everything.

 

[Jeremy]

Anything that gets matched up will be available via the cloud. If it does not get matched up and you lose your device it will still be available on your computer via iTunes.

 

[kilcher]

Ok, so just to make sure I'm completely clear, let's say by some freak accident I lost my computer and iPod (maybe a fire), all of the matched songs would be available to download to a new device, even if they weren't purchased through iTunes.

I think that's the way it works, just want to be sure.

 

[Jeremy]

Ok, so just to make sure I'm completely clear, let's say by some freak accident I lost my computer and iPod (maybe a fire), all of the matched songs would be available to download to a new device, even if they weren't purchased through iTunes.

I think that's the way it works, just want to be sure.

That would be correct.

 

[ghostface147]

Unless some of the songs are from groups that declined to allow their music on iCloud or music iTunes no longer carries for whatever reason. Also, if you have some obscure band, it's possible it's not available either.

 

[kilcher]

Ok, thanks for the info! I do have some obscure stuff that would be lost but I do backup iTunes to DVD also so that would hopefully cover that. Just worried about the bulk of it and it sounds like this would offer an added layer of protection.

 

[j7469]

Unless some of the songs are from groups that declined to allow their music on iCloud or music iTunes no longer carries for whatever reason. Also, if you have some obscure band, it's possible it's not available either.

I thought I heard that if you have a song that's unavailable through iTunes, iCloud will allow you to upload that song to iCloud to be available on your other devices.

 

[Jeremy]

I thought I heard that if you have a song that's unavailable through iTunes, iCloud will allow you to upload that song to iCloud to be available on your other devices.

This would be correct.

 

[pizzafootbal]

Exactly, everything is stored somewhere else

 

[GlennEU]

The song that isn't in iTunes and gets uploaded to the icloud, does that song take up volume in the free 5GB you get with icloud?

 

[gerrardboy94]

yes it does take up part of the 5 GB

 

[iRooney]

Negative. iTunes match uploads do not count towards 5gb limit. 25/year covers all uploads regardless of size.

 

[iV1SHAL]

Negative. iTunes match uploads do not count towards 5gb limit. 25/year covers all uploads regardless of size.

This is the good part and the 25 dollars is a small fee compared to what you get.

Apple seems to be getting a lot better on pricing.

 

[Fausty82]

This is the good part and the 25 dollars is a small fee compared to what you get.

Apple seems to be getting a lot better on pricing.

I find it interesting that Apple chose to "solve" the issue of "questionable" sourcing of music (big assumption that all non-iTunes music is personally ripped vs otherwise "acquired") this way. The $25 monthly charge for the service is to grease the palms of the RIAA folks... and I am surprised that the RIAA sold out so cheaply...

 

[Ipheuria]

I don't think they sold out cheaply if you consider that 1 million people, a drop in the bucket, equals 25 million dollars they wouldn't have had otherwise as people happily listened to the songs they have been listening to for years. The next thing is that you must realize that the Match service is a subscription so as soon as you stop paying that $25 a year poof goes those high quality versions. They are not giving you the high quality version as far as I understand it but basically renting it to you. So it's not that cheap anymore if you consider that since you are basically paying for something that you never will own.

 

[bmuncy]

I am excited about this service and I am for sure subscribing. However, I still have a few questions about this. I like the fact that all my music will be upgraded to 256kbps because there is some of my music that needs that upgrade because I hate when I listen to my music and because of the lower quality it gets quieter then gets louder when a higher quality comes on. Anyway, my question is how will I have this good quality music on my computer once it is matched? Would I need to delete my music library off my computer and re-sync it with the cloud? I mean I wont delete my music permanently, it will still be stored on my external HD. Also, since my iPhone is already sync with the "lower quality" on my iTunes should I re-sync my iPhone once iOS5 comes out? I haven't seen much information about how it will work. I hope someone can shine some light on this. Thanks!

 

[impaler]

Negative. iTunes match uploads do not count towards 5gb limit. 25/year covers all uploads regardless of size.

Well, that's true...up to 20,000 songs. See here:

iCloud Features

 

[Ipheuria]

I am excited about this service and I am for sure subscribing. However, I still have a few questions about this. I like the fact that all my music will be upgraded to 256kbps because there is some of my music that needs that upgrade because I hate when I listen to my music and because of the lower quality it gets quieter then gets louder when a higher quality comes on. Anyway, my question is how will I have this good quality music on my computer once it is matched? Would I need to delete my music library off my computer and re-sync it with the cloud? I mean I wont delete my music permanently, it will still be stored on my external HD. Also, since my iPhone is already sync with the "lower quality" on my iTunes should I re-sync my iPhone once iOS5 comes out? I haven't seen much information about how it will work. I hope someone can shine some light on this. Thanks!

as far as I understand it and I could be wrong you will not get the higher quality song to keep. I'm still a little fuzzy on how they're going to do it but here are my ideas.

When you sign up for the service it scans your library and matches low qaulity songs with the ones in the Apple catalogue. When you play your phone it streams the song to your phone or it replaces the song on your phone but not in your iTunes library on the computer.

Perhaps I'm wrong but this is what I understood about the service because it's basically a subscription service you're not buying the music.

from the Apple site

iTunes Match

Here?s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 18 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can?t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. And all the music iTunes matches plays back at 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality ? even if your original copy was of lower quality.

 

[kilcher]

as far as I understand it and I could be wrong you will not get the higher quality song to keep. I'm still a little fuzzy on how they're going to do it but here are my ideas.

When you sign up for the service it scans your library and matches low qaulity songs with the ones in the Apple catalogue. When you play your phone it streams the song to your phone or it replaces the song on your phone but not in your iTunes library on the computer.

Perhaps I'm wrong but this is what I understood about the service because it's basically a subscription service you're not buying the music.

That's the way I assumed it would work as well. Otherwise most people would have no reason to continue using (or more importantly to Apple - paying) for the service after the first time they upgrade their music.

 

[bmuncy]

as far as I understand it and I could be wrong you will not get the higher quality song to keep. I'm still a little fuzzy on how they're going to do it but here are my ideas.

When you sign up for the service it scans your library and matches low qaulity songs with the ones in the Apple catalogue. When you play your phone it streams the song to your phone or it replaces the song on your phone but not in your iTunes library on the computer.

Perhaps I'm wrong but this is what I understood about the service because it's basically a subscription service you're not buying the music.

That maybe true, I could see that as a possibility. But I know that services like Microsoft's Zune Marketplace if you subscribed to theirs you would download all the songs but then I am guessing the copyrights would deactivate them if you canceled. So I am not sure if Apple will do it that way. Also I hope they do not rely too much on the streaming because as I travel sometimes I don't have service. Which I don't think they would do that.