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Hicksmat1976

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 12, 2016
384
367
Manchester, England
hi all.

I only recently discovered that I didn't need an iTunes Match sub as an existing Apple Music subscriber. I flagged this to Apple and they refunded me 2 years iTunes Match subs without even asking them to - kudos to them!

my question though relates to the iCloud status of my music in iTunes itself.

I was expecting to see either matched, or uploaded as the two possible options here but I was surprised to see that some of my music had nothing in the iCloud status column or it had Apple Music (as well as Matched and Uploaded).

All of this music is in the cloud btw, none of it is local to the Mac I am using.

I read that if the iCloud status is "Apple Music" then I must have added that song/album to my iCloud music via Apple Music (and therefore it has all the DRM still intact) - however I know for a fact these songs/albums were uploaded by me years ago before Apple Music was around and it should instead have matched or uploaded as its iCloud status.

Can anyone explain it?

many thanks!
 

Phil A.

Moderator emeritus
Apr 2, 2006
5,800
3,100
Shropshire, UK
With only an Apple music subscription, if a song is matched, it's matched to the Apple Music version (complete with DRM).

This is the key difference between having and not having iTunes Match: If you have it then matched songs will be available to re-download without DRM but if you don't then anything that's matched will always have DRM attached, even if you added it through your own music.

Because of this, you should make sure you never delete the original music as you won't be able to get it back from Apple Music
 

Hicksmat1976

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 12, 2016
384
367
Manchester, England
hang on mate you haven't read what I wrote.

I said ALL of my iCloud music was added BEFORE I ever signed up for Apple Music.

cough.
[doublepost=1517926041][/doublepost]and

"DRM matching is gone: The only tracks encumbered by DRM from here on out will be those downloaded from Apple Music directly."

https://www.imore.com/apple-rolling-out-improved-itunes-match-apple-music-subscribers
[doublepost=1517926392][/doublepost]seems this is the issue I have from way back when:
https://www.imore.com/seeing-matched-tracks-as-apple-music-heres-fix

annoying! Apple should have really fixed that themselves without us having to do all the work, we didn't cause it after all.
 

Brookzy

macrumors 601
May 30, 2010
4,985
5,577
UK
With only an Apple music subscription, if a song is matched, it's matched to the Apple Music version (complete with DRM).

This is the key difference between having and not having iTunes Match: If you have it then matched songs will be available to re-download without DRM but if you don't then anything that's matched will always have DRM attached, even if you added it through your own music.

Because of this, you should make sure you never delete the original music as you won't be able to get it back from Apple Music
This used to be the case, but for a while now the matching features included with Apple Music are identical to iTunes Match. If my memory serves me correctly I believe this has been the case since mid 2016.

[There is one exception: the only possible instance where you would need both an iTunes Match and an Apple Music subscription is if you own an Apple TV (2nd or 3rd generation) and want to listen to your music on it. This is because those models support iTunes Match but not Apple Music.]

seems this is the issue I have from way back when:
https://www.imore.com/seeing-matched-tracks-as-apple-music-heres-fix

annoying! Apple should have really fixed that themselves without us having to do all the work, we didn't cause it after all.
Personally I would give it a few days to sort itself out before trying to manually fix it.
 

Phil A.

Moderator emeritus
Apr 2, 2006
5,800
3,100
Shropshire, UK
This used to be the case, but for a while now the matching features included with Apple Music are identical to iTunes Match. If my memory serves me correctly I believe this has been the case since mid 2016.

[There is one exception: the only possible instance where you would need both an iTunes Match and an Apple Music subscription is if you own an Apple TV (2nd or 3rd generation) and want to listen to your music on it. This is because those models support iTunes Match but not Apple Music.]


Personally I would give it a few days to sort itself out before trying to manually fix it.

I stand corrected - sorry, wasn't aware of that change
 
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pitt1717

macrumors 6502
Jul 13, 2007
306
37
so to confirm, if I sign up for Apple Music I can safely cancel my match subscription and not fear my music will be DRM'ed? even if I rip a cd and it matches like I currently do?
 
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Randomizer

macrumors member
Feb 1, 2012
62
7
I just experimented with a 192k 'Matched' MP3. I saved a copy elsewhere and then deleted it. I then found the track it had matched to in Apple Music. It no longer showed it had matched. It looked like any other Apple Music track with the + next to it. I clicked that + and then again to download it to my Mac. I ended up with a 256k DRM Apple Music version. My understanding was that this should not have contained DRM?
 
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