Bad iTunes Match, NO, BAD, DON'T DO THAT!
December 30, 2015 6:03 AM   Subscribe

Finally signed up for iTunes Match, enabled it on my 32gb phone and now music is downloading to my phone. It's eaten all my remaining space and when I deleted 2 gbs, MORE music started downloading to my phone to fill up the remaining space. How do I get this to stop and make the music (via song or album)available for download, without actually downloading it? NOTE: I do not have Apple music, just iTunes Match.

I thought iTunes Match would make all my music available, meaning I'd have the option to download tracks from the cloud. But it seems to downloading music to fill up any remaining space, which just isn't tenable, since I only have a 32gb phone and 60gb music library.

Is there a way to make the music (via song or album)available for download, without actually downloading it? The ideal method would be able to see the a list of all my music on my phone and then have the option to download selected tracks or playlist or albums.

If you say "buy a new iPhone" I will think bad thoughts about your new haircut.
posted by Brandon Blatcher to Computers & Internet (16 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
There is a way to cancel all the downloads but I'm not certain there is a way to leave them all in the cloud. This thread seems to indicate that it's not possible and offers some playlist-based workarounds to only get some music on your phone.
posted by jessamyn at 6:17 AM on December 30, 2015


Check Settings --> iTunes & App Stores and see if the Automatic Downloads for Music is on?
posted by dpx.mfx at 6:20 AM on December 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: There is a way to cancel all the downloads but I'm not certain there is a way to leave them all in the cloud

Ok, but I thought that was the whole point of iTunes Match, to store your music in the cloud and then have the ability to play it on all your devices, even those that don't have the capacity to store ALL your music?



Check Settings --> iTunes & App Stores and see if the Automatic Downloads for Music is on?


Nope, that's not on.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:57 AM on December 30, 2015


You are correct in you understanding of how Match should work: the music lives in the cloud, and will be downloaded to your phone on demand. On my iOS devices downloading only happens when I choose the specific songs, artists or playlists. As to why it's downloading all your music, that's a mystery to me. Could you have a very large playlist that you inadvertently downloaded?

Apple telephone support covers Match. Sounds like a call would help.
posted by nandaro at 7:29 AM on December 30, 2015


doesn't this comment in jessamyn's linked thread explain what to do? you turn match off on your phone and the music will be downloaded only when you want to listen to it. i think?
posted by andrewcooke at 7:34 AM on December 30, 2015


Response by poster: doesn't this comment in jessamyn's linked thread explain what to do?

Yes, but it doesn't work. I have iTunes Match off now and even used the storage options to delete all the music on my phone, since it now has zero space left. So that freed up 4.5 gigs. But now the phone is back to downloading music again, eating up space. When I look at the music link, some songs are greyed out, some aren't. Click on the greyed out songs produces a message saying "this song can't be played right now." The non greyed out songs can be played. Here's an image of what I'm seeing.

Could you have a very large playlist that you inadvertently downloaded?

No, but do have a lot of cd length playlists, maybe that's it?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:51 AM on December 30, 2015


My understanding is that iTunes should be backing up to the cloud, then showing up on your phone. The thing I haven't seen metioned is go to Settings - Music - iCloud Music Library to ON. (Is that currently off? Does that fix it?)

You can see your "Itunes in the cloud" devices on your phone by going to Music - your little face or icon in the top left to get to your account, View Apple ID. On iTunes - go to your icon by the search bar or under the menu item Store and then View Account. Maybe remove your device, update your iCloud settings, and re-add your device.

But yeah, those are my settings and it shows the little cloud with an arrow for everything I haven't downloaded to the device.
posted by Crystalinne at 1:03 PM on December 30, 2015


I'm totally guessing here and can't check, but I seem to recall in iTunes, when you sync up, there is a checkbox you can tick that's something like "fill available space with music". Could that box have gotten clicked?
posted by Lucinda at 4:56 PM on December 30, 2015


Response by poster: . The thing I haven't seen metioned is go to Settings - Music - iCloud Music Library to ON. (Is that currently off? Does that fix it?)

Oh yeah, that's what I did at first and that's when all the mad downloading started happening.

I'm totally guessing here and can't check, but I seem to recall in iTunes, when you sync up, there is a checkbox you can tick that's something like "fill available space with music".

Nope, it's off, been off, always hated that option.

At the moment, I've turned off iTunes Match on the phone and deleted all them music off it. Today was a crazy day otherwise, so haven't had time to investigate this further. But thank you everyone for all the suggestions! Hopefully I'll have time to look at this further on tomorrow or New Year's Day.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:04 PM on December 30, 2015


I've been an iTunes Match subscriber for like a year or so and haven't had the behavior you're experiencing.
posted by reddot at 4:25 PM on January 1, 2016


Response by poster: Ok, then how does it work for you?

I turned it back on yesterday, 244 songs were downloaded and that's it. Greyed out songs in the iPhone list don't download when clicked on. Once the holidays are over, might call tech support.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:46 PM on January 1, 2016


Partner's phone just started doing this (and he's had Match for months, no change is settings). Did you ever figure out what happened?
posted by platypus of the universe at 7:36 PM on January 2, 2016


Response by poster: Try this list of possible remedies.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:16 AM on January 7, 2016


Response by poster: Here's the fix for the phone downloading songs and eating up all space:

Turn off iTunes match in iTunes.
Turn off iTunes match on the iPhone.
Close iTunes and reopen.
Connect your iPhone.
Go into your music folder for the iPhone and delete all the songs.
Turn back on iTunes match in iTunes
Turn back on iTunes match on the iPhone
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:47 PM on January 7, 2016


Response by poster: Ah, finally solved it!

I deleted all the music off my phone via Settings>General>Storage & iCloud Storage> Manage Storage (for Storage, not iCloud)>Music. Once in that preference, I just deleted all music on the phone. Then I turned off iCloud Music on the phone. Then I rebooted the phone. Then I plugged it into iTunes and TURNED OFF syncing off music to the phone in iTunes and synced phone.
Rebooted phone again.
Once rebooted and making sure not music was on the phone, then i turned on iCloud Music back on. Boom, everything worked now, all the music and playlists from iTunes appeared and nothing was greyed out.

I suspect it was the syncing music to the phone via iTunes that was confusing things. Now if I want music on the phone, I'll just download it via the download function in the Music App on the phone.

Hope this helps someone!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:09 PM on January 9, 2016


Response by poster: Also, extra bonus for freeing up gigs of space on the phone!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:14 PM on January 9, 2016


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