iLounge

1

Woo Hoo! I know what I’ll be doing tonight! Assuming they aren’t still overwhelmed with demand…

Posted by Yoshiyahu on November 14, 2011 at 4:51 PM (PDT)

2

I immediately subscribed to iTunes Match this afternoon when it became available.  So far it is has been running for TWO HOURS and I am still only on step 1 (“gathering info”) of the 3 step process.  Granted I have a large library, but the promise that “this will take minutes” has already not come true.

Posted by spaceways on November 14, 2011 at 4:54 PM (PDT)

3

Well, the process has been running now for 5-6 hours and is still not finished.  Maybe they’re overwhelmed with the demand, but this seems all too familiar.  This is exactly what happened with iOS5.  Have they not learned from that mistake?  If their servers are running optimally and this is how long it takes, it’s unacceptable.  They should have tested assuming everyone has 25K songs.  This is very disappointing.

Posted by spaceways on November 14, 2011 at 7:54 PM (PDT)

4

I have a large library also,. about 33,000 music tracks.  Wheni clicked on the subscribe button I got a message saying I cannot because my library is too large.

Posted by Greg McIntyre on November 14, 2011 at 8:52 PM (PDT)

5

But, is this only for the US?
I know the US is the main market, but millions of iPhones and iPads have been sold outside the US.

If it is US only at the moment, Apple should say so.

It’s like iLounge. You are US based, but you have many readers overseas

Posted by Joel on November 14, 2011 at 9:29 PM (PDT)

6

Why exactly is it so difficult to get my hands on the 32-bit Windows of iTunes 10.5.1? All I see on the main page is the 64-bit version for Windows?

Posted by Miguel Stockman on November 14, 2011 at 9:32 PM (PDT)

7

While I’m still waiting for iTunes Match to complete the process, I I’ll answer the questions above.  Greg, you need to get your library down below 25K songs as that is the limit of songs allowed for iTunes Match.  Joel, it’s only offered in the US right now.  Miguel, it sounds like you are on the 64-bit download page.  Be sure to go to itunes/download for the 32-bit version.

Posted by spaceways on November 14, 2011 at 9:56 PM (PDT)

8

My Mac (containing my iTunes library) crunched on this overnight. Now, when I try to turn on iTunes Match on my iPhone (4S), it warns that, “iTunes Match will replaced the music library on this device.” Huh?

Posted by Farnsworth on November 15, 2011 at 1:05 PM (PDT)

9

@8: Yup, if you turn iTunes Match on for a given device, you can ONLY sync music from the Match service. It will wipe everything and then resync it.

Unless you’ve got a very good reason (on the road a lot), or you aren’t constantly swapping music on and off, it’s a terrible, terrible thing for devices.

Posted by Code Monkey in Midstate New York on November 15, 2011 at 1:30 PM (PDT)

10

Well, I have 19,000 songs and it took all night to do the matching part, although I enabled Match on my phone that night, and was able to access stuff as Match did its job.

This morning it started uploading the 1800 or so songs that iTunes didn’t have. We’ll see how far along it is when I get home.

On the way to work on the train I played some songs adn downloaded some albums, and things worked as well as I’d expect them to.

For me, Match is worth it because while I have an iPod, I don’t want to have it around all the time, and I have been in plenty of situations where I am away from home and want to play a song for someone, but the song isn’t on my phone. So for that reason alone, I am excited to have Match.

Posted by Yoshiyahu on November 15, 2011 at 4:22 PM (PDT)

11

@spaceways: Right you would be under normal circumstances. However, in the past when I would go to the iTunes download page on the Apple website, it would automatically load up on the 32-bit Windows page, and I could also download the 64-bit version if I so chose. Now, it immediately comes up on the 64-bit download screen, and there seems to be no way to access a screen to download a copy of the 32-bit version for Windows on Apple’s website.

Posted by Miguel Stockman on November 15, 2011 at 7:23 PM (PDT)

12

@9 - I may be mistaken, but I do not think that statement is correct. I signed up for iTunes Matching and then turned the feature on for both my iPhone and iPad. The process did initiate a sync, but it loaded my locally stored music right back on the devices as they were. In addition, it listed out all the songs that were now in iCloud with the cloud icon for downloading. I made a few changes to some playlists on my Mac and then initiated a wireless sync for each device. The changes were made with no problem.

As far as I can tell, you can still manage your syncing as before OR choose to use only the iCloud option of downloading songs as desired. Or you can get the best of both worlds, as I am, by managing playlists on my Mac and then using the iCloud option to grab a a few songs as I realize I want to hear them. I am pretty pleased with this sevice so far. Very convenient!

Posted by Mitch on November 16, 2011 at 6:44 AM (PDT)

13

#8, #12 - you’re both mistaken. Sort of. But it’s not you, it’s Apple.

When I activated Match on my iPhone, it wiped out all of the music stored locally on the device. When I then activated it on my iPad (2), the local music storage remained. So it seems that iTunes Match so far lacks consistency on iOS devices.

On reflection I prefer the former (what happened on my iPhone), as it now frees up space for more video content (which is not “matched” by iTunes in the Cloud). Any way to force the same behavior on my iPad?

PS; Apple, please add support next for (1) Podcast subscriptions and (2) Smart Playlists that reference other playlists.

Posted by Farnsworth on November 16, 2011 at 8:46 AM (PDT)