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Apple Debuts iTunes Match With Audio Fingerprint for Apple Music Users
Apple has introduced a fix for a persistent and frustrating Apple Music bug that caused pre-existing music libraries to sometimes be improperly matched with Apple Music songs, reports The Loop.
To make sure songs are correctly matched, Apple is now using iTunes Match audio fingerprint for Apple Music, a more accurate matching method than the metadata matching that was previously employed. Apple Music matching now also offers up DRM-free music files, just like iTunes Match.
Current Apple Music and iTunes Match subscribers can let their iTunes Match subscriptions expire while continuing to get the same functionality, and should see no changes.
iTunes Match users who are not Apple Music subscribers will need to continue to pay for iTunes Match. Apple Music subscribers will know if they have access to iTunes Match because there will be a "Matched" label in the iCloud Status of iTunes on the Mac.
Users who had songs matched incorrectly via iTunes Match will see their songs rematched to the correct song thanks to the changes that Apple has implemented, and no downloaded copies of songs will be deleted.
Apple is gradually rolling out access to iTunes Match, switching one to two percent of Apple Music subscribers over to the new version each day. The rollout will take some time, and Apple is monitoring the process to make sure there are no issues.
To make sure songs are correctly matched, Apple is now using iTunes Match audio fingerprint for Apple Music, a more accurate matching method than the metadata matching that was previously employed. Apple Music matching now also offers up DRM-free music files, just like iTunes Match.
Apple has been quietly rolling out iTunes Match audio fingerprint to all Apple Music subscribers. Previously Apple was using a less accurate metadata version of iTunes Match on Apple Music, which wouldn't always match the correct version of a particular song. We've all seen the stories of a live version of a song being replaced by a studio version, etc.According to The Loop, the version of iTunes Match that is now available to Apple Music subscribers is actually the same iTunes Match service that iTunes users have been paying for as a separate subscription, with all Apple Music subscribers now eligible to use the full version of iTunes Match at no cost. Confusingly, while Apple Music had song matching available previously, it was not the same service that was offered through iTunes Match.
Using iTunes Match with audio fingerprint, those problems should be a thing of the past.
Current Apple Music and iTunes Match subscribers can let their iTunes Match subscriptions expire while continuing to get the same functionality, and should see no changes.
iTunes Match users who are not Apple Music subscribers will need to continue to pay for iTunes Match. Apple Music subscribers will know if they have access to iTunes Match because there will be a "Matched" label in the iCloud Status of iTunes on the Mac.
Users who had songs matched incorrectly via iTunes Match will see their songs rematched to the correct song thanks to the changes that Apple has implemented, and no downloaded copies of songs will be deleted.
Apple is gradually rolling out access to iTunes Match, switching one to two percent of Apple Music subscribers over to the new version each day. The rollout will take some time, and Apple is monitoring the process to make sure there are no issues.
Tags: iTunes Match, Apple Music Guide
[ 112 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
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40 months ago
Well it took long enough. Here's to them fixing the Safari freeze issues on El Capitan sometime this year as well.
They did. It's called uninstall_flash_player_osx.dmg ('https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/support/uninstall_flash_player_osx.dmg') :cool:
40 months ago
Still not going to use it, or Apple Music for that matter.
Spotify won the streaming wars!
I keep my music in Finder, screw iTunes Bloatware
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So just to make sure... this means I can cancel my Match membership as I'm a Music subscriber?
Seems that way... I'd like to know for sure too.
40 months ago
iTunes Match and Apple Music have ruined my perfectly put together library. Just the other night I was listing to Maroon 5 (don't judge) but it showed an album cover for a completely different artist. -__-
40 months ago
Too bad the "audio fingerprint" system they use also completely sucks. I've had iTunes Match since day 1 and have approx 4,000 albums matched. Over 80% of those albums are what I call "mixed," in that some tracks were matched, and some were uploaded. In many cases, this is not a big deal. In other cases, the "matched" tracks are remastered, while the "uploaded" tracks are not. Listening to one of these albums, half the tracks are at a different volume level and/or contain unwanted fiddling that comes with newer remasters. Apple completely dropped the ball and it doesn't sound like this new fix will really fix much at all.
40 months ago
To folks that have iTunes Match:
Does it still have issues matching the right versions of songs? E.g., explicit vs clean, compilation vs album, b-sides vs album, live recordings, etc.?
Does it still have issues matching the right versions of songs? E.g., explicit vs clean, compilation vs album, b-sides vs album, live recordings, etc.?
40 months ago
As both an Apple Music and iTunes Match subscriber, it appears iTunes Match has now disappeared from my Subscriptions page, which is awesome news.
Thank you Apple for simplifying and streamlining your services, and at the same time cutting costs for the consumer!
Thank you Apple for simplifying and streamlining your services, and at the same time cutting costs for the consumer!
40 months ago
Hopfully this will help provide clarity. From MacWorld's article:
What does this mean for you?
Having both services use the same matching method should improving matching and hopefully making your iTunes library less cloudy. More specifically:
* You don’t use iCloud Music Library: Nothing to see here, move along. You keep playing your music as before.
* You subscribe to iTunes Match subscription, and not to Apple Music:Nothing changes. Your life goes on as normal, and you continue paying $25 a year to have your music (up to 100,000 tracks) in the cloud.
* You have both iTunes Match and Apple Music subscriptions: You can turn off auto-renew for iTunes Match. You won’t need iTunes Match any more, since Apple Music will now match using acoustic fingerprinting, and your files won’t have DRM if you download them on another device. Go into your account in the iTunes Store (Account > View My Account), then go to iTunes in the Cloud > iTune Match, and click Turn Off Automatic Renewal.
* You subscribe only to Apple Music: You won’t notice much of a change. The only difference will be that new matched tracks will have an iCloud Status of Matched, rather than Apple Music, and they won’t have DRM. You can force older downloaded tracks to change their status by deleting the local copies and re-downloading them; iTunes won’t automatically do this for you. And you can play these matched tracks on any device, even one that doesn’t have an Apple Music subscription or isn’t signed into Apple Music. Note that tracks you add from Apple Music to your library still have DRM; this change only affects tracks that are matched from music you own.
Also, if you are an Apple Music subscriber, then you won’t be able to subscribe to iTunes Match any more; which makes sense, since you won’t need it.
Full article here ('http://www.macworld.com/article/3093473/streaming-services/apple-improves-icloud-music-library-matching-ditches-drm-files-for-apple-music.html').
What does this mean for you?
Having both services use the same matching method should improving matching and hopefully making your iTunes library less cloudy. More specifically:
* You don’t use iCloud Music Library: Nothing to see here, move along. You keep playing your music as before.
* You subscribe to iTunes Match subscription, and not to Apple Music:Nothing changes. Your life goes on as normal, and you continue paying $25 a year to have your music (up to 100,000 tracks) in the cloud.
* You have both iTunes Match and Apple Music subscriptions: You can turn off auto-renew for iTunes Match. You won’t need iTunes Match any more, since Apple Music will now match using acoustic fingerprinting, and your files won’t have DRM if you download them on another device. Go into your account in the iTunes Store (Account > View My Account), then go to iTunes in the Cloud > iTune Match, and click Turn Off Automatic Renewal.
* You subscribe only to Apple Music: You won’t notice much of a change. The only difference will be that new matched tracks will have an iCloud Status of Matched, rather than Apple Music, and they won’t have DRM. You can force older downloaded tracks to change their status by deleting the local copies and re-downloading them; iTunes won’t automatically do this for you. And you can play these matched tracks on any device, even one that doesn’t have an Apple Music subscription or isn’t signed into Apple Music. Note that tracks you add from Apple Music to your library still have DRM; this change only affects tracks that are matched from music you own.
Also, if you are an Apple Music subscriber, then you won’t be able to subscribe to iTunes Match any more; which makes sense, since you won’t need it.
Full article here ('http://www.macworld.com/article/3093473/streaming-services/apple-improves-icloud-music-library-matching-ditches-drm-files-for-apple-music.html').
40 months ago
If Apple is rolling this fix out anyway, wouldn't u actually want Apple to delete downloaded stuff ? Because the music u would have made offline before this time would be incorrect anyway, so a refresh would be needed after it correct matches it.
Tue, but u need to subscribe to both for DRM-free matched
iTunes Match is still a separate service... If u subscribe to AM, u will not automatically get iTunes Match and visa versa. and must turn off auto renew on each one u don''t want to renew as well.
$9.95 per month (119.40 per year)+ $25 a year for iTunes Match = $144.40
The front page article states this:
"Apple Music matching now also offers up DRM-free music files, just like iTunes Match. "
So I'm reading this as if you subscribe to Apple Music, iTunes Match (and ALL of it's features including DRM free matching) is included.
40 months ago
iTunes Match and Apple Music have ruined my perfectly put together library. Just the other night I was listing to Maroon 5 (don't judge) but it showed an album cover for a completely different artist. -__-
My album art is totally buggered, half the content of an album has one cover and the other half another. I have one album that has 5 different album covers associated with it.
It's a mess!
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