[seefilms]

From my understanding there is supposed to be a fairly major update of iTunes coming in November....

I would think it possible that it may address these issues. NO?

[Cleosome]

I've been an iTunes Match user for the last year, and I use it quite a bit. I have multiple laptops and iOS devices. I never encountered the issues you describe.

[Cleosome]

Quote

iTunes Match is never dependably available.

Sounds like you need to talk to your Internet service provider.

[gh3rox]

I kinda liked the service I didn't notice any problems in my music, but I do feel sorry for others who think that this is not that good. Also one weird thing that is happening to me that is actually "Really" weird is that I can still use the service although I didn't renew.

[Batmanian]

A great service when it works, not so when it doesn't.

I've noticed it has become increasingly unstable with every OS upgrade, with either iOS or OSX. Having a large library cripples spotlight on iOS, too.

[Eggman]

Bit late to the party... But I don't see anyone pointing out that iTunes Match does not work well with car stereos that connect via the iPod connector and allow the iPod UI to control the music (instead of the controls on the car stereo). I sub'd to Match before a road trip so I could have my music with me. But the car stereo, a two year old JVC that worked great in iPod mode before match, failed to see anything on the iPod at all. It doesn't seem to understand the notion of the music being I the cloud and only virtually represented n the device.

Also it is painfully slow. My iPhone music app can take up to 30 seconds Thor the UI to become responsive when loading. And frequently just hangs while music continues to play... I can't select another song until it becomes unstuck and responds to input again.

It's a gat idea.. I have multiple ios devices and Mac desktops and laptops. But it badly needs fixing.

[Scottb747]

I had a problem when I created a playlist on my AppleTV. ITunes Match made an infinite playlist and it locked up my computer every time I opened iTunes. After numerous calls to support it was never fixed. I was reluctantly given a refund.

[Scottb747]

I had a problem when I created a playlist on an Apple TV. iTunes Match made the playlist infinite. Every time I opened iTunes it would try to download that playlist locking up my computer. After numerous calls to support and trips to the Genius Bar no one could fix it. I had to turn off iTunes Match. Apple reluctantly refunded my $25.00 and told me that I could not sign up again for a minimum of one year.

[geofffitch58]

Like Toon61 noted, there are serious reliability and robustness problems with the matching and uploading process. I am surprised the author didn't address this. There are hundreds of people posting on the forums about these issues. I subscribe to it, but find barely useable and frequently leave it turned off for months when I add songs to my library that cause it to hand/crash/restart during the uploading/matching process.

Unfortunately, we are in a world of cloud-based services and Apple really shows its weaknesses here. iTunes Match, iMessage, iOS Maps, Calendar sync, etc. all demonstrate that these types of services are really problematic for Apple. And when user data (e.g., purchased media) is not reliably cared for as it is in this instance, in a paid for service, with no response from the company for months? The only reason they get away with it is monopolistic power. (Who is going to quite iTunes?)

Alternatively, I've been dealing with similar kinds of problems with Calendar sync'ing with Google calendar - Google is making improvements daily with the issue, with Google employees responding to user questions on the forums, giving updates on the problem, etc.