iTunes Match doesn't recognize songs - what to do?

If iTunes Match doesn't recognize some of your songs, there can be several reasons. We'll show you how to solve the problems.

iTunes Match does not recognize songs: format and quality are not correct

Quality: If the titles have a lower bitrate than 96 kbit / s, iTunes Match refuses to accept them. The bit rate is usually so low for very old songs and radio recordings.
Format: The format is also decisive. Apple is picky and only allows the formats MP3, WAV, AAC, AIFF and Apple Lossless.
Check: You can easily check whether the wrong format or poor quality is available in iTunes. Right click on an unrecognized song and select the "Information".
Solution: For iTunes Match to recognize the songs, you simply have to convert the file to another format or increase the bitrate. We recommend the free program Freemake Audio Converter. Note: If the bit rate is below 96 kbit / s, simply increase it to 128 kbit / s.

File size: If the file is too large, iTunes Match can also refuse to accept it. If it is larger than 200 MByte, you should simply split the file into several parts. You can use the free Audacity tool for this.
ID3 tags: If there is even a small spelling error in the song information of some songs, this can cause problems. Right click on an unrecognized song and select the "Information". You can check the information here.

We'll tell you how iTunes Match compares to the Amazon Cloud Player in the next practical tip.