How do I know if my downloaded music is iTunes Match or Apple Music?

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Level 1

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How do I know if my downloaded music is iTunes Match or Apple Music?

I want iTunes 12.1 back! I should have learned my lesson by now and not jump on the "Apple made it, so it's got to be right" bandwagon. I'm finding it difficult to tell if my music is my iTunes Match or Apple Music. Is there a way to tell if my downloaded music is from my iTunes Match account or from Apple music? I just bought a new computer and each time I select add this computer to my iTunes Match account it appears nothing happens. Really Apple!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4), null

Posted on Jul 6, 2015 9:27 AM

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Answer 1

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Limnos

Level 10

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Jul 6, 2015 9:37 AM in response to Trend53

Some statements suggest that when you activate Music it more or less supersedes Match, though by Apple's own statements the two services are complementary which would suggest you can use both concurrently.

The main difference will be in the type of files it downloads. Music service files are DRM protected and will say so in an information window for the file whereas Match files are DRM free. In both cases though if these happen to be files you have that are not matched in iCloud you will get your original file returned to you or a modified DRM free version.

Apple Music vs iTunes Match: What's the difference? - http://www.imore.com/apple-music-vs-itunes-match-whats-difference

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Answer 2

Jul 6, 2015 1:05 PM in response to Trend53

For Trend53: See iMore article at http://www.imore.com/how-check-if-your-macs-songs-are-uploaded-matched-purchased -or-apple-music-drm-laden. I had a similar problem to you trying to figure out what was over-writing/replacing tracks I had ripped many years ago. I had been using iTunes Match to copy my tracks to the Cloud, but switched it off. I switched it back on before updating iTunes to 12.2.0. After futzing around a couple days with Apple Music and their radio and streaming offerings, I decided to delete all of the Apple Music (DRM) that i had downloaded, switch off Apple Music and not to use their streaming model. After a tracking down missing tracks with the help of Time Machine, I have my library back the way I want it, a mixture of purchased, matched and uploaded tracks, all DRM free. I stream only on my iMac from internet radio sites and RadioTunes porting the music out through the stereo system.

Hope this helps. 2011 iMac 21.5 in, OS 10.10.4, and iTunes 12.2.

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