I have 60,000 songs. No iTunes Match for me?

Question

A lot of that is doubles, and some files that I wouldn't want to go into Match anyway. But even if I cleaned up the library, I'm sure it would be more than the 25k song limit. Can I not use iTunes Match?

Answer 1

You can, and many of us do, but you need to do some work first.
First job, which is optional but advised, is to sort through your library and get rid of duplicates and unwanted tracks.
Then, decide which tracks you want in the cloud, and set up a library with just those tracks on. There are many ways of doing that, but I did it when sorting out my library, using home sharing to import them onto a different computer. Then you rn match on that library.
What you do with your main library is u to you. Some people are keeping their main library intact whilst having th paired down library for match. The issue I see with this is that you have to effectively try to keep elements of the two libraries synced.
What I have ended up doing is having my main library on match, containing about 27,500 tracks ( including iTunes purchases), and a separate second library containing the rest, which is not matched, but can be listened to using home sharing.
If that all sounds like too much effort then you are probably correct, and at the momen I'd recommend not using match.
One thing to remember is that iTunes purchases are not included in the 25,000 limit so if you have purchased from iTunes you can go over that amount.