Apple TV iTunes Match: There was a problem connecting to iCloud

iTunes Match: There was a problem connecting to iCloud. Try again later

By Stephen Pate – I could not connect my Apple TV (3rd Generation) to iTunes Match.  The Apple TV could see purchased movies but not music and music videos.

We all love our music and that was pretty frustrating. “Try again later” didn’t work no matter what I did.

The solution was a simple Reset of the Apple TV device.

My wife taught me the support trick of typing the exact message into Google. It works.

There are several Apple Support Community suggestions for this problem that include switching from Wi-Fi to Ethernet, deleting iTunes Playlists, turning off iTunes on all devices and turning it back on again. I tried them all and nothing worked. I even considered getting the new Apple TV but the reviews said it was not much better.

Then buried in all the complicated solutions was the simple reset advice.

Reset is found in the Apple TV menu at Settings…General…Reset.

It takes a few minutes for Apple TV to return. You need to re-enter you Apple account and password along with any other passwords  like Netflix, YouTube, HBO etc. Make sure you have a good internet connection and are logged into iCloud (again in Settings).

When I clicked on Music it said it was connecting to the cloud and asked me to wait. It looks like the illustration below, more or less depending on your Apple tvOS rev.

iTunes Match on Apple TV (illustration everythingCafe.com)

Once that was done, the whole iTunes Match library was available including artwork.  Seeing your library artwork at the top of the Apple TV menu is confirmation the library is sync’d. You can see missing artwork for albums or artists which means your library needs to be updated with Artwork.

Now I can play purchased videos in shuffle mode on Apple TV.  I can’t do that on the iPad or iPhone Videos app.  You can shuffle music videos on iTunes for Windows but it’s not easy to find.

Watching iTunes 720p videos on a HD large screen can look a bit soft. I upped the resolution by routing the Apple TV HDMI output through a receiver with 1080p up-scaling.

I’m pretty happy to have my music collection on Apple TV which is the main entertainment spot in our house, with a receiver and Hi-Fi quality speakers.

Apple has the amazing ability to integrate its products across multiple devices. You can share music from your iPhone, iPad, MacBook and even music on iTunes for Windows.

My music library is a combination of purchased songs and videos along with CD’s ripped from my collection with more than 7,000 songs. Some people have 20,000 and 30,000 songs in their iTunes library.

Match stores most of the in the Cloud making them available on any device with iTunes.  Match costs $24.99 a year and is one of the best bargains for music sharing. Microsoft has struggled for years trying to get a similar service working but it’s there yet.

iTunes and Match are complex products that can be hard to learn. The addition of Apple Music to iTunes has added even more complexity. A little research and patience usually works to find the right solution.