Apple Music songs merge with uploaded copies instead of matching them.

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Level 1

4 points

Apple Music songs merge with uploaded copies instead of matching them.

I’m trying to move all of my Apple Music songs into Matched versions so I can upload them to my iPod and use it continuously with my iPhone. Some albums will recognize the metadata and combine themselves with my Apple Music copy. So instead of showing 2 Lemonades - Beyoncé it shows one with the same number of songs, and a cloud status of waiting. However, then when synced it'll have a few songs that won't Match correctly but are still merged with my Apple Music Copy which means my Play Count is still there.

Why does Apple Music understand that it's the same song but is still not matching them? Is there a way I can make it match correctly, or separate the uploaded version from my Apple Music Copy so I can keep my play count and try again with a different MP3 of the song?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.1

Posted on Aug 9, 2024 9:42 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 10, 2024 1:43 AM in response to Act_True

Hi,

If you have two versions of the same song, you will not be able add the second one to your iCloud music library. The second one will have a iCloud status of “Waiting”.

If the uploaded track was previously purchased, is it available to re-download from purchased. I understand that uploaded tracks don’t include lyrics!

Jim

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Answer 2

Act_True Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 11, 2024 2:58 PM in response to Jimzgoldfinch

What are you talking about???

On a perfect scenario which has happened. I upload a .M4A copy an existing Apple Music Album. It doesn’t even show a new album, or duplicate songs grouped in the same album. It shows the same songs but the difference is Now i can copy it to my iPod and it shows it’s been downloaded. Then I tell it to Update My Cloud Library, and the cloud status changed from Waiting to Matched.

The problem is this doesn’t happen everytime. One of the steps happens differently and it the outcome is a little different everytime.

Sometimes Song appears in the same album as a different track, but merges when uploaded, then matches.

Sometimes only most of the songs match and few won’t

THIS is the problem. It was almost every album. They have a few songs that wouldn’t match correctly.

Not only this, some have Merged with my Apple music copy but haven’t matched so they have my Play Count.

So either

A. How can I properly match the song

B. How can I unlink .m4a/.mp3 of the song, so I can try it again with a different song file.

From what I can tell, the only way to unlink the song is to Delete it from my library which erases both songs and wipes my Play count.

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Answer 3

Aug 12, 2024 12:25 AM in response to Act_True

Hi,

Your best option is, If you have tracks downloaded from Apple Music subscription, you should delete them and replace them with new non protected versions. You will lose play count on the deleted tracks

Generally the matching process works well but as you have found out that matching does not go as expected especially when you already have versions of specific tracks in your library.

An option is keep the additional tracks and make sure that the metadata is the same. The tracks that have been matched/ uploaded or waiting will be added to your iPod. Personally I have not had Apple Music tracks merged with newly added M4a or mp3 tracks.

Jim

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