iLoungeiLounge
  • News
    • Apple
      • AirPods Pro
      • AirPlay
      • Apps
        • Apple Music
      • iCloud
      • iTunes
      • HealthKit
      • HomeKit
      • HomePod
      • iOS 13
      • Apple Pay
      • Apple TV
      • Siri
    • Rumors
    • Humor
    • Technology
      • CES
    • Daily Deals
    • Articles
    • Web Stories
  • iPhone
    • iPhone Accessories
  • iPad
  • iPod
    • iPod Accessories
  • Apple Watch
    • Apple Watch Accessories
  • Mac
    • MacBook Air
    • MacBook Pro
  • Reviews
    • App Reviews
  • How-to
    • Ask iLounge
Font ResizerAa
iLoungeiLounge
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • News
    • Apple
    • Rumors
    • Humor
    • Technology
    • Daily Deals
    • Articles
    • Web Stories
  • iPhone
    • iPhone Accessories
  • iPad
  • iPod
    • iPod Accessories
  • Apple Watch
    • Apple Watch Accessories
  • Mac
    • MacBook Air
    • MacBook Pro
  • Reviews
    • App Reviews
  • How-to
    • Ask iLounge
Follow US

News › Apps › Apple Music

Apple MusiciTunes

Apple bringing full iTunes Match capabilities to Apple Music subscribers

Last updated: May 16, 2021 2:19 pm UTC
By Jesse Hollington
Apple bringing full iTunes Match capabilities to Apple Music subscribers

Apple is in the process of rolling out the more sophisticated audio fingerprint capabilities from its iTunes Match service to all Apple Music subscribers, according a new post by Jim Dalrymple of The Loop. Although Apple Music provides the ability to integrate a user’s own iTunes library tracks into a cloud-based “iCloud Music Library,” as Dalrymple’s post explains the matching capabilities of the Apple Music service have been limited in comparison to Apple’s $25/year iTunes Match service, meaning that users who subscribed only to Apple Music without also paying for an iTunes Match subscription were stuck with a “metadata version of iTunes Match” which relied on track information rather than acoustic fingerprinting to match a user’s own tracks with Apple Music’s collection, resulting in significantly less accurate results, such as live versions of songs being replaced by studio versions.
It’s unclear why Apple didn’t simply bring the acoustic fingerprinting capabilities of iTunes Match over to Apple Music in the first place; considerations may have included problems with scaling the matching technology to a larger number of subscribers or a desire to continue the original iTunes Match service as a value-added enhancement to Apple Music, encouraging users to subscribe to both services.

Advertisements

Apple bringing full iTunes Match capabilities to Apple Music subscribers

According to Dalrymple, the upgrade to iTunes Match audio fingerprinting will also bring other iTunes Match features, including the ability to download all matched songs as DRM-free versions from the iTunes Store — for Apple Music subscribers, matched tracks were previously only available from the cloud as DRM-protected Apple Music tracks, although original copies in a user’s iTunes library normally remained untouched. Users who currently subscribe to both Apple Music and iTunes Match should be able to let their annual iTunes Match subscription lapse when it comes up for renewal without losing any functionality, while Apple Music subscribers will gradually gain new features — Dalrymple notes that Apple is presently transitioning “1% to 2% of its users every day, automatically” and closely monitoring the process to ensure a smooth migration.

 

.
Advertisements

Latest News
Apple Pencil Pro
The Apple Pencil Pro is $29 Off
1 Min Read
Apple Maps
Apple Maps updated with ‘Expert Sources’ information
1 Min Read
Android 16
Android 16 ‘Live Updates’ launch
1 Min Read
visionOS 3
visionOS 3 to have eye scrolling function
1 Min Read
Apple AirTag 4 Pack
The Apple AirTag 4-Pack is $19 Off
1 Min Read
Apple
Apple launches new music transfer tool
1 Min Read
HBO Max
Max to be renamed ‘HBO Max’
1 Min Read
Safari
Safari Technology Preview 219 now live
1 Min Read
Beats Solo 4
The Beats Solo 4 is $70 Off
1 Min Read
C1 Modem
The C1 modem gets a security update through iOS 18.5
1 Min Read
watchOS 11.5
New watchOS 11.5 debuts
1 Min Read
visionOS 2.5
visionOS 2.5 comes with Apple TV Vision Tab feature
1 Min Read

iLounge logo

iLounge is an independent resource for all things iPod, iPhone, iPad, and beyond. iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, Apple TV, and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc.

This website is not affiliated with Apple Inc.
iLounge © 2001 - 2025. All Rights Reserved.
  • Contact Us
  • Submit News
  • About Us
  • Forums
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?