While Apple hasn’t given any concrete details about how Apple Music will work, Eddy Cue has been busy on Twitter, answering user questions.
Among the information he has provided include the fact that Apple Music will indeed work like iTunes Match, matching tracks, so you can play your own music together with music you stream from iTunes.
Eddy Cue also informed a user that Apple Music will start with a match limit of 25,000 tracks, but that this will increase to 100,000 tracks with the launch of iOS 9.
It’s not clear whether this number will also be applied to iTunes Match, but one can hope that it will. Like many iTunes users, I have been clamoring for an increase in the iTunes Match limit from 25,000 tracks to something allowing me to use my music library with iTunes Match.
Apple says that Apple Music and iTunes Match are “independent but complementary.” You’ll be able to have iTunes Match or Apple Music on its own. Apple Music will match tracks like iTunes Match, but I don’t see why you would want the two together.
We should know more tomorrow when Apple Music launches.
I am not an existing iTunes Match user but I plan to sign up for Apple Music and utilize the matching feature. Let’s say the vast majority of tracks in my existing iTunes library are already available for streaming in the Apple Music library and I turn the Match feature to “on” when I sign up for Apple Music. Do these “already available for streaming” tracks count against the 25,000 song limit?!
If so, it’s possible that users with larger iTunes libraries (like me, 40,000+ tracks) will quickly and easily waste the matching limit on songs that they could otherwise pull up on Apple Music and add to the My Music section of the app.
This could be yet another huge Apple could-related headache…
I am not an existing iTunes Match user but I plan to sign up for Apple Music and utilize the matching feature. Let’s say the vast majority of tracks in my existing iTunes library are already available for streaming in the Apple Music library and I turn the Match feature to “on” when I sign up for Apple Music. Do these “already available for streaming” tracks count against the 25,000 song limit?!
If so, it’s possible that users with larger iTunes libraries (like me, 40,000+ tracks) will quickly and easily waste the matching limit on songs that they could otherwise pull up on Apple Music and add to the My Music section of the app.
This could be yet another huge Apple could-related headache…