Tuesday, March 3, 2015

How iTunes Match does (or does not) sync Video Playlists to iPhone, iPod, and iPad



When Apple first introduced iTunes Match in 2011, everyone was excited: Eventually there was an easy way of getting all those iTunes media files to synchronize between all your Macs, PCs, iPhones, iPods, and iPads seamlessly via iCloud! But after a few days of using it it became obvious that there were some very annoying drawbacks and restrictions. And many of them do still exist today.

iTunes Match works best when used with music files (audio and music videos) purchased at Apples iTunes Store. It does not feel quite as comfortable with oder media kinds, especially videos. It works even worse with playlists. And it (almost) refuses to operate on media not available from the iTunes Store.

So the ultimate challenge for the media enthusiast these days is to get this playlist of home videos synced from iTunes to the iPhone via iCloud! And I will try to show you in this post how this can be achieved.

So lets start with the facts I found out during my research about playlists and videos in the realm of iTunes Match and iCloud. All these findings are based on iTunes 12.1 on OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.1.3 on iPod Touch 5g. There's no warranty that all or only some of these findings can be reproduced by everyone with the same or different hardware and software configuration:


Finding 1: There's almost no official documentation

You can check which media types iTunes Match will sync in your country at all. And somewhere in the F.A.Q-section of this page you will find the statement, that "playlists with videos, voice memos, or PDF files will not sync."
That's it! And it's not even half of the truth, as we will see later.

Finding 2: iTunes Match behaves different on an iOS device and on iTunes 

When you turn on iTunes Match in iTunes on your PC or Mac, it is still possible to select videos and playlists for local synchronization to your iOS device. iTunes will even try to tell you that these playlists are there:



BUT: When you turn on iTunes Match on an iOS device, only the videos are available in the original iOS Video or Music App - The playlists are not! 
The reason: When iTunes Match is turned on on an iOS device, this device will show only playlists available on iCloud. So in order to make some playlists appear on your device at all, you must have iTunes Match enabled on at least one of your desktop computers. Then you can check in iTunes easily if a playlist synced or not:


When the cloud symbol is struck through, the item is not on iCloud.


Finding 3: iTunes Match handles Music and Music Videos different from the Rest

Short side note: Everything just said above is not true for Music and Music Videos. These cannot be synced manually when iTunes Match is turned on on your iOS device:



Finding 4: iTunes Match will only sync media available from the iTunes Store

You will only get your media files into iCloud, if the iTunes Store offers them for sale in your country. It doesn't matter whether you purchased them from Apple or not. When iTunes Match is turned on, your media library will be scanned and iTunes tries to match each of your media files with the Store. It is Apple's secret how a match would be recognized. But you can definitely say that there is no chance to ever get any of your home made videos into iCloud. You will have to sync all of these files locally from your computer to your iOS device.
Whether a playlist is synced to iCloud depends on the playlist type and sync status of the items it contains. Details will be discussed in Finding 7.

Finding 5: It's cumbersome to check your iOS device for playlists synced to it

While you can use the native iOS Video App to check for all videos available on your device (whether from iCloud or not), this app will not reveal any of your playlists.
The native iOS Music App will show you all playlists available on your device. Remember that - as said in Finding 2 - all of these playlists reside on iCloud. You won't be able to access local playlists with iTunes Match turned on. While all playlists are listed here, only music and music video playlists can be played from the iOS Music App. All other playlists appear to be empty:



Use Joobik Player to view the content of all playlists and play them on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad:


In order for a playlist to appear in Joobik Player, the playlist itself must be synced to iCloud, but the media files must reside physically on your iOS device. I.e. if a playlist contains items from iCloud, at least one of these items must be downloaded from the cloud to your device using the native iOS Video or Music App. If a playlist contains items not available from iCloud, these items must be synced locally from iTunes to your iOS device. Detailed instructions on how to do this are given at the end of this post.

Finding 6: iTunes Match might not forget

When I turned on again iTunes Match on my iPod after several months of using only local synchronization, I was surprised to see appear several playlist that where not on my iTunes-Match-enabled Mac. The only explanation I see for this behaviour is that these lists must originate from an old computer, which I don't own anymore. So iTunes Match becomes even more confusing, when more than one Computer is involved in the synchronization pool. But this might be a topic for another blog post..


Finding 7: iTunes Match handles Smart Playlists different from ordinary Playlists

This is the most important finding because it will lead us to the solution of how to get complete playlists synced to an iOS device with iTunes Match turned on!
An ordinary playlist will sync to iCloud as long as it contains only tracks that sync to iCloud as well. So adding a single home video to an ordinary playlist will remove the whole list from the cloud in iTunes 12.
With Smart Playlists it's different: A Smart Playlist doesn't care about the iCloud status of the items it contains. A Smart Playlist containing only ineligible items will sync to iCloud anyway and, thus, appear on your iOS device as an empty playlist. A Smart Playlist becomes ineligible for iCloud sync only when you add the reference to another playlist to the smart playlist rules:



Putting it all toghether

When it's about music and music videos, you will depend on Apple's grace: Either they sync to iCloud or they don't. But all other media types can be tweaked by mixing iCloud Smart Playlists with files synchronized locally:

Create a smart playlist that syncs to iCloud as described in Finding 7. If you cannot find smart rules sufficient to group all desired tracks into one smart list, just create an ordinary playlist containing these tracks and add an unique tag to the comments field (or any other meta data field) of each of the tracks on this list:



Create a Smart Playlist referencing this unique tag:


Now the Smart Playlist itself will sync to iCloud, while the tracks will not:


Sync the Smart Playlist locally from iTunes to your iOS device:


Play the playlist with Joobik Player:



If you want to modify the iTunes Playlist on your iPhone or iPad, just copy it to a Joobik Playlist. With Joobik Playlists you can add, remove, and rearrange tracks.


46 comments:

  1. I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable. therefore, I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. TutuHelper

    ReplyDelete

  2. I pay a quick visit every day some web sites and blogs to read articles or reviews, but this blog offers quality based articles. netflix login member

    ReplyDelete
  3. I stumbled upon this blog with a host of new possibilities to explore. Thank you for the friendly in sharing. TutuaPp APK for android

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is very educational content and written well for a change. It's nice to see that some people still understand how to write a quality post! tutuvip

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am a music lover, so I wanted a quick fix for iTunes music library issue and it was a great relaxation to find an easy solution at iMentality.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I’m impressed, I must say. Actually rarely must i encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and without a doubt, you could have hit the nail around the head. Your notion is outstanding; the catch is an element that insufficient folks are speaking intelligently about. We are very happy i always came across this inside my search for something about it. final cut pro x 

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice Article Very Helpful ! Thanks for sharing ! Also check Tutuapp

    ReplyDelete
  8. There are some interesting points in time in this article but I don?t know if I see all of them center to heart. There is some validity but I will take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we want more! Added to Feed Burner as well.
    ​pandora no ads apk​

    ReplyDelete
  9. These are only few of the many inquiries we have with regard to this new innovation. In this article we will answer a portion of the basic questions about a tablet PC. document fill out

    ReplyDelete
  10. For AWS training in bangalore, Visit:
    AWS training in bangalore

    ReplyDelete
  11. Some of us may not know the importance of Artificial Intelligence in E-commerce store. This blog helps me to know the benefits of AI in the business. Great Work!
    Hire Web Developerc
    Hire Wordpress Programmer
    Hire PHP Developer India
    Mobile App Development India
    Hire Opencart Developer

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good Sound Advice for the developers who are looking to improve their performance of the business. Thanks for sharing this blog!
    Dedicated Magento Developer
    Hire Cake Php Programmer
    Hire Dedicated Laravel Developer
    Hire Phonegap Developer
    Hire Cake Php Developer

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you so much for posting this. I really appreciate your work. Keep it up. Great work!
    thanks for your details it's very use for my works web design company in velachery

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great blog thanks for sharing Buckle up for a ride that is going to be filled with SEO, Social media marketing, unique Graphic & Logo design and efficient ads strike the perfect chord! Join the Adhuntt Media adventure right at Adhuntt Media
    digital marketing company in chennai
    seo service in chennai
    web designing company in chennai
    social media marketing company in chennai

    ReplyDelete
  15. Nice blog thanks for sharing It’s time you got the number 1 gardening service in Chennai. Find exotic plants and aromatic flowers at the best price at Karuna Nursery Gardens - the home for high quality organic greenery.
    plant nursery in chennai
    rental plants in chennai
    corporate gardening service in chennai

    ReplyDelete
  16. I admire this article for the well-researched content and excellent wording. I got so involved in this material that I couldn’t stop reading. I am impressed with your work and skill. Thank you so much. free music player online

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous11:22 AM



    Tutu Helper is the one of the best ios,android App store to get the tons of free app and game. Here the latest version of TutuApp of free.
    Tutu Helper Apk
    TutuApp Apk
    pokemon go hack

    ReplyDelete

  18. Whatsapp plus is one of the best mod app for official whatsapp for free, get unlimited features of

    whatsapp plus for free. Here Click to download the latest version whatsapp plus apk.
    WhatsApp Plus
    Download WhatsApp Plus

    ReplyDelete
  19. Excellent Blog! I would like to thank for the efforts you have made in writing this post. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. I wanted to thank you for this websites! Thanks for sharing. Great website

    360 Digitmg Data-science course in chennai

    ReplyDelete
  20. Big data, as a term, was coined in the year 2005. Post the era when the internet was introduced to us, the general public had to take a moment to take in the magnitude of the internet. machine learning institute in hyderabad

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous9:46 AM

    Excellent blog thanks for sharing the valuable information.
    Are you planning to attend digital marketing interviews? Worrying about how to prepare for the interview, here is the list of top Digital Marketing Interview Questions and Answers.
    SEO Interview Questions and Answers

    ReplyDelete
  22. Slot Machine Games - JTG Hub
    Try 동해 출장샵 the free online 경기도 출장마사지 slots games 시흥 출장안마 at JTG Hub. 대전광역 출장안마 Play our exciting 수원 출장샵 casino slots games and win real cash! | Find your lucky charm. Enjoy our

    ReplyDelete

  23. Data Science has understood the necessity of every scholar and ensure that every scholar gets an unmatched studying experience for the lifetime
    data science institutes in hyderabad

    ReplyDelete
  24. This channel aims to assist engineering students by delivering a problem-solving approach, where questions are explained and reasons for theEngineerhacks

    ReplyDelete