J.D. Hodges

There are some very helpful iTunes Match tips in the second half of this Wired article:

I restored my up-to-date offline library and left this machine without Match enabled for a few days while I looked up how you reset your iTunes Match account. And that’s where the fundamental problem with the service rears its head: you cannot reset it.

I contacted Apple to find out if this was true, and it is. Fact of the matter, I was told, is that Match works fine for most people, so hard resets — which would then require time-consuming rematching and uploading of local songs — aren’t an option.

[continue reading at the link below]

via How to reset iTunes Match (without losing metadata or playlists) (Wired UK).

For my problem, lots of duplicate playlists, the solution was a bit simpler:

1. deauthorize all computers that are using iTunes match (note this is just PCs or Macs, not iPads/iPods/iPhones etc.
2. setup a clean iTunes library (nothing in it) on a computer
3. re-authorize that computer to use iTunes match
4. let it synchronize
5. deleted the duplicate playlists
6. update iTunes match from the menu bar of that computer
7. volia, the playlists should be deleted from iTunes match and the changes should get pushed out to all devices (iPods/iPads/iPhones/iOS)

*Note: before you reauthorize iTunes match on additional PCs/Macs (beyond the clean one mentioned above), you will probably want to delete any redundant/unused playlists from those computer BEFORE you reauthorize… otherwise their unwanted playlists may make their way back into iTunes match.

 More resources on these topics: