Playlist switching from MP3 to AAC

See About iCloud Music Library icons and status - Apple Support. Put your playlist in the songs view and enable these columns, plus Kind so you can see what format the added files are in. Open the playlist in a separate window, then drag in some of your new mp3 files. I'm guessing they are tagged as duplicates and get swapped with matched items. This is all about making your playlist available in the cloud rather than suitable for burning. Try making a smart playlist that accurately targets what you want in the right format and that might work.

tt2

iTunes Match or Apple Music? Either might automatically swap out an item in a playlist for the existing duplicate item that is already part of the iCloud Music Library, but Apple Music might be somewhat stricter. If you're burning to audio CD then there is no benefit to shifting format first. If you're burning to MP3 CD could you use the Data CD format instead?

tt2

As you observe, when you convert to another format you are creating a second file. Both formats now exist in iTunes as essentially duplicate entries and will be hard to distinguish except by "kind". Are you sure you are dragging the correct copy to your playlist? I use an older iTunes but I have never heard of iTunes automatically swapping one format for another in a playlist unless you are doing things with smart playlists.

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2