I was really excited today that I could finally download and signup for iTunes Match, the cloud music service I really had hoped to like. Well that love didn’t last long.
I clicked the Turn On iTunes Match link and clicked Subscribe that I will spend $25 and I was immediately greeted with a pop-up alert telling me my library has more than 25,000 songs not purchased from iTunes so I can’t use it.
What!? Somebody forgot to mention this when the service was announced.
Because I am a HUGE music lover and have a very large collection; 1000s of CDs that over the years I ripped and added to my library I am not allowed to use iTunes Match. Factor in music I bought from sites such as; Amazon.com, Bandcamp, Nimbit and many band websites, this is just a huge FAIL! What do they think I should do, delete my music so I can use iTunes Match? Not gonna happen! I guess this has pretty much made the decision that I will be using something like Rdio or Spotify now.
No other explanation, no other options… just no you can’t use it.
MacWorld has a slight solution but only a slight one.
http://www.macworld.com/article/163599/2011/11/dealing_with_itunes_matchs_25_000_track_limit.html
Thanks I saw that. But I have no plans to create multiple libraries. Hopefully Apple will provide a solution to those who have large libraries.
I thought I had read that Apple was going to allow tiered subscriptions for larger libraries? Possibly not at first as millions of us all sign up simultaneously … but hopefully they will.
You know now that you mention that I thought I had also heard once in passing, then never again. I really suspect this is more a “storage” issue than a “label” issue. My library would require a 1TB, but if the majority of it is matched, which it should be, then they already have the files. Just need to wait and see what they do.
hey man!
been dying for the answer!!
i have quite a large library. I’d say 90% is ripped from a cd, 8% is downloaded from other websites and the remainder downloaded from iTunes. I have been hanging out, waiting all day to see Apples take on large libraries. I live in Aust, disappointing but good to know!
I would also love to know what Apple will do for those with large libraries, hopefully we will learn something soon.
“What!? Somebody forgot to mention this when the service was announced.”
Um … they did. (http://www.macstories.net/news/apple-releases-new-itunes-beta-with-itunes-match/)
“as previously announced it’s set at $24.99 per year for 25,000 songs.”
And how does paying $9.99 per month ($120/year) for a ever-shifting and incomplete selection of music that largely requires an always-on internet connection have anything to do with iTunes Match?
No they didn’t really clarify what that 25,000 meant. If they did I don’t think myself and others would have been surprised with this issue. Nowhere did they say they will only limit you to 25,000 songs purchased from iTunes.
How does it have anything to do… well I wanted a solution to ideally have MY already purchased music available on all my devices at anytime. I was hoping iTunes Match would be that. So now my only option is as you said a more expensive, incomplete library that I can stream to my devices. A solution that sucks IMO.
Sorry, but I feel screwed over because I did buy ALOT of music in my life.
I get what you are saying – maybe I just studied it so much that I wasn’t surprised.
As a laptop person I have *never* had all of my music in digital form. Some stuff is just on vinyl, other stuff just on CD, other stuff has been digitized btu lives on a backup drive, and so on.
So I guess that knowledge plus the constant managing of my library has led me to never have more than ~15,000 songs on my library.