What is iTunes Match?

Hmm... maybe call Apple Support and see if they can help you find it in your account. It was not at all easy for me to find when I went looking either, took quite a bit of Googling around to find where it was located, and originally I was trying to find it on my Mac and not my phone. Apple phone support was surprisingly helpful actually so... worth a shot!

Here's the rub: If you have a bunch of personal music that you've uploaded but do NOT have iTunes Match, then when you cancel your Apple Music subscription, you can kiss ALL of that music goodbye. Forever. If you didn't have another backup of it somewhere, then it's gone. Oh and it is also entirely possible (she didn't sound 100% certain on this one) that your uploaded music, even your own personally-generated songs, will have Apple DRM on them once uploaded to Apple Music. Not sure that this happens with iTunes Match, I don't think it does but have no way I can confidently prove/disprove it.

So basically iTunes Match is a cloud storage option. Personally I don't think I'll ever drop Apple Music so I plan to drop iTunes Match at long last.

Hope this helps someone out!

Hi,

Apple has not advertised iTunes Match as a cloud storage option. See Subscribe to iTunes Match – Apple Support (UK). Quote : “iTunes Match isn't a backup service, so make sure you always have a backup of your music collection before you make any changes.” The matching function in Apple Music is the same as iTunes Match.

You need iTunes Match or Apple Music to upload music that has not been matched to iCloud Music library. The music is uploaded as is except for ALAC or AIFF which is transcribed to 256 Kbps- DRM is not applied to such music. If you opt to remove downloads and choose to stream your music, you will only have access to your music as long as you have an active.

In practice, you should opt to keep your physical copies on your computer and keep a separate backup. Whilst it is possible to re-download music, this can only be done if you have an active subscription.

Jim

Thanks Jim

I literally just Googled "Apple phone tech support". =)

1 (800) 275-2273

When Apple Music first launched if you used it to copy your non-Apple Music content (CD rips or non-Apple downloads) to a new computer then those would arrive with DRM, making them unplayable when the subscription was terminated. At some point the iTunes Match feature that allowed you to redownload the uploaded or matched copies without DRM was folded into Apple Music. I believe there was also an edge case where iTunes Match was supported on Apple TV 2, but Apple Music wasn't, but that's not really my area. The bottom line is that you can cancel iTunes Match and nothing should change, provided you don't have legacy downloads from back in the day when Apple Music would attach DRM to downloads of your matched or uploaded tracks, in which case you should remove the existing downloads and then download fresh ones. Turn off lossless downloads before doing this.

Enable the iCloud Status and Kind columns in the Songs view of your library and review the contents. Refresh any content that may currently have DRM when you don't think it should. Backup your library. Cancel your iTunes Match subscription.

tt2

I used to have multiple CDs ripped into my iTunes. One day I decided to join Apple Music and it asked me if I wanted to store my music in the cloud, I said yes. Then, I canceled my subscription and all of my music disappeared! I love Apple but I don't think you had the right to take away my music. I mean, who keeps CDs anymore!!! Now I joined iTunes Match to enjoy my music in different devices. From what I read, the minute I cancel my subscription, you will again steal my music, which I had purchased!

Now, please provide explanation in layman's terms. How do I "enable iCloud Status and Kind columns" (what is Kind?) Review the contents then refresh them? OK, back up is easy. I don't want to lose the music I was able to recuperate. Thnx!

Agreed, it is absolutely not advertised as a cloud backup solution. I'm merely telling you what the support rep told me on the phone minutes before I made this new post. That iTunes Match gives you "separate cloud storage" for your music library. This is what was said to me so if it's wrong, it should be taken up with Apple's support staff management. *shrug*

The storage used to enable iCloud Music Library (e.g. for uploaded tracks) is separate from any used by iCloud Drive, which might be what was meant by "separate cloud storage". It works the same for Apple Music or iTunes Match. All matched or uploaded content should be downloaded to local storage before you cancel the service, or yes, it will be lost. None of your own uploads/matches should gain DRM, but that was an issue in the early days of Apple Music before iTunes Match was fully integrated into it. Again having your own backups of all of your own content before you start using the service, and certainly before you end it, is recommended.

tt2

I can only repeat what I was explicitly told, which was that iTunes Match provides "Separate cloud storage", our conversation never had anything whatsoever to do with iCloud Drive or any other iCloud offering.

OK that's fine, but I'm just pointing out that this is what I was specifically told, after more than half an hour of discussion and her speaking with multiple different people at Apple including their engineering people. Take whatever you want from that.

For whatever it's worth, I elected to take the phone rep's word for what iTunes Match actually offers, and cancel my iTunes Match sub. I accept that if I ever cancel Apple Music I'll lose access to all the music I have uploaded, because I will maintain a local backup of whatever of it is totally irreplaceable (primarily my own original compositions... everything else is commercial music which can be obtained again if need be)

Sorry for being dumb Jim but I'm still confused. If all my music is now on "Music" then as long as I have "Music" am I right that I don't need iTunes Match as everything is kept within "Music". The only benefit of iTunes Match is if I discontinue "Music" then I lose everything and this would not happen f I had kept iTunes Match?

Many thanks everyone. I think I've got it now.

As I have everything in "Music" and I use both Time Machine and a backup to an external hard drive, it seems that I no longer need to continue with my iTunes Match subscription.

Just one thing to clarify - when my subscription expires will I still be able to sync my iMac to my iPhone and also sync my iPhone to my car?

For a year now, I’ve been trying to cancel iTunes Match. Under my account I could never find the **** thing. Two days ago. I got a notice that unless I update my payment card, I will lose iTunes match, which is exactly what I wanna do anyway. It tells me to sign into my iTunes account and then cancel it. I can’t find iTunes Match under my account. in fact, for many years, I never even knew I was part of iTunes match until I get notices. Thank you for any help.

Which also begs the question, what about all the songs I have paid for to play on my iPad/iPhone. Will canceling “match” take those away? I love my music I don’t wanna lose it. Anyway, the question is how do I find iTunes Match in my account?

Cissy B

I found it via my phone, that was the easiest way. I believe it was in the Apple ID settings area, it showed me every service I'm subscribed to and allowed me to edit/change/remove the subscriptions.