How do I download my iTunes Match library to consolidate Music libraries?

Thank you for your reply.

I only have one Apple account, although I have changed the sign-in name, I don't think that should change the contents of my iTunes Match library. I have been a subscriber to iTunes Match since its inception. I find it a bit disconcerting that I now see a message stating that iTunes Match is "not a storage service", meaning, i suppose, that after confiding the contents of my personal collection of songs to the service, I might no longer be able to access them.

However, I was pleased to discover that although certain songs listed in Apple Music on my MacBook Pro are no longer playable because "the original file cannot be found", I was able to listen to them on my iPhone. Unfortunately, I have just looked on the MacBook Pro and I still get the message that they are not playable, or downloadable, because the original file cannot be found.

So, in conclusion, after paying for the iTunes Match service for... I would say at least 10 years, I discover that I no longer own the music I once had. And now I am seeing messages on this service that indicate that iTunes Match is no longer necessary, that Apple Music serves that same function! Is that true? I guess the only solution now is to take that crashed hard drive that contains all my music down to the lab and spend a few hundred bucks to have it transferred to a new hard drive.

Ok, I tried that. My old account name is still accepted, but it doesn't open the old library. I guess it only opens what has been added recently. So I am back with my current account name.

Here's the thing:

in the Music app, with my current account name, it shows the correct number of songs in my library, 85,749. That's why I can listen to them on my iPhone and iPad. What I can't do is play them on my Mac because I don't have the files on my hard drive. But they are in the iTunes Match Library that I painstakingly uploaded over the years thinking that I would always own those. I did have the original files on an external hard drive, but I can no longer read that hard drive.

Now, I remember a few years back, being able to download those files from iTunes Match, so there must be a way to do it. I've just forgotten how. Or, something has changed at Apple, because I now see this warning "iTunes Match is not a storage app", or something to that effect.

Do you know if there is any way to download that music which is DRM free, because it came from my private collection? I am going to try using the download arrow on individual albums, but I am afraid they are going to give me a DRM protected version that I will have to pay for, as if I was downloading it from the Apple Music program. I am going to test it on an irrelevant album. But still, even if that works, it is going to be a long, laborious process to download my entire collection, one album after another, one at a time. It would be more practical if I could just chose "All Songs" and let it download on it's own, even if it takes a couple of days.

Thank you. I'll give that a try. I had no idea that was possible.