The Great iTunes Match Runaround
November 17th, 2011As you read in yesterday’s column, I’ve been unable to activate iTunes Match on an iPhone 4, running iOS 5.0.1. Each time I try to switch it on under the Music settings, I’m warned that “This Device Is Already Associated With an Apple ID.” I’m warned that I can only change Apple IDs once every 90 days, and when I click the OK button on the prompt, I’m taken to a browser window within the App Store, where the function to “Add This Computer” won’t accept a tap.
Now the message implies that I’ve used a different Apple ID for that iPhone within that 90 day window. Evidently this is a hard-coded block put there by Apple to — what? — keep you from accidentally or deliberately using your iOS device with different Apple IDs? Surely that can’t be the only reason.
For me, this complicated situation began with a request for help from Apple’s Express Lane chat support center, which is available for iCloud users. I had run into that “Already Associated” block when I first tried to use iTunes Match on my iPhone. The support person returned me to the Mac, where I was asked to remove my iCloud username, which was simply the original MobileMe account ID, and enter my iTunes Apple ID instead. Understand that the latter ID was established years ago, and has been used for all my Apple gear.
In turn, the 40GB online storage — a bone, evidently, offered to paid MobileMe subscribers — shrunk to the standard allotment of 5GB. And, no, there’s no way to transfer the storage, or, as I said, combine the accounts. Some time back, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company was looking into the problem, but evidently they have to do a lot more looking before a solution is at hand.
Anyway, it turned out that my 2009 iMac, 2010 17-inch MacBook Pro, and an iPad 2, were all set up with my iTunes ID, and thus were able to retrieve my cloud-based music. That’s the good part. But the iPhone still hit me with that inscrutable message whenever I tried to activate iTunes Match. Indeed, the message frequently repeated itself simply by unlocking the iPhone and clicking on any app, including Mail, which had to access an Apple account of one sort or another.
My subsequent efforts to straighten things out resulted in several support hand-offs. iCloud support said go to iTunes, which only offers email help if you can’t find any relief in Apple’s online document collection. In turn, iTunes support said go back to iCloud, so I set up yet another Express Lane chat. There I was told the iTunes people got it wrong, but they evidently got someone from that department on the line to assist further. Between chat sessions, and awaiting iTunes email responses, I had used the Reset and Restore feature to clean things up on the iPhone without success.
Are you with me so far? It is exhausting.
The iCloud support person’s solution was to ask me to call Apple for help. Once phone support was alerted to my problem, they agreed not to exact a $49 fee for support (that particular iPhone doesn’t have AppleCare). Their solution involved doing a “full” Restore, meaning that I would be basically setting up the thing from scratch, without using a backup from which to gather old settings and apps.
The upshot? Well, after undergoing this entire process, I set up the unit for my Apple ID, and iCloud, with fingers crossed. Once again, the dreaded message reared its ugly head, this time because, for some reason, the newly wiped iPhone 4 “thought” that it had been set up with my MobileMe ID. The Apple rep said that, if nothing changed, I’d have to wait the required 90 period to set things right.
Now willing to take no for an answer, I wrote to iTunes support yet again, demanding a solution, since the Apple ID mixup on the iPhone occurred as the result of following their advice, not as the result of my attempts to troubleshoot. Within a few hours, I was assured that the iPhone had been removed as a device on my accounts, though I suspect they forgot that I had two, as you’ll see shortly.
Not willing to take chances, I did yet another Restore, though this time I used a recent backup so I wouldn’t have to endure another complete setup process. At the same time, I rejoined iCloud with my iTunes ID.
Now came the acid test, as I attempted to link the iPhone to the iTunes Match account. As you might have guessed, there was no change whatever. The problem was still there. I checked the MobileMe ID, and no devices were associated with it, so I’m back at square one, hoping Apple will devise a workable solution in my lifetime.
Meantime, that other iTunes Match defect I encountered, in which a small number of songs from an imported album weren’t matched while most were, is nothing unusual. I’ve done a little checking, and it appears this symptom is not at all unusual. Evidently the iTunes Match database needs some work, but I do hope the Update iTunes Match feature in iTunes will be sufficient to fix the problem once everything is working properly. I hate to think one might have to remove and re-add a music library from scratch to set things right.
But that’s enough for today. I definitely need some rest.
Print This Post
What he said!
Me too!
Larry
Meanwhile, Google’s Cloud stuff just works…
Seems iCloud is a bit overcast today.
Spent a good deal of time on support with the iPhone group regarding this exact issue. They interfaced with the iTunes group and determined that they can not change the ID lock out period and that I have to wait it out.
@Me, That’s where it stands for me so far. But since it was their fault that this got messed up, you’d think they’d make an exception. Besides, the very policy is downright absurd.
Well, the 90 day ID switch thing was made to keep people from logging in as their friends, authorizing their computers and downloading all of their paid apps. So I understand the logic behind that.
The problem is they didn’t explain how accounts should be setup during the iCloud phase of iOS 5. I had to switch the account associated with my iPhone then because I made the mistake of using my iTunes account with iCloud. Once I switched iCloud to my MobileMe, I doomed iTunes Match to not work for two months on my phone.
It’s Apple’s fault for making iCloud confusing but unfortunately, they haven’t figured out how to deal with the problem they created. It sucks but it is what it is.
@Me, I suppose paranoia might reign supreme. On the other hand, they need to allow an occasional exception for a mistake. Simple as that. Besides, how often would this be happening in the real world, except for a small number of people?
Peace,
Gene
@Gene Steinberg, they claimed through two separate service reps through iTunes that they were trying to manually reset the count on my phone for days left and couldn’t. Why they would lie about that twice is beyond me. I have to take them at their word.
I think what it comes down to is that when you release services like this on the scale that they did, there’s no way to test for a million people. It’s just impossible.
Their failure was is not straightening out the dual Apple ID situation before launching the service. The information available when iCloud launched was horrible and they setup even more confusion with iTunes Match.
It probably would have made sense to NOT put an ID restriction on their devices AS THEY LAUNCHED TWO SEPARATE ID DRIVEN SERVICES. Why lock your users into config hell at launch? Patch it six months from now when everything is running.
That was the short sighted part, IMHO.
Same exact thing is happening to me, I have a previous MobileMe account and an iTunes purchasing account I had before MobileMe. I feel as though I’m being unfairly punished for purchasing Apple services. All the reps I’ve talked to don’t even have a clue what iTunes Match even is and ask me if it’s an app to which I kindly explain the premise of their own service to them. I really think a one time exception to switch the account should be allowed or some kind of workaround. Not everyone is trying to steal apps, Apple, some of us just want to use your services.