Using Itunes Match as backup

[indiekid007]

I have a dilemma, I have over 80GB of music on my computer and I want to free up some space. I am looking at using iTunes Match as storage for my music instead of having it on the laptop but I have a couple of questions about it?

Once it is all uploaded to Match, if i delete it from my hard drive will iTunes still work or will it be constantly be looking for the physical files.
If I can delete it, how do I upload new music I acquire, do I have to physically put it on iTunes, then upload and then delete?
How does it work with my iPhone as I will never have the capacity to load all my songs on the phone. Is it easy to select an album or genre at a time to download to the phone?
Thanks in advance for your help

[spot1701]

To start with. Don't rely on iTunes Match as your only backup. It doesn't always get the match right, and you don't want to find out too late that you have the wrong song.

Originally Posted by indiekid007

Once it is all uploaded to Match, if i delete it from my hard drive will iTunes still work or will it be constantly be looking for the physical files.

iTunes Match isn't a full streaming service (..yet). So iTunes will work fine. It will know the file isn't local and is in the cloud. It will then begin to download the song, and play it at the same time.
But bare in mind it is downloading the file and won't re-delete it again once you've finished playing it. So if space is a premium you will eventually have a problem again.

If I can delete it, how do I upload new music I acquire, do I have to physically put it on iTunes, then upload and then delete?

Yes.

How does it work with my iPhone as I will never have the capacity to load all my songs on the phone. Is it easy to select an album or genre at a time to download to the phone?

Yes you can download albums/playlists in one hit. The iPhone is intelligent that if you start to run out of space, it will delete songs that you haven't played for awhile to make room for the new songs.

Hope that helps

[cjmnews]

This is a BAD idea.

You should ALWAYS have a copy of your music available. If you decide to not pay for iTunes Match, then you lose all the music you deleted to have a little space. What if iTunes decides that Match is not making enough money and shut it down, then you lose all the music you deleted.

Disk Space is cheap. Get an external drive, Consolidate your library to the external drive, and you can free up some internal disk space.