SpaceGhost Posted December 17, 2011 Report Share Posted December 17, 2011 I have been downloading iTunes music for 10 or 11 years and a lot of my purchases were early purchases when it was 128K DRM files. Also I had a bunch of CD's I ripped at the same rate, not to mention those CD had some pretty good scratches, and when ripped, produced some shitty M4As. So if you pay the $25 for a year of iTunes Match, you can do a smart playlist and find all these files and delete them then redownload them from Apple in a perfect 256Kb DRM free version. I was able to replace 1500+ files for $25, if I paid the $.30 per file Apple was offering before iTunes Match it would have cost me $450+. So Just wanted to pass this along. http://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/15/quickly-upgrade-all-itunes-matched-songs-to-256kbps/ The first thing many iTunes Match users will want to do upon purchasing the service is to upgrade all their matched music to the 256Kbps. Unfortunately, there is no push-button ability to do this, but it is possible with a few simple steps -- but make sure you've already turned iTunes Match on and it has finished running its initial match. From Macworld: Make a Smart Playlist Create a Smart Playlist with the following attributes: - Bit Rate is less than 256kbps - Media Kind is Music - Any of the following are true: (to create this conditional, option-click on the plus button in the Smart Playlist window) iCloud status is Matched, iCloud status is Purchased. http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2011/11/smartplay3-262656-500x235.jpg This creates a list of all your low-bit-rate files that are upgradeable—namely, ones iTunes Match has deemed Matched or Purchased. Once the smart playlist is created, select all the files by pressing Command-A or going to the Edit Menu and choosing "Select All." Then, press Option-Delete to remove all the songs from iTunes -- however, make sure not to select the box that removes the songs from iCloud. We only want to remove the local, lower quality sound files. When iTunes asks, select to move the files to the trash. Finally, make sure that all the songs remain selected and right- or control-click any song and choose Download. This will start the long (depending on how many songs there are, possibly very long) downloading process. iTunes only downloads 3 items at one time, but Apple's iTunes servers are generally very responsive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airwg2189 Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Hi Ben, I know they advertise DRM-free files, but REALLY how DRM-free are they? I've heard conflicting stories that you don't actually get the 'physical' 256k file, but rather, just get to stream it whenever you feel like. Is this true? $25 would be worth updating my iPod from 128k/192k to 256k, but not JUST for streaming ability. I wanna take it on the road too... even with 3G, I don't have a 120GB iPod for nothing. "You also have the option of downloading and playing music via your 3G connection or only Wi-Fi. And for people who purchased or ripped songs at a low quality, iTunes Match will automatically match your music with a higher-quality 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free format." Has me worried. Have you been happy with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Yes and you do not stream, you do as you listen The first time, at the same time you download. When you get the 256kb file you dowload them all right to the harddrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airwg2189 Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Awesome, purchasing now. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 I mean it's $25, for one year, it's not like a contract you are stuck in. Just make sure all your music is downloaded to your HD then do a backup. If you don't pay next year you still have all your music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 http://gallery.me.com/bbotte/100023/ScreenShot%20/web.png Screen shot of a CD I ripped into iTunes long ago, you can see in the info the file was last created/modified the day I upgraded to iTunes Match shortly before the time stamp on my original post, and you can see the entire CD lives on my HD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murse Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 I absolutely love Match, I now can listen to whatever I want versus just the music I had sank to my phone. My only issue is that a few songs that apple has on their server are edited versions of what I have. So I end up listening too edited versions on my phone, which really sucks since its not a whole album it's just one song here and there. Yelawolf "the last song" on my PC is correct but on my phone is edited Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 hmmm, I haven't noticed anything like that yet. Hmm I'll keep an ear out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murse Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 I read somewhere that it's not just me and is a problem on Apples side. Hopefully they are working on a fix, or even an option to upload our own file even if it's already on their server that way it would be the unedited version. Someone also suggested changing the metadata on it and seeing if match would upload the changed file thinking it was a completely different song. I haven't tried it as well as heard that it worked for anyone else. I guess I'll just have to wait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airwg2189 Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 This is good stuff Ben. I hope they were able to upgrade your Kermit the Frog collection to 256kbs as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 That's the soundtrack to the new Muppets Movie so it's new, my daughter loved it and listens to the album all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airwg2189 Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 BUT IS IT IN 256KBS? LIKE THE REST OF MY IPOD NOW THANKS TO YOU? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radio Flyer1647545514 Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 If you are ripping CD's change your format to Apple Lossless. It's not quite FLAC but it's damn good and it only takes up about a 1/4 of the space as FLAC. All of your CD's should come in around 800-900k on average for each song. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 BUT IS IT IN 256KBS? LIKE THE REST OF MY IPOD NOW THANKS TO YOU? I would think so I bought it and downloaded it from iTunes a day or two before I signed up for match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 If you are ripping CD's change your format to Apple Lossless. It's not quite FLAC but it's damn good and it only takes up about a 1/4 of the space as FLAC. All of your CD's should come in around 800-900k on average for each song. I know, I ripped my CDs ten years ago before they offered lossless in iTunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murse Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 I wish iTunes could read flac files Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragknee66 Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 Did they update kermit the frog too :lolguy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.