What happens to songs I have added to my offline library if I cancel my membership?

Apple Music provides streaming (online playing) of over 30 million items from the iTunes Store catalogue. Some artists have not given permission for their songs to be streamed.

It's possible to save a song for listening offline, but only on that device. You cannot transfer it to another device or burn it to a CD, because you have rented it, not bought it, and they are subject to DRM. (Consequently such songs cannot be accessed on an iPod Nano, Shuffle or Classic, only the Touch.) If you cease to pay the subscription any items you have saved in this way will become inaccessible.

As with iTunes Match (see below), items which are in the Store but you have ripped from CDs, will be available as part of this, but if you don't also have an iTunes Match subscription DRM (Digital Rights Management) will be added to them and they will not be playable if you terminate the subscription.

Items you have ripped from CDs or obtained otherwise which are not in the Store's library will be uploaded in the same manner as iTunes Match and will not be affected by DRM.

As to songs previously purchased from the Store, they are available for download as before, without DRM, in your music library, but will also show in Apple Music (together with all other available songs) from where they will be downloaded to an Apple Music folder and like all other Apple Music downloads will be subject to DRM.

iTUNES MATCH

This makes all items in your iTunes collection available online for access to your other devices. Songs you have purchased will be available, as with 'Tunes in the Cloud'; songs you have for example ripped from CDs you have bought will be matched by the version in the Store if this is available; if it isn't available your copy will be uploaded for access by other devices. There is a limit of 25,000 songs - this applies only to items not available in the Store (as purchased items are already available online). There is a charge of $24.99/£21.99 per year. The storage for these items does not count towards your iCloud storage space (indeed, though marketed as being part of iCloud it's actually nothing to do with it). Items in iTunes Match are not affected by DRM (Digital Rights Management which restricts where you can play them). Once downloaded you can still play them if you terminate the subscription (though in that event you can't make further uploads or downloads).

To summarize:

*N.B. Older purchases which still have DRM will continue to have it when re-downloaded.

**Songs in Apple Lossless, WAV or AIFF will be converted to 256kb/s AAC (M4a).

Press2Start wrote:

Here is the truth about Apple Music. You can't keep the songs. Even after you're cancelled membership. Apple wants you to make purchases from iTunes Store. I have spoken to someone from customer department and even if you pay and cancel you can't keep the unlimited songs you have downloaded. I rather stick with iTunes and purchase music or nothing at all.

Of course you can't keep them - what do you expect? It's like the choice between purchasing or renting a car. If you rent a car you can't keep it once you stop paying the rental. If you buy a car it's more expensive in the short term but it's yours to keep.

With Apple Music the subscription gives you access to a huge library for as long as you continue paying it. Letting you keep the songs after you stop paying would be giving them away - the content providers would have something to say about that: people would subscribe for a month or two, download as much as they possibly could, and then keep them for the cost of the two months' subscription.

I assume you mean 'iTunes Match'. This is separate from Apple Music. With Apple Music, it's possible to save a song for listening offline, but only on that device. You cannot transfer it to another device or burn it to a CD, because you have rented it, not bought it, and they are subject to DRM. (Consequently such songs cannot be accessed on an iPod Nano, Shuffle or Classic, only the Touch.) If you cease to pay the subscription any items you have saved in this way will become inaccessible.

As with iTunes Match, items which are in the Store but you have ripped from CDs, will be available as part of this, but if you don't also have an iTunes Match subscription DRM will be added to them and they will not be playable if you terminate the subscription.

Items you have ripped from CDs or obtained otherwise which are not in the Store's library will be uploaded in the same manner as iTunes Match and will not be affected by DRM.

I purchased Music Match to convert these songs to digital format with DRM

I assume you meant that you wanted to convert them to digital without DRM (which would restrict what you can do with them)

This chart tabulates the relationship between iTunes Match and Apple Music:

*N.B. Older purchases which still have DRM will continue to have it when re-downloaded.
**Songs in Apple Lossless, WAV or AIFF will be converted to 256kb/s AAC (M4a).

As you appear to have uploaded songs ripped from CDs while being subscribed to iTunes Match, these songs will continue to be playable if you terminate the iTunes Match subscription (or for that matter the Apple Music subscription, but of course songs downloaded from that - and therefore not paid for separately - won't play if you terminate that subscription).

Rhino1979 wrote:

Guessing or making assumptions is not answering the question like Seadude8140 said... and thus really doesn't help in making the choice to sign up.

Hi,

I suggest that you read Roger Wilmut's extensive reply. There is no guessing or assumptions. A subscription to Apple Music allows you access to the Apple Music catalogue as long as you have an active subscription. Once the subscription ceases, you will no longer be able to access or play music downloaded from this service. You are only leasing the music, not purchasing it.

If you don't like this, I suggest that you don't subscribe to Apple Music.

JIm

At its simplest:

• When you subscribe you can stream songs from a large online library.
• You can download songs to a computer, a phone, or an iPod Touch for offline listening.
• You cannot move downloaded files from one device to another nor burn them to CDs.
• When you stop the subscription you won't be able to stream any songs and those you have downloaded won't play.
• If you want to keep songs permanently you can purchase them in the usual way.

Here is the truth about Apple Music. You can't keep the songs. Even after you're cancelled membership. Apple wants you to make purchases from iTunes Store. I have spoken to someone from customer department and even if you pay and cancel you can't keep the unlimited songs you have downloaded. I rather stick with iTunes and purchase music or nothing at all.

Kappy - why or why would Apple allow you to keep music that you did not previously own and downloaded from Apple Music if you discontinue your membership? Now maybe iTunes/Apple cannot actually delete them from your hard drive, but I would assume (and others have noticed this also in other threads) that music that you did not actually PURCHASE/OWN will have DRM protections to at least prevent you from playing them after you allow the Apple Music membership to lapse.

You are comparing Apple Music - a legitimate subscription service - to sources in which people post copyright material without recompensing the owners, effectively stealing music. You are asking Apple to effectively make some music available for free - the composers would have something to say about that.

On the subject of insurance, I would suggest you simply go to an independent insurance company or put your phone on your house insurance, and see whether that's any cheaper for the same coverage.

YYour answer does nothing to help. Your answer makes it sound like we're scamming them to download what is being paid for monthly, a fee Apple has set aside as money to compensate for downloaded licensing. I gather from the answers we are reading here that everybody is guessing about the true answer and while that can make one think it out further, doesn't really answer about downloaded music while paying a subscription fee and whether this can be retained ( or a certain amount of it ) if leaving the service. Not being snarky, we are just trying to get an answer about this service that isn't explained fully.

I have Music Match and Apple Music. I have about 3000 tracks that I have ripped from my CDs. I purchased Music Match to convert these songs to digital format with DRM. I understand that Apple Music included Music Match. My Music Match is up for renewal and I want to cancel it but am afraid I will loose all of my Apple Music files.

What happens to this music if I cancel Match? Does Music automatically recognize and keep my ripped music?

If you are talking about songs from Apple Music (those that you did not actually OWN or PURCHASE), those will be either removed from your drive - or probably will have DRM protection which will prevent you from accessing them after your membership in Apple Music lapses. What you can do is download some Apple Music and then go to iTunes Preferences and turn off Apple Music and iCloud Music Library and see what happens.

If you are talking about music that you had purchased (either from iTunes or other sources) those will remain on your hard drive.

And yes, there is a limit currently of 25,000 tracks - not including those you actually purchased through iTunes - and that includes music that you add to your iCloud Library either by uploading/matching your own music library or adding them to your Music Library from Apple Music.

And I am another one that totally does not understand how Apple music works anymore, I guess it's my bad though. I hardly ever listen to it and have not been keeping up with changes!

Hi seadud8140

So glad you asked this question. I am considering a subscription to Apple Music but I won't if a subsequent cancellation of the licence will eliminate access on ICLOUD to all my legitimate uploads during my licencing period.

I would like to store there both my own record collection currently stored in ITUNES as well as fresh purchases. But I can't guarantee the ownership of a permanent Apple Music licence.

Without this continuity of access I will not proceed

Roger Stenson

harsharukman99 wrote:

So what does happen if you download from itunes on pc?

If you purchased songs they are yours to keep without further payment, and you can download them onto other devices. If you are subscribing to Apple Music, and you download songs from that, then if you stop the subscription they will become unplayable. For a full explanation please read my post above of October 15th.