New to Apple Music: Does it have to mess with your local Mac Library?

[Traverse]

I am thinking of utilizing Apple Music since my Spotify student will soon expire and I'll be paying $10 a month. My iTunes Library is the most important data on my system (to me). I'd say that about 60% of my library of 3,000 songs is not in the iTunes Store or Apple Music catalog.

Is it possible to enable Apple Music, match and upload my library for transferring to my iOS devices and then have it leave my Mac iTunes alone? Meaning all of the exploring, listening, radio, etc will be done on an iOS Device. I don't want it to replace or alter the library on my Mac at all. I don't want to create a second library because I want my playlists to remain in sync.

Also a side question: do you find it updates play counts reliably between devices?

Thank you for clarifying this.

 

[Tech198]

If you don't want a second library, then make a backup of what u have now before u add to Apple music.
When i used AM, play count was off between Mac and iOS sometimes (it would take a while to notice the change)

When syncing on one device, it may not be synced to the other for a few minutes to a few hours, or worse case, not at all.

Everyone experience is different. But i would always import music fro backup copy, never use original, as if Apple does do something to them, which u can never be 100% sure... u won't be in tears afterwards.