"Fix Incorrect Match" AKA "force upload" option

[jrc1991]

Ok, so this have been an on going issue since iTunes Match launch back in 2011, and still persists on Apple Music today. Google Music and Amazon Music have this option. Have sent feedback through the years to Apple, but to no avail.

 

As we all know, iTunes Match/Apple Music have matching issues when comes to different remasters. (i.e a new remastered release matches against the old one instead of upload, which cause quality and volume inconsistencies between tracks). Hence the request and the thread title.

 

 

As a collector of limited and remastered film scores editions (i.e from Intrada and La-la-land), this affect me deeply, and makes very hard to enjoy iCloud Music Library.

 

 

Any workaround to force upload of songs?

 

Thank you, and excuse my English.

[jrc1991]

Certainly this is nothing Apple hasn't heard before. A Google search on how to overcome this indicates that many support requests have been made, but I'll add my considerably insignificant weight behind the request, too.

 

 

 

Like I said, this problem is biggest in the area of remastered albums. I'm a soundtrack collector and in recent years, many older soundtrack releases have been re-released with previously missing tracks restored, alternate versions of tracks available, and all the material remastered from original recording elements. These are albums that are limited editions, with sometimes as few as 1,000 copies pressed. On these discs will be remastered tracks that were available on the original albums, as well, but with vastly superior sound. These tracks are matched using acoustic fingerprinting and the fingerprints are similar enough to the Apple algorithms, that they are mistaken for a match to the inferior product in Apple's catalogs. Therefore, the tracks aren't uploaded, and any time I attempt to play the music from a device other than the iTunes computer sitting under my office desk, it streams the original master. This is especially annoying when it's peppered amongst the new unmatched material, leading to a grossly spotty listening experience.

 

 

 

I understand that Apple doesn't want to waste space on its servers with umpteen hundred thousand copies of the same song it's got in its massive library. And that providing a force upload feature might encourage people to upload a bunch of stuff that really IS a match for something they already have stored. But I think that the problem affects enough people who collect alternate versions of popular music (remastered, live, alternate takes, etc.) that the option for forced uploading should be part of the product. MANY people are annoyed by this.

[jrc1991]

Some examples:

 

Ben-Hur FSM soundtrack box set (2012), matched against Rhino 1996 release, instead of upload. Terrible, sound quality difference is abysmal.

 

La-la-land expanded Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions scores,; few tracks matched against original releases, causing quality issues and inconsistencies during playback from the cloud.

 

Intrada expanded and remastered dick tracy score: All tracks from the original album matched against the original 1990 release on the iTunes Store.

 

Again, same tracks but different remasters; huge difference in quality playback.

 

This is a serious issue.

 

A "Fix Incorrect Match" option, like Google Music have, would solve this in a minute.

[kirkmc]

The only thing you can do is remove the songs from your library, give iTunes time to resync, then re-add them. I've heard from some people who told me that songs that weren't matched before are now matching with the latest iTunes update.

[jrc1991]

But my problem it´s exactly the opposite. iTunes it´s matching them (with a different remaster present in the store , hence the issue ), and, therefore, I want them to be uploaded.

[kirkmc]

Ah, right, mis-matches. Unfortunately, you are, as they say, screwed.

[jrc1991]

Oh well, just like I thought. Since both Amazon and Google have a "fix incorrect match " option, don't know why Apple can't offer this as well.

 

Feedback sent, in any case.

[jrc1991]

Thank you very much for your time, Kirk. At least they are the correct songs (thanks to acoustic fingerprint algorithm, I suppose), but I guess that different remasters is a very subtle thing for it to note it.

[kirkmc]

Digital remasters should be "different." The audio is different enough that I would expect it to be differentiable. Unless the remaster simply has volume changes, rather than changes to the mix, in which case I doubt that audio fingerprinting notes any difference (since you could have manually changed the gain on a file). But iTunes Match also mixes up live and studio versions of songs, which suggests that it's not just digital fingerprinting, or perhaps these are problems in the iTunes backend database.