What is iTunes Match?

iTunes Match is a service from Apple, that simply allows you to download any song you have on your computer onto your iPhone, iPad or another Mac. Your songs are “matched” to songs sold through the iTunes Store and Apple allows you to download those directly from the cloud.

How iTunes matches your songs

Matching is done with some form of acoustic fingerprinting – just like SongGenie uses. And like SongGenie’s acoustic matching, iTunes Match doesn’t always get it 100% right – every now and then you’ll see that it uploads a song available on the iTunes store instead of “matching” it.

Does iTunes replace SongGenie?

No. Even though iTunes can recognize and match songs, even if they have missing or incorrect song information, iTunes will never “fix” that information for you. Even if you delete and re-download a song via iTunes Match, your songs will still be missing information or have incorrect metadata.

Fix song information everywhere.

If you use SongGenie to update and fix your song information, that information will automatically show up on your iPhone or iPad running iTunes Match. So if you change “Track 1” to “Help!” with SongGenie, it will update that song on your iPhone and iPad automatically, thanks to iTunes Match.

iTunes Match and lyrics

In our tests, all song information was sent to your iTunes Match library in the cloud just fine, however lyrics occasionally seemed to get lost on the way. This seems to be a bug and we expect Apple will fix it in the future. So if you notice that some of your lyrics aren’t immediately available on all of your devices, it’s probably this glitch.

Does iTunes Match replace CoverScout?

No. If a song is available on the iTunes store, it will get a cover via iTunes, just like you have been able to get covers in the past. But all those albums and songs for which iTunes doesn’t have covers will still need artwork from CoverScout.

Covers everywhere – thanks iTunes Match!

In fact, thanks to iTunes Match, covers that you add with CoverScout are then automatically added to your iPhone or iPad with iTunes Match. So add a cover on your Mac and boom – it shows up on your iPhone.

Hopefully that explains how SongGenie & CoverScout can both be used to get your collection looking spectacular on all your devices – with iTunes Match. If you have any questions, be sure to let us know!

On previous OS X versions, we used our own set of scrollers to make each more aesthetic. Now with Lion this is not necessary anymore. But this is just one of many other smaller things we’ve improved. If you already use CoverScout 3 and SongGenie 2, this is a free update. Ah, and btw we’ve also submitted both versions to the Mac App Store – sorry guys, you have to wait just a little bit longer but we’re sure you’ll get your update within the next few days.

A few weeks ago we posted a blog entry on SongGenie and the latest changes in iTunes 9.2.1. Some of you reported that your genres were showing up as numbers rather than real names, a known problem at that time.

iTunes 10 is out with lots of cool new features that really make your cover art and song information stand out. We are happy to report that the latest versions of SongGenie 2 and CoverScout 3 are fully compatible with iTunes 10 and you can once again tag your music with confidence.

If you have songs with the incorrect genre still showing, they can be quickly fixed using iTunes:

• Select some tracks with the same genre
• Choose File > Get Info
• Retype the genre
• Click OK

Start playing a song and make sure the cover artwork view is open in the lower left corner of the iTunes window.

Now click the cover artwork to open a larger artwork window:

If you move your mouse over the artwork window, iTunes 10 will give you full music controls:

Now you can enjoy your cover artwork and control music playback right from your desktop!

P.S. If you happen to be missing any album covers, we’ve got another tip you might enjoy…

How can you easily fix an album with “incomplete artwork”?

Say you have an album with 12 songs, but only one of those songs has artwork. CoverScout allows you to filter for those albums, so you can apply that one cover you already have to all your other songs in that album.

Just switch to track view and drag the artwork from one song to the album thumbnail  to apply that cover to all the other songs:

This shortcut should make it easy to sort out your albums with incomplete artwork. If you have any questions, just get in touch!

- Your equinux Support Team

P.S. If you’re looking for alternative rock from Scotland  (isn’t everyone?), definitely check out Idlewild – we’ve been listening to their fantastic album “Warnings/Promises” all week.

You’re in luck – our Black Friday offers have been extended for 1 more day for Cyber Monday!

So you have 23 hours more to buy an extra Christmas present for a family member, a friend, or even for yourself. Get an early jump on holiday gift buying to start the Christmas rush with a little less stress.

Plan ahead and save, but only if you buy today – It’s definitely your best and last chance for such bargain bundles!

There are 2 bundles to choose from:

* Master your Mail *
+ Stationery Pack
+ Stationery Pack 2
+ Love & Romance Collection
+ Summer Spirit Cards
= $49 USD (RRP $115 USD)

OR

* Boost your Mac Life *
+ Stationery Pack
+ Stationery Pack 2
+ Love & Romance Collection
+ Summer Spirit Cards
+ CoverScout
+ SongGenie
+ iSale
+ MediaCentral
+ Season’s Greetings Vol. 1
+ Season’s Greetings Vol. 2
= $99 USD (RRP $282.50 USD)

PLUS you can sweeten either bundle with a TubeStick hybrid for only $59 USD more and watch TV from your Mac… and your iPhone too!

If you snooze, you lose – these bundles are only available this weekend.

Have a bargain-ful Black Friday!

The good news is that our developers have been working around the clock and CoverScout 3 has now completely recovered from this minor obstacle and is set to search for artwork again!

CoverScout 3.2.4 is now able to search happily again through both Amazon and WalMart. Also you won’t have to think you’re going cross-eyed again, as duplicate cover search results will no longer be displayed.

Make your Scout happy again by downloading the update to Version 3.2.4 (free for CoverScout 3 owners!)

Put a reminder straight away in your iCal (with an alarm) to check back here on the equinux website at: Thursday 26th November 2009 at 5am (EST)

So, don’t be sleepy or just plain stupid and miss out on this limited chance to really seize super savings!

PS. Don’t worry non-Americans, you can also benefit from Black Friday, even if you’re not familiar with the tradition.
All you need to know is Black Friday = Big Bargains 26-28th November only!

Find what you want:
Now the switch between the two programs works more smoothly to assure you can find what you want when you want.

Apply what you want
While CoverScout runs around the web searching for the best covers for your albums, now you can simply press Ctrl to apply a cover and continue

See what you want
Since SongGenie, is like CoverScout’s little sister, she naturally wanted to copy and also improved a feature – now her search box remains in focus even while search results start to appear

Plus, even more core graphics in both programs have been enhanced, to make sure they match up to the Snow Leopard’s elegant skin.

So as you can see, these two are now even more pumped to make your music library the latest, most hip one on the block! Just download the maintenance release to catch up with them.