Itunes match how does it work

You can also download your files to any computer linked to your iTunes Match account, and listen to your music on any linked iOS device.

However, there is one essential difference between iTunes Match and Apple Music. As such, it is essential that you keep backups of your original files if you use Apple Music. Apple has toyed with the iTunes Match service for almost a year now. Finally, after several test runs, the service was officially opened up for the public a couple of weeks ago.

What it does is to search your music library and find the match for your entire music collection from the iTunes Store. Once matches are found, iTunes Match adds these to your iCloud storage. Once those matches are stored in iCloud, you can stream and if needed restore them on your iOS devices.

This applies to all the music files in your collection, including any low-quality ones. Moreover, it does the job almost automatically, unlike how you upload music to Spotify where you need to transfer the files from your computer to a playlist manually.

Here are the types of content the service covers and how it works on those: 1. Music bought via iTunes will be automatically synced to your iCloud Music Library. Music stored in your PC, and on a connected hard drive if any, will be matched and uploaded instantly to your iCloud Music Library. The advent of Apple Music has eclipsed iTunes Match.

As a result, some users now see the latter service as irrelevant. To gauge whether it is the same for you or not, you need to know what the differences between the two are. First and foremost, Apple no longer uses iTunes Match as a separate service term.

It is now part of iTunes, a component of the music store and player itself, although it retains its functions.

Apple making iTunes Match take a step back for Apple Music is a big reason other people think the former service is going obsolete. But let us compare the two services first based on other factors below:.

Additionally, you can also download up to , songs into your library when subscribed to the service. That was before the service got absorbed by iTunes. We want to point out that the cost is not exactly a subscription fee, but a fee to activate the service and maintain your iCloud Music Library. What makes iTunes Match so appealing is how it matches a song file from your local drive and uploads the same music to your iCloud Music Library for offline use.

The AI technology the service uses is well beyond its peers when you think of its early years. The only catch is that the service has to match a locally stored music file with the similar one from the iTunes Store.

In contrast, Apple Music does not require the said condition before you can stream music from its library. Don't see the iTunes Store on your Mac? On your PC, click Store at the top of the iTunes window. Scroll to the bottom of the Store window. Under Features, click iTunes Match. Click the Subscribe button. Sign in with the Apple ID and password. Confirm your billing information. You might need to add a valid payment method.

Then click Subscribe. Go to the General tab and select iTunes Store.