What happens to My Music Library in the cloud, if I cancel iTunes Match after subscribing to Apple Music?

HI,

FIrstly keep your present local storage, preferably with an additional back up on an external drive.

The main difference between match and Apple music is to do with DRM. This should not be an issue whilst you keep a local copy.

If You delete the physical copies of you music from your computer to rely on streaming only, you can re downloaded you iTunes Match library and get the matched / uploaded versions before your matched subscription expires.

However, with Apple music it seems that redownloaded music has DRM applied even to uploade songs. If you do not renew your Apple music subscription you will no longer be able to play that music.

Jim

The part that Jim reply is what I was wondering about

If You delete the physical copies of you music from your computer to rely on streaming only, you can re downloaded you iTunes Match library and get the matched / uploaded versions before your matched subscription expires.

However, with Apple music it seems that redownloaded music has DRM applied even to uploade songs. If you do not renew your Apple music subscription you will no longer be able to play that music.

I use my iTunes Match as a music backup option and a way to sync the musics and playlists across all my devices. Don't seems a great upgrade if instead of having my music all backup (as I have in iTunes Match), in case of me losing my original files I can not rely on Apple Music to get my own music back. The music that I upload to the Cloud, will not be available to me after I cancel the subscription, that is not right!

I will call Apple tomorrow to make sure that things really work like that 😟

In other hand, I understand that we will be able to have 10 devices associated with our Apple Music, but we will be able to remove those devices individual, or is like iTunes Match that we can only have 5 devices, and the only way we can remove 1 device is removing all of them, and we can only do that once a year?

This is actually simplier than I thought at first. iTunes Match is a storage and access service. If you lost everything you own and wanted your music, a purchase of any iOS device and all your music is back. Hence, a storage and access service. Apple Music is a streaming service where your only renting the rights to stream it, whether offline use or not. The DRM sees to that. It's not really a could service as most your music already exists in the store. So, if you cancel iTunes Match, that fine assuming you keep Apple Music for ever and ever. Or resubscribe to iTunes Match before you cancel or your library will only consist of purchased music from the iTunes Store.

ALL-RS wrote:

I use my iTunes Match as a music backup option and a way to sync the musics and playlists across all my devices. Don't seems a great upgrade if instead of having my music all backup (as I have in iTunes Match), in case of me losing my original files I can not rely on Apple Music to get my own music back. The music that I upload to the Cloud, will not be available to me after I cancel the subscription, that is not right!

Read this user item; Make and keep a backup of your iTunes library, and only stream from the cloud.

I also suggest that you read Apples Terms and Conditions - see following extracts:

"APPLE MUSIC SUBSCRIPTION

If you buy a subscription to the Apple Music Service (an “Apple Music Subscription”), Apple will automatically charge the payment method associated with your Apple ID or the payment method associated with your Family Sharing Organizer’s account on a recurring basis until you turn off automatic renewal. You may turn off automatic renewal of your Apple Music Subscription at any time in the Account Settings menu on your device or computer, or in the Settings app on your device. If you turn off automatic renewal, you will continue to have access to the Apple Music Service for the remainder of your Apple Music Subscription term. When your Apple Music Subscription term ends, you will lose access to any feature of the Apple Music Service that requires an Apple Music Subscription, including but not limited to access to Apple Music Products accessible through the Apple Music Service or stored on your device, and any songs stored in your iCloud Music Library. Apple Music Subscription purchases are final. Your payment method will be charged no more than 24 hours prior to the expiration of the current Apple Music Subscription period.

ICLOUD MUSIC LIBRARY

The iCloud Music Library feature is available to Apple Music subscribers who log in with an Apple ID. iCloud Music Library stores and permits you to remotely access songs and music videos purchased from the iTunes Store and other songs, along with related metadata, playlists, and other information from your other Apple Music-enabled devices. iCloud Music Library is turned on automatically when you set up your Apple Music Subscription. You will be prompted to enable iCloud Music Library when you log in to Apple Music on additional devices. You can enable iCloud Music Library in the Apple Music app settings on your device and in iTunes General Preferences on your computer. You can store up to 25,000 songs in iCloud Music Library. Songs purchased from the iTunes Store do not count against this limit. Songs that do not meet certain criteria or that are not authorized for your device or computer are not eligible for iCloud Music Library. You will not be able to access content stored in your iCloud Music Library when your Apple Music Subscription ends, but you can download songs that were previously acquired from the iTunes Store as set forth in, and subject to the terms of, the “Automatic Delivery and Downloading Previous Purchases” paragraph of the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions. You hereby agree to use iCloud Music Library only for lawfully acquired content. Any use for illegitimate content infringes the rights of others and may subject you to civil and criminal penalties, including possible monetary damages, for copyright infringement.

When you set up your Apple Music Subscription or enable iCloud Music Library, Apple Music will scan the song files on your device or computer and collect other information that may be used to identify media in your Music Library, such as the names of songs, song artists or song durations. iCloud Music Library will use this information to identify songs currently available on Apple Music, and will make identified songs available to you in a format then available on Apple Music. Unidentified songs on your device will remain in local storage, and unidentified songs on your computer are uploaded to iCloud Music Library in the same format or a format determined by Apple. You should backup your Music Library before setting up your Apple Music Subscription or enabling iCloud Music Library. Apple assumes no liability for content that is lost in connection with iCloud Music Library. iCloud Music Library should not be used as backup storage for content. Apple reserves the right to limit types of content uploaded (for example, excessively large files). Identified or uploaded songs and related metadata will be available for access from an Apple Music-compatible device into which you have logged in with your Account and that has been enabled for iCloud Music Library."

Jim

You will not be able to access content stored in your iCloud Music Library when your Apple Music Subscription ends

Put in consideration that info, I think the best approach is organize all my Library (on iTunes Match) and make a backup of all that content for a backup drive, so in case i cancel my Apple Music subscription I can always go back to use iTunes Match as I always did since I still have the original files with me.

You should backup your Music Library before setting up your Apple Music Subscription

Is what I will do!

iCloud Music Library should not be used as backup storage for content

It is one of the thing I use the service for 😎

Meanwhile I will upload my music to Google Play Music as a last resort backup since in case of me losing my original files, I still have a online backup available.

Thanks everyone for the infos, I leave here with more knowledge and able to make a better decision.