[Ringfinger]

I have iTunes Match. I painstakingly went through the upload process and then downloaded the files from the cloud onto my computer. I saved the originals as a back-up in case a file got replaced that I did not want.

Now, I am interested in trying out iMusic but am hesitant as to exactly what will happen to my music and will it go through this whole process again? I want to try it but not at the sake of my library. Also, if I were to change, I assume I would no longer need match and will that too screw up my library?

[BreakingKayfabe]

First thing first: It seems as though the term "iTunes Match" is being replaced with "iCloud Music Library" which you enable in Settings - Music.

You don't have to worry about what's on iTunes on your computer right now because Apple Music isn't available on the Mac/PC. If you enable it on your phone it might have an effect on music you have saved on your device storage. I say this because I've already seen a couple of posts from people saying that those are gone. But you really have nothing to lose by enabling it on your iPhone or iPad since all your music is saved on your computer. It has worked well for me so far.

[Just_Me_D]

As stated in another thread, Music and iTunes Match are independent of each other, but complimentary. In other words, your iTunes Match stuff will still be available to you.

Source: https://www.apple.com/apple-music/#mn_p

[Ringfinger]

I follow you. My main concern is that when I signed up for iMusic, the whole matching process would happen again possibly corrupting what I have on my PC but I guess that so long as I don't download anything from the cloud so to say I would be fine?

Second concern is if it matches again would it screw up what I already had in the cloud? I store no music locally on my phone so that is not an issue for me, just replacing what is in the cloud but again so what, as long as I have my copy on my PC I should be good?

When I signed up for match, I let it scan my music and upload what it had to and then once that happened, I deleted all of my music and then downloaded from the cloud so I had a higher bitrate version, etc. I saved all of my original files on a back-up drive in case anything got corrupted.

Bottom line, I guess I have nothing to lose as I store nothing on my phone and so long as I do not re-download anything on my computer, I should be okay?

Now the eternal question as to whether I keep match or not as it renews in November.