Apologies in advance if this has already been answered.
Let's say 1) I have a (legal) collection of music that I have ripped from my own CDs at high bitrate. 2) I do not need higher quality files and so don't subscribe to Match. 3) I am interested in what Apple Music offers and am fully prepared to have DRM files for tracks not in my collection, and not being able to play them after dropping my subscription.
Under what scenario do I risk having my DRM-free rips over-written by DRMd files?
1. Would streaming the same track from Apple Music do so?
2. Would saving a track from Apple Music for offline use do so?
If so, what precautions can be taken? Backing up my full music collection seems a brute-force approach. Avoiding using Apple Music to stream or attempt to keep for offline use tracks that I already own would be another. That may be impractical, as I can't say with 100% certainty that I have my own tracks locally every time they may get my interest in Apple Music. Surely there would be a practical way to protect your own (honest) rips from being replaced by DRM versions?
1.- No, not at all, streaming doesn't affect your library in any way, it's harmless.
2.- It is supposed to work in this way: Since iTunes detects you already own some songs and that they are locally downloaded in your library already, it should automatically match them to Apple Music. So, in theory, an option to "Add to Your Music" shouldn't even be there, since AM recognizes you already have those songs...
That's in theory, but in practice, the matching algorithm is still so bad that will work half the time, on some songs there won't be an option, but in some other songs, it will let you download, even though you already have those songs in your library...
That's still harmless, because if for reason you download the same song, it will make another copy, it won't replace your original file, so... As long as you do not delete your original files, you are safe.
