I've got a slightly different issue, but it's very much around this area.
I have music on my Windows 11 machine. Various stuff I've previously ripped from CD, or downloaded in "the olden days" of Napster and Limewire etc. Possibly even a few legitimately purchased tracks but there's no DRM on any of them. It's about 2500 songs. I'm advised that through Music Match, to which I've subscribed, literally everything I have - it's all pretty mainstream to be honest - SHOULD be able to be "matched" and re-downloaded at a higher quality.
I downloaded iTunes for Windows, and it promptly updated and said it's no longer the tool to use, to get the Apple Music app. I liked the idea of iTunes because I can simply buy the tracks I'd like with no subscription fee. Yes, I've paid for Music Match, but that's for a specific reason and will likely be a once off.
I got the Apple Music app and now it wants me to subscribe at $12.99/month to do anything with it. That's not going to happen. I'm already subscribed to YouTube Premium which gives me YouTube Music for any streaming needs. I'm not paying for another subscription on top of the already existing 8 or 9 streaming subscriptions, given that my need is to have physical tracks I can copy to a USB stick to play in a stereo in a machine at work. Not allowed to stream from phones, or plug a phone in, it HAS to be standalone USB. So my need is, as I said, downloading copies I can actually transfer and use on a USB. I can't purchase from YouTube Music like we used to be able to on Google Play Music.
So how can I tell if my Music Match is doing anything? With iTunes there used to be the little cloud symbol, but there's nothing like that in Apple Music.
Apple Music pretty much refuses to let me see anything beyond searching for tracks/artists without a valid subscription. I'm not going to double up on that just to be able to have the privilege to spend more than $2 per track when I do want to buy, but that's literally going to be a handful every couple of months at best.
