apple music limit on streaming music i own?

So, I've been a subscriber to iTunes Match for a few years.


My son and daughter, both have their own Apple ID's, but for the iTunes Store they use my account. This allows us all to have one iTunes music library, and anybody can stream any song in my iTunes Cloud Library at any time, and even simultaneously. We didn't have to mess around with creating a Family Sharing account.


I've been thinking about subscribing to Apple Music. Apple Music essentially includes iTunes Match, so I should be able to cancel iTunes Match if I sign up for AM.

My question is, do I HAVE to sign up for the Family Plan to be able to have us all listen to music I own at the same time? Or could I just sign up for the individual plan, and make sure to tell my kids they can only stream music in our library, not tracks that we don't own that are part of the AM library?


In other words, does AM's iTunes Match function the same as the regular iTunes Match, where I can stream any song I own, to any device, at any time, even simultaneously? Or does AM restrict even music I previously owned, to one iPhone at a time?


Thanks!



iPhone XS

Posted on Apr 18, 2021 5:19 PM

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Posted on Apr 19, 2021 6:14 AM

I cannot say definitively, but right now my HomePods are streaming Little Fluffy Clouds while my M1 Mac is steaming Come Together. One matched, one uploaded. I only have a single user Apple Music subscription and don't seem to be running into the one simultaneous stream warning. If I try to stream two Apple Music tracks at the same time one stops. The computer tells me that more than one device is trying to play music and prompts me to upgrade my subscription. If I download the track I was streaming to the computer then I can resume playback on the HomePod and play the downloaded track on the Mac. My conclusion is that with a single user subscription you're limited to one concurrent stream of Apple Music items, which you may direct to multiple AirPlay devices. Matched, uploaded, and presumably purchased content doesn't appear to be subject to that limitation.


tt2

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 19, 2021 6:14 AM in response to mjs1234

I cannot say definitively, but right now my HomePods are streaming Little Fluffy Clouds while my M1 Mac is steaming Come Together. One matched, one uploaded. I only have a single user Apple Music subscription and don't seem to be running into the one simultaneous stream warning. If I try to stream two Apple Music tracks at the same time one stops. The computer tells me that more than one device is trying to play music and prompts me to upgrade my subscription. If I download the track I was streaming to the computer then I can resume playback on the HomePod and play the downloaded track on the Mac. My conclusion is that with a single user subscription you're limited to one concurrent stream of Apple Music items, which you may direct to multiple AirPlay devices. Matched, uploaded, and presumably purchased content doesn't appear to be subject to that limitation.


tt2

Apr 19, 2021 6:20 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks turingtest2.


I thought I might just do a trial subscription and test it out myself with my son's iPhone, and mine, but then I realized that I currently have iTunes Match, and since you pay for a year up front, then my test won't really hold water, as I'll still have iTunes Match, which definitely allows simultaneous streams of owned content. So I won't know if AM is allowing it, or if it's just iTunes Match allowing it.

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apple music limit on streaming music i own?

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