I prefer to buy, not rent music. Bandcamp is good for it and they sell FLAC. This is also fitting comparison to cassettes library a lot more than Apple Music where it's not your library, but Apple's.
Other stores like 7digital are also good.
Other stores like 7digital are also good.
The combination of the iTunes Store, Apple Music, and iTunes Match is the most expansive music service offering I can think of.
I still prefer stores that sell FLAC. Apple's aversion to common open audio formats always irritated me.
One of which gives you re-downloadable DRM-free files.
iTunes Match lets you "upload" your library to Apple. It matches your library against Apple's catalog. If they have the song, you get a copy of their version of the song. If it doesn't have a match, they retain your uploaded file.
I have a lot of random local music that isn't on iTunes, and which you can't easily find anymore. For years, I was paranoid about losing my ripped copies of the files, but iTunes Match has preserved them for me, in the cloud, for years now.
The iTunes Store is the "purchase the file" store.
The iTunes Store sells M4A, which is a common open audio format.
The iTunes Store does not, however, sell lossless files, as far as I know. Apple Lossless (ALAC) is only available when streaming from Apple Music.
You can purchase music from Bandcamp and upload it to your apple collection. I bought an album from Bandcamp today.
There are a bunch of stores that sell FLAC that I use:
* https://www.junodownload.com
* https://www.prostudiomasters.com
Can't comment on prices, I didn't really do a comprehensive analysis.