Apple Music with or without iTunes Match

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Apple Music with or without iTunes Match

Hi all,

i have a question that might sound silly but I couldn’t get a definitive answer.

I have subscribed to iTunes Match and I have uploaded 20k tunes, many of them coming from bootlegs and/or hard to find records.

Of course I have a backup on an external drive but for daily use I rely on the cloud (so I save space on my devices).

I’m thinking about subscribing to Apple Music but I’m quite concerned on what might happen to my library once I first merge it with Apple Music and later I decide to leave Apple Music itself.

Will I lose my 20k tunes? Or in case the merge has found better versions (maybe lossless) I would get back to my previous versions?

will I have to keep my iTunes Match subscription active or may I cancel it and restore if I will decide to leave Apple Music?

thank you in advance

Riccardo

Posted on Jan 22, 2022 2:09 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

turingtest2

Level 10

274,552 points

Jan 22, 2022 2:13 AM in response to joeroberts13

You can subscribe to Apple Music, then cancel your subscription to iTunes Match. Your iCloud Music Library remains unchanged, though once you have Apple Music you can add to it as you please. Going in the other direction you would lose access to Apple Music content if you switched services, but your matched and uploaded content should remain in place.

tt2

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Answer 2

joeroberts13 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 22, 2022 3:58 AM in response to turingtest2

Thank you very much turingtest2,

nevertheless, since I’m quite a squared mind, ai need to go step by step.

From my understanding:

1- if I subscribe to AM and accept to merge libraries, then AM will change my versions with better versions if available. That means that when I will leave AM I will lose them.

2- If I decline the merge, then I’ll see two different versions of the same tune. my tunes will be marked differently from those coming from AM. If I cancel my AM subscription, then all my tunes will remain, since they have a different source.

if this is correct, finally I got it. But now the question is: if I cancel my iTunes Match subscription, will I be able to download my tunes once I decide to cancel my AM subscription or will I have to subscribe again to iTM? From my understanding, I will see again my local library if I don’t have an iTM subscription active.

Thank you again

Riccardo

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

274,552 points

Jan 22, 2022 7:03 AM in response to joeroberts13

Whatever is stored locally remains locally. There is no automatic upgrade to better quality versions. To upgrade say a 128K MP3 in your local library to a matched 256K AAC version from Apple Music you would remove the download, then download the version in the cloud. Provided it downloads as Matched AAC audio file and not Apple Music AAC audio file those updated files are yours to use even when you give up your subscription to Apple Music.

What you already have matched or uploaded to iCloud Music Library, including your playlists, remains in place if you add a subscription to Apple Music. If I recall correctly you would only receive a merge or replace prompt on an iOS device that wasn't already enabled for iCloud Music Library (Sync Library) if you turned Sync Library on on that device. You only have one iCloud Music Library regardless of which of the two services you have signed up for.

Once you have a subscription to Apple Music there is no need to pay for iTunes Match as well as it includes the same matching/uploading features of iTunes Match for your own music and playlists. Adding Apple Music lets you select more content from the store to add to your cloud library while your subscription remains active.

If you were to cancel iTunes Match now you would lose to anything currently in the cloud and not stored locally. The same is true when you cancel Apple Music, but in addition anything that was added through the subscription with the kind Apple Music AAC audio file also stops working even if you have a local copy. Terminating either service should not otherwise impact on your locally stored media and playlists. If you want to revert to iTunes Match after using Apple Music for some time you should start a subscription to iTunes Match before cancelling Apple Music.

tt2

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Apple Music with or without iTunes Match

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