Where Has iTunes Match Gone?

Apple Music uses the iCloud Music Library, which works – sort of – like iTunes Match. But if you have an iTunes Match subscription, you may still want to use that service, either on a single device or computer, or on all of them. There is one reason why you should: when you match music with iCloud Music Library, and then download files, your downloads have DRM. When you match music with iTunes Match, the downloads are DRM-free.

This means that if you match or upload your own rips to iCloud Music Library, you should really keep backups; you may not be able to get DRM-free originals later.

But the big problem is that iTunes Match is now MIA. Having turned off iCloud Music Library on my Mac, I no longer see any mention of iTunes Match, nor do I see the music that is in my iTunes Match library. A number of users of Apple’s support forums concur with this.

Is anyone seeing iTunes Match? I don’t know if this is a temporary glitch, or if this is a “feature.” Apple has said that iTunes Match and Apple Music are complementary and independent…

Update: There is an entry in the Account menu, if you’re not signed into your iTunes Store account. If you are, however, there’s no way to activate iTunes Match.