iTunes Match, iCloud Music Library, and Apple Music are separate things.

[benguild]

FYI, there seems to be a ton of confusion about this. However you can use ALL of these separately and exclusively with the exception being that Apple Music includes iTunes Match's functionality and is therefore redundant.

You can subscribe to iTunes Match or Apple Music.

 

[Hog Milanese]

I'm pretty sure iCloud Music Library replaced Match, because the latter is nowhere to be found in 12.2.

 

[Gav2k]

No match is still available and working fine

 

[flur]

I'm pretty sure it did replace it, as iCloud Music Library is the same cluster that Match was.

 

[cookies!]

Ugh. Apple should've streamlined this before releasing Apple Music. I'm completely confused especially when using iTunes on Mac.

 

[Gav2k]

I'm pretty sure it did replace it, as iCloud Music Library is the same cluster that Match was.

No you miss understand the difference.

iTunes Match which I use cost me £21.99 a year and my own music library uploads/matches and I can access it across my devices and stream where I like.

iTunes music gives you access to iTunes music library. You can also match you library against there's giving you access to (this is the important bit) songs that do not exist in iTunes. So if you had a random buskers album that wasn't in iTunes you can have this available in the cloud for you to stream to any of your devices.

 

[flur]

No you miss understand the difference.

iTunes Match which I use cost me £21.99 a year and my own music library uploads/matches and I can access it across my devices and stream where I like.

iTunes music gives you access to iTunes music library. You can also match you library against there's giving you access to (this is the important bit) songs that do not exist in iTunes. So if you had a random buskers album that wasn't in iTunes you can have this available in the cloud for you to stream to any of your devices.

Lol, yes. You mean like I now have my entire library of music, including stuff not available in iTunes, available to stream to any of my devices, simply by turning on iCloud music? Yeah, it's the same, it's a mess, but now it's free and forced down my throat.

Maybe the "iTunes Music" you're talking about is different (an earlier version) but iCloud Music is everything from my Mac in the cloud whether I want it or not.

 

[Soni Sanjay]

Lol, yes. You mean like I now have my entire library of music, including stuff not available in iTunes, available to stream to any of my devices, simply by turning on iCloud music? Yeah, it's the same, it's a mess, but now it's free and forced down my throat.

Maybe the "iTunes Music" you're talking about is different (an earlier version) but iCloud Music is everything from my Mac in the cloud whether I want it or not.

No, you don't get it, it's not the same, you can't keep the files if you cancel Apple Music, you can't upgrade your previously owned files without DRM... With Apple Music, you can only match what it's available in the streaming service, with iTunes Match you have the whole store available for matching.

 

[WiiDsmKR69]

This post , if true, its quite clear:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-match-is-not-dead-do-not-ditch-it-yet-read-this.1896651/

TL;DR :

Match - will match tracks and store them in the cloud, regardless of where they came from. If you ditch Apple Music, you keep the tracks. DRM Free.

Apple Music - Will match tracks with Apple Music tracks, regardless of where they came from. Not in the Apple Music catalogue? - Will upload them. Cancel Apple Music and you lose all your music. (Unless you kept non Apple Music local copies).

I think AM will work for 80% of people(match wise). There will always be people who like to 'own / store / see' the local content.

 

[KALLT]

This post , if true, its quite clear:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-match-is-not-dead-do-not-ditch-it-yet-read-this.1896651/

TL;DR :

Match - will match tracks and store them in the cloud, regardless of where they came from. If you ditch Apple Music, you keep the tracks. DRM Free.

Apple Music - Will match tracks with Apple Music tracks, regardless of where they came from. Not in the Apple Music catalogue? - Will upload them. Cancel Apple Music and you lose all your music. (Unless you kept non Apple Music local copies).

I think AM will work for 80% of people(match wise). There will always be people who like to 'own / store / see' the local content.

I can confirm that you are not able to access your music anymore once you delete the local copies of your matched songs and log out of your account. Apple will substitute them with the same DRM-protected files.

 

[flur]

No, you don't get it, it's not the same, you can't keep the files if you cancel Apple Music, you can't upgrade your previously owned files without DRM... With Apple Music, you can only match what it's available in the streaming service, with iTunes Match you have the whole store available for matching.

Again, it's not Apple Music. It's iCloud Music, aka the online storage of your music library that you have to sign up for to use Apple Music. You're conflating services.

 

[jmmo20]

iTunes Match is supposed to be alive. But mixed with Apple music in the new iCloud music service. However what I'm seeing is that even if you have iTunes Match and pay for it, new songs you add to your library (say, from a MP3 you've bought somewhere else) are matched wrongly to Apple music libraries instead of the previous behaviour of uploading or matching to iTunes music store content. The consequence is that Apple is adding drm to music you already own.

 

[Paco II]

I just tried this on my two computers. Mac A, source computer, new album added. Start iTunes on Mac B. Find album just added. Download a track from that album. Track is a m4a file. No DRM.

Not sure what to say, but I am not having the issue you are describing, which means there may be something unique to your situation causing it to happen.

EDIT: On your second computer, what does iTunes show as the cloud status of the file? Does it show as 'Matched', or something else?

EDIT 2: Try this on your slave/second computer: turn off both Apple Music and IML. Then enable *just* IML. find the tracks that were downloaded as Apple Music and remove the offline download. Now try again to download the song. What happens?

iTunes Match is supposed to be alive. But mixed with Apple music in the new iCloud music service. However what I'm seeing is that even if you have iTunes Match and pay for it, new songs you add to your library (say, from a MP3 you've bought somewhere else) are matched wrongly to Apple music libraries instead of the previous behaviour of uploading or matching to iTunes music store content. The consequence is that Apple is adding drm to music you already own.

 

[flur]

I had stuff that showed as matched even though I've never used match. They're using the same code, hence the same bad artwork and song matching issues. And they did it knowing about all the issues people had with match.

 

[jmmo20]

I just tried this on my two computers. Mac A, source computer, new album added. Start iTunes on Mac B. Find album just added. Download a track from that album. Track is a m4a file. No DRM.

Not sure what to say, but I am not having the issue you are describing, which means there may be something unique to your situation causing it to happen.

EDIT: On your second computer, what does iTunes show as the cloud status of the file? Does it show as 'Matched', or something else?

EDIT 2: Try this on your slave/second computer: turn off both Apple Music and IML. Then enable *just* IML. find the tracks that were downloaded as Apple Music and remove the offline download. Now try again to download the song. What happens?

As I said. Some songs are matched as "matched" (iTunes Match) and about the second half are matched wrongly as Apple music.

Besides. There's no way to turn off Apple music.
iCloud music library is both Apple music and iTunes Match all mushed up together.

There's something terribly wrong in apples music matching algorithm. Not sure how to report this to Apple to be honest but I can reproduce this every time.

 

[Paco II]

As I said. Some songs are matched as "matched" (iTunes Match) and about the second half are matched wrongly as Apple music.

Besides. There's no way to turn off Apple music.
iCloud music library is both Apple music and iTunes Match all mushed up together.

There's something terribly wrong in apples music matching algorithm. Not sure how to report this to Apple to be honest but I can reproduce this every time.

We are having the same convo in two threads. I will reply in other thread.

 

[bigpoppamac31]

It's this kind of stuff that makes me not want to sign up for Apple Music. I was already very hesitant to sign up for ITunes Match but did so recently. I since have turned it off as I've seen no real use for it personally.

 

[manu chao]

Apple Music - Will match tracks with Apple Music tracks, regardless of where they came from. Not in the Apple Music catalogue? - Will upload them. Cancel Apple Music and you lose all your music. (Unless you kept non Apple Music local copies).

Now tell me: Who on Earth would not keep local copies? Or rather, who on Earth would delete the local copies in the first place?

 

[jmmo20]

Now tell me: Who on Earth would not keep local copies? Or rather, who on Earth would delete the local copies in the first place?

Those of us who use iTunes Match the way it was advertised: a decentralised iTunes library in the cloud.

 

[manu chao]

Those of us who use iTunes Match the way it was advertised: a decentralised iTunes library in the cloud.

For those devices that couldn't hold all your music. Not to use the cloud as the primary storage location of your data, that is more expensive and riskier than local storage. Trusting software out of your control (ie, software that is constantly changing without you ever knowing any specifics about it), trusting business models (maybe iTunes Match gets cancelled as a product) and trusting the longevity of companies more than your ability to keep local backups of your data?

 

[mwhals]

I still would not delete my local music. Far to many hours ripping CDs to delete the local copy. If you cancel iMatch, you will lose everything in the cloud and not have it locally.

 

[jmmo20]

With iTunes Match it's silly to have all computers download all the music all the time.

I'm sorry but I'm using a service as intended and advertised. Don't patronise me as to what I should and shouldn't do.

 

[Paco II]

One can use iTunes Match however they like of course, but it was never sold as a backup service.

With iTunes Match it's silly to have all computers download all the music all the time.

I'm sorry but I'm using a service as intended and advertised. Don't patronise me as to what I should and shouldn't do.

 

[Rigby]

Those of us who use iTunes Match the way it was advertised: a decentralised iTunes library in the cloud.

Since Match will often not match songs to the exact same file as your original, throwing away the originals is a terrible idea. It is not and was never advertised as a backup solution.

 

[manu chao]

With iTunes Match it's silly to have all computers download all the music all the time.
I'm sorry but I'm using a service as intended and advertised. Don't patronise me as to what I should and shouldn't do.

It would be even more silly to not keep the original music on the main computer and it backups. Show me where Apple advertised that you should delete your original music.

And do you delete your photos locally after uploading them to Flickr, Instagram or whatever online service? Or do you delete all local copies of documents you receive in digital form (eg, bank statements, invoices etc.) because you could always ask the creator to send you new copies ... until the moment they say they don't have them anymore or ask you to pay a fee for it?