Syncing ratings and play counts without messing up my files

Firstly I don't believe there is a way to split out this functionality, it is all designed to work together.

I know its not always the case but iTunes match has always worked great for me and I have never had any problems, my ratings and play counts have always synced perfectly and I use these all the time to populate smart playlists.

It could be worth making a backup of your library and then give the service a try, if you do have any problems you can just revert back to your backup.

Hope this helps a little.

***80 wrote:

That is good to know that you have had success. I have a question on the backup. If some music files go missing getting them back is just a matter of searching Time Machine and reimporting them?

Yes but I suggest that you keep a separate back up on a external drive.

***80 wrote:

The problem I heard with iTunes Match is that it will replace alternate versions of songs (live tracks, remixes, etc) with studio versions.

I have not encountered such problems apart from a few mismatches which have been reported on this forum. A few people have reported have such problems - if it was truly a severe problem, you would seen much more activity. iTunes match uses acoustic finger printing and is generally excellent at identifying tracks. The problem is more common with Apple Music Users. Read this article http://www.mcelhearn.com/apple-music-matches-files-with-metadata-only-not-acoust ic-fingerprinting/.

Also read this iTunes Match User Tips

Jim

***80 wrote:

Ok so it is Apple Music that is the problem not iTunes Match. Susie Ochs mentioned this on the Macworld podcast but I got confused as to what service she was talking about since Apple has so many different music services that it is hard to keep track of what is what.

Apple only has two music services - Apple Music and iTunes Match. iCloud Music Library: Understanding differences between Apple Music and iTunes Match - Apple Support

Jim