Serenity Caldwell has been writing and talking about and tinkering with Apple products since she was old enough to double-click. Managing editor of iMore, she hosts a number of popular podcasts and speaks frequently at conferences. In past lives she worked at Macworld and Apple Retail.
Apple Music is getting a major improvement: Your personal music library will soon be matched to the DRM-free iTunes Match catalog.
When Apple Music launched, the service boasted that in addition to the subscription catalog, you could listen to your personal music collection anywhere with iCloud Music Library. But unlike the company's iTunes Match service, tracks were matched with metadata only, and they were matched to the DRM-encumbered Apple Music catalog rather than the DRM-free iTunes Music catalog.
This led to many issues with track matching as well as people panicking that Apple Music was DRM-locking their libraries, and quite a few pleas from me for Apple to maybe just ditch matching altogether.
But there's good news ahead: While Apple may not have taken my advice exactly, the company is majorly fixing Apple Music's matching problems: Starting today, the company is rolling out iTunes Match's features to all of its Apple Music subscribers.
Wait, what does that mean?
In short: All non-Apple Music tracks you own are matching to the iTunes Store catalog, with audio fingerprinting for better results, and they will show up as Matched or Uploaded on your auxiliary devices. DRM matching is gone: The only tracks encumbered by DRM from here on out will be those downloaded from Apple Music directly.
Any personal tracks you purchased or ripped from CDs will display as Matched, or (if Apple can't match them to the iTunes catalog) Uploaded.
From Jim Dalrymple at The Loop:
This is, in fact, the same version of iTunes Match that iTunes users could pay for as a separate subscription since Apple began offering it years ago. I am one of those users. However, all subscribers to Apple Music will get the new version of iTunes Match at no extra cost.
This also means that the $25/year iTunes Match service is being deprecated; anyone who subscribes to Apple Music will now get it as part of their subscription.
Why is this a big deal?
Not only will your matched songs hopefully be more accurate thanks to audio fingerprinting, but not having DRM on your personal tracks is a gigantic win for users and greatly simplifies Apple Music headaches.
While I still encourage everyone to have a full backup of their iTunes library before subscribing to any cloud service, this now means that even if you accidentally (or intentionally) delete your personal iTunes library on your main Mac, you'll be able to re-download copies of those songs that are DRM-free. I'd still love to see a force-upload option for tracks, but this is a huge step in the right direction.
How does this personally affect me?
Got lost in the mumbo-jumbo above? Here's the deal for your specific situation.
If you don't use Apple Music or iTunes Match
Not much, but if you're considering signing up for Apple Music, the matching algorithm just got a whole lot more reliable and doesn't involve DRM-locking secondary copies of your music library.
If you only use iTunes Match
Currently, the iTunes Match service still exists, and your active subscription won't go away without you cancelling it.
If you only use Apple Music
Any music you purchased from iTunes, ripped from CDs, or had in your library will soon be classified as Purchased, Matched, or Uploaded, and will not have DRM applied to it. When you download one of those tracks on another device you own, it's yours forever and won't disappear if you cancel your subscription. (Apple Music tracks and playlists will disappear or become unplayable if you cancel, because they weren't your songs in the first place.)
If you use both Apple Music and iTunes Match
You will soon no longer have to pay for both services: Apple Music is getting iTunes Match bundled inside of it.
What isn't changing?
- Any tracks or playlists you download from the Apple Music subscription library will be DRM-encumbered, because you don't own them, and will disappear if you cancel your subscription.
- If you cancel Apple Music, any iCloud Music Library tracks you don't have stored on a device will disappear. (Matched or uploaded tracks you did download will stay the same.)
When can I get the new version of Apple Music matching?
Apple is taking a steady approach to the iTunes Match rollout for Apple Music subscribers, moving over 1-2 percent of its users every day. The rollout will happen automatically, so you won't need to do anything; once you are rolled over, expect to see "Matched" instead of "Apple Music" on your iCloud Music Library tracks.
Other questions?
Let me know below.
Reader comments
Apple Music will now let you store your music library DRM-free
So if I pay for both, the question I have, will I need to cancel my sub for Match, or will they just credit me?
Curious.. As long as it works.. thats cool.. if it doesn't.. Expect a Jim like response from everyone who tries it.
Basically, this is just the matching process should be more accurate as it will use the same matching process as iTunes Match, and if it does work, then u just gotta decide if u need DRM free matched music or not to keep iTunes match.
Too late for me.. I turned off auto renew on both services tonight..
Not exactly. As a subscriber to both, once I am converted over, I will no longer need to pay the $25/year to keep Match. As long as you continue to subscribe to Apple Music, any tracks you own will be DRM free on all your devices. iTunes Match will become redundant.
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That's not what it says
"Not only will your matched songs hopefully be more accurate thanks to audio fingerprinting, but not having DRM on your personal tracks is a gigantic win for users and greatly simplifies Apple Music headaches.'
So Matching will improve but Apple Music will now give you DRM free versions of music you own.
My question is, how will I know once my Apple Music has switched over. I use both Apple Music and iTunes Match, because I currently want DRM free. Once DRM free comes to Apple Music it'd be nice to have an indicator as to when the change happens so I can cancel iTunes Match.
Same here. I don't renew until late October/early November (whatever the anniversary of it going live is). I will assume it will be done by then, so I will just turn off auto-renew
opps.. so DRM free now ... for Apple music...
How will this work with Family Sharing?
Guessing that any music those members devices that are owned will now have no DRM across devices. But any on yours (as the primary) will not automatically be DRM free for them.
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Yup, exactly.
So does this mean I'll no longer have to hear the clean version of songs now?
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In theory. Match was never perfect about this, either.
Just to check my understanding, if I cancel Apple Music, I will lose all my matched music too unless already downloaded to a device?
Posted via the iMore App for Android
That is my understanding. However, I think iTunes Match had a 14 day or 1 month grace period for downloading them.
Any matched music in iCloud. It won't strip your local copies. (Previously, any local copies you'd re-downloaded or downloaded to another computer from iCloud were matched to the Apple Music library, and would have been rendered unplayable.)
Finally! I may try this again, but I switched to Google Play Music long ago. Hopefully this resolves the big bag of hurt that music on Apple has been up until now!
Posted via the iMore App for Android
Thanks for the article, Serenity. But what has stopped me from trying to use iCloud Music Library is that I can't afford to find it ripping up my carefully edited metadata on all my iTunes Library tracks. It took me ages to fix all that Artist/Song Title/Composer info the way I want it — is there any way I can be sure that when a track is matched on iCloud Music Library it won't also go ahead and ruin all that cataloging? (And who ever thought it would be a good idea to list artists by their first name anyway??) Thanks!
Benjamin Pilkington
Ugh, I wish there was an option for force upload to preserve metadata, Benjamin, but no dice yet. Definitely continue filing bug reports and encouraging Apple to add this as an option.
Edit: typos
I'm using a PC, so not sure how this works for a Mac. On PC, though, if you set your music files to "Read Only", iTunes can't change the metadata on them. So once they are all matched, it'll probably be a mess on your iPhone or iPad, but it'll be all right on iTunes, at least.
As I've discovered after a while using it, once a song is matched to the Apple Music catalog, any metadata changes you make on iTunes will also be done on all of your devices. So, as long as you remember to retoggle the files to "Read Only" after making the changes, you're good to go.
What I did to make all my tagging correct on my iPhone was first synching music via iTunes, only then turning iCloud Library on and waiting about two days to make sure all of it was matched. Then I went to manually cut/paste the album cover and any tagging I wanted to be corrected - yep, manually. I have about 50GB of music (made it to every single album, to be sure), and not much time to play so it was about two weeks of work - but so **** worth it. Now even when I modify tagging on Apple Music offline songs, it'll travel across my devices (like changing covers, or removing "Deluxe Edition" from an album name). This makes Apple Music the best streaming service for me now (and I've tried ALL of them - even Groove).
This is essentially what I had to do as well, and I also have a very large iTunes music library.
My iTunes Match subscription is due on august 1st. Since I am subscribed to Apple Music , should I renew iTunes Match? What's the way I will know Apple Music is upgraded to DRM free music if I am subscribed to both
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As long as you have your complete library downloaded locally, it shouldn't hurt either way to cancel Match — from there, you should be able to check iCloud Status to see if Apple Music has transitioned over for you. (I've just always cautioned against cancelling Match if you're storing your library in iCloud and don't have a physical backup.)
I have backup of the library on my local machine.. then I will think over it by Jul 31 and cancel the match subscription...
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How do you check iCloud Status? If it is in the System Status page what would show if it has transitioned?
I made the iCloud Status column visible in my song list on iTunes, and the status is shown.
Thanks. Didn't even think of checking there.
Maybe you could add a bit in the section "If you use both Apple Music and iTunes Match":
When should I cancel iTunes Match? How do I cancel Match? Can I cancel iTunes Match immediately and get my money back or do I have to wait for the end of the subscription even if it will be in December so I have to pay for many months for nothing?
Hey there! I'd wait until Apple announces the rollout's completion before cancelling Match. Here's our how-to on that front (and yes, you can get a portion of your money back if you email Apple Support): http://www.imore.com/how-unsubscribe-itunes-match
so, does this mean i can move remixes/somgs not on itunes/apple
music to my devices and not just my computer?
Sent from the iMore App
Yup! You've always been able to do that via iCloud Music Library's "upload" feature.
Thanks for the great article and explanation. I am an Apple Music and iTunes Match subscriber and My account has been converted - and now it is very clear what the status of each song is and Apple Music songs are clearly labeled. This is what Apple Music should have done from the beginning - they had the iTunes Match capability when Apple Music launched - this would have saved a lot of headaches and eliminated some of the bad reports Apple Music got early on with folks with large libraries. I cannot understand why they launched without this. That said, glad they've implemented this change..
issachs, how can you tell that your account has been converted? I too have both Apple Music and iTunes Match, so songs are already shown as "Matched" in iTunes on my Mac.
My songs are all listed accurately by purchased, matched, Apple Music, etc. I don't recall that it was accurate previously, so that's why I think it has been converted.
Thanks! I'll check to see what the status is in my library.
Hey Serenity. Thank you for another fantastic and in depth apple music report!
I lost a tone of tracks last year when my music was mistakenly uploaded as 'apple music' (with DRM) instead of 'matched' (I've always paid for both services). Does this new policy apply to tracks already stored in iCloud Music Library? Thanks again!
Yes, it does! As long as you have your original files on your Mac, everything should be done automatically; if for whatever reason you're not seeing things matched accurately, you may have to reset iCloud Music Library as a worst-case. http://www.imore.com/how-to-fix-itunes-errors-icloud-music-library-apple-music-itunes-match
Do you know if people that are Apple Music subscribers but not Match users have seen this conversion from Apple Music to Uploaded or Matched? I heard they'd be through everyone by the end of August, but I'm still sitting on the incorrect Apple Music status for 50GB+ of live recordings that are incorrectly matched to the studio versions of these songs. Here's a discussion on my saga... https://discussions.apple.com/message/30598521?ac_cid=op123456#30598521