Subscribe to iTunes Mactch ($25 annually 100,000 songs matched and upgraded to AAC if they’re lesser bit rate or MP3’s.)
I’ve been doing so for a decade now. The library is 1.41TB, and culled to about 99,900. No purchases made through iTunes (Music) counts against your limit of 100k. I had a few thousand over (106,000) that took me months to curate when I did -n but if you have a Mac of some sort at home with your music on internal/external drive and library setup in iTunes as your primary library. (Settings, Music, Storage (or something like that in preferences) and set to your external drive with the library.)
Check keep organized and set your input settings. AAC is fine in fidelity. As good as Redbook IMO - better than CD (red hat 16/44.1) and you have to have a pre-amp that can playback the uncompressed 1/2GB single files so stay away from uncompressed. You can’t even stream uncompressed without a DAC in the chain
After you let your collection upload - all songs that are standard songs or usual mixes will auto match, all your unique tunes, mixes, audio files, effects, etc will be uploaded to your locker and stay there for as long as you pay 2 bucks a month.
The cool deal is it can be set up on the external drive on the iPad, iPhone, iMac, Mac Mini - etc but take up a GB or 2 for the file names and position. No files are transferred to your Mama Drive taking space on the Mac. If you keep a hard copy on SSD (external closure) you can take with you (if playing professionally) and plug into the drive from iPad or iPhone - and access it that way OR you can just set up a VNC to your home computer which will cue up and ready your track for playback no matter where you are (assuming you have WiFi or 5G) OR download from the cloud/stream (it defaults to stream not DL) from your iTunes Match locker.
The really cool deal is Apple Music’s opening up to nearly all decks/controllers/streamers/software & hardware their library for playback. And if you have Apple Music sub, you’re able to playback any of their 80,000,000 tunes through dJay, Serrato, Pioneer’s goofy proprietary format - Rekord??? Whatever it’s called. I think only Traktor was left out, possibly Virtual DJ too. But they’ll be on board soon.
In the meantime if you use either Trak or VirDJ - try dJay from Algoriddim on the App Store. Excellent product I’ve used for nearly 15 years now - and it’s compatible with almost every piece of mainstream audio hardware (via USB/TB) hooked up through an iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc.
It’s a HUGE move. And other than your personal mixes, clips, beds, audio bits, etc - every song you can think of is on AM - and with dJay, you can do anything and everything you can on the last CDJ-Nexus or ShowTime or whatever they were before AlphaTheta DDJ FLX2/4 Pioneer rebrand - to the reLoop buddy or the Hercules Control Mix for a $100. If using a Mac or iPad or iPhone, it’s either plug and play or a hot spot without hardwiring anything. uses Bluetooth LE or WiFi, your choice.
You are also set to rock with a full on CDJ 3000, 2000NXS2, or 2000NXS, XDJ-1000 rig. You can use the CD/XDJ as a standalone controller or in compo with an audio interface or mixer like Pioneeer’s DJM-900NXS2! (About $10,000 for a pair of decks and the 900, cabling and a good laptop stand. OR user RekordBox (that’s it!!!)
algoriddim.com/hardware - Allen and Heath, AlphTheat, Casio, Denon (a dozen or more), Hercules (15+), ION, M-Audio, Native Instruments, Novatioon and at least two dozen Numarks, maybe three dozen Pioneers. Rane. ReLoop. Even Tíësto’s ‘Next Beat’, 8-10 Vestax rigs - AIOs, separates, you get the point. Software’s about $35 a year and insanely capable - wildly intuitive and extremely reliable. If your hardware isn’t on its official list by using dJay Pro’s MIDI learn feature. Connect MIDI controller to Mac, follow the directions and map the hardware controls to functions in the software via your hardware.
***I do not in any way shape or form represent Algoriddim, dJay, or any of the hardware partners, I’m simply an extremely satisfied user of the software since the original app dropped. I’ve owned it since. Used to use Serrato when it released but learned the way most of us did who are now > 50 years old. Watched the entire transition from analog to digital - and unlike many - I quite like doing less work and sounding better than the old days of twin Tech 1300s (predecessor to the venerable 1200s), a pair of Century 100s, and a balance knob!