If you have a big collection of obscure/foreign music (video game music is a great example), then nothing beats Apple Music + iCloud Music Library and iTunes match.
You can use iTunes match to provide cloud-based high quality versions for music ripped from your CDs (or collected during your teenage Napster years).
Even better, being able to mix content from your iCloud Music Library and streamable content from Apple Music is a huge plus.
Does it touch my original files in any way? I have a huge selection of rare and obscure music not available via iTunes or any streaming service. Obviously I don't want any service to touch, modify or replace these or any of my more popular release. I'm wary about auto matching. Should I be?
Lossless files are stored as 256kbps AAC in their cloud. I believe lossy MP3s and AACs are uploaded as-is. (I'm glad that Apple is aware that transcoding is generally a bad thing.)
iTunes also doesn't upload files that don't have a minimum bitrate of 96kbps [1].
You can use iTunes match to provide cloud-based high quality versions for music ripped from your CDs (or collected during your teenage Napster years).
Even better, being able to mix content from your iCloud Music Library and streamable content from Apple Music is a huge plus.