Match as a music backup

Question

Match as a music backup

So I read in Macworld where the editor says he doesn't need to keep physical copies of his music locally anylonger since he now uses Match. But I got to thinking about this.

Let's say he has 15000 songs in his music library and puts them up on match. Deletes his backup locally and is a happy camper until one day he decides he doesn't like Match. Now he has to redownload 15000 songs. Right? Am I missing something?

Also, let's say in his library, he 1000 songs ripped from CDs as Apple lossless. These will be on Match as a 256 bit file. If he deletes his backup, he loses the lossless format and, in the event he wants to redo his local backup now only has a 256 bit version.

Does this make sense to anyone?

MacBook Pro Core i7, Matte Screen-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jan 17, 2012 1:57 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 17, 2012 2:03 PM in response to J. Christopher Edwards

Plus:

What if there have been incorrect matches, so you no longer have the correct version at all?

What if there is some problem with Match and your library in the cloud is lost?

I don't read Macworld, but I would hope that what was being referred to was the possibility of not having to fill your local hard drive up with your music library, rather than that you could get rid of the files completely. You should keep an archive copy at least.

Deleting your music off your computer and using Match is an option (one which I have done on my laptop), but not keeping at least one (and it should really be at least two) copy of your original files is a huge risk to take.

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Answer 2

Jan 17, 2012 6:13 PM in response to J. Christopher Edwards

I'm in completely agreement with Keith. iTunes Match is not designed to be a backup solution, nor should it be considered one. You should always keep at least one local copy of all your data on a backup disk that is easily accesible in case of emergency.

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