Apple Music problems since iOS 18 update - common issue?

I noticed quite by chance recently that large swathes of some of the 6000 downloaded tunes in my Apple Music library on my iPhone were suddenly......no longer downloaded. This has never happened before.

I only noticed this as, when driving my car, playing random tunes via: Songs - Shuffle, either the music would stop for no apparent reason, or my 'phone would start to download the tune again, but using mobile data whilst I was driving (so I couldn't really check what was going on), which in the country I live in is a very expensive exercise.

I had a rather unproductive Apple Support chat session today lasting 2 hours, with 3 different support operatives, gaining in seniority as each one admitted they were out of their depth. The last of the 3 gave me incorrect advice and also blamed the loss of downloaded tunes on my VPN app (notwithstanding the fact that I've been using this app constantly for 10 years, with no problems).

The last piece of advice she gave which hasn't turned out to be true was that I had to charge my phone to over 50% and then it would start re-downloading all the missing downloads automatically. Well, it didn't.

I am now having to go through my entire library of 6000 or so tunes, manually downloading each one for which the download itself was removed (inexplicably) by Apple's system. This is very time consuming - and, time being the one thing that we can't replenish, I am not at all happy.

Whilst doing this, other glitches have come to light, with which I wont bore you.

I find it really galling that a company such as Apple, with its vast resources and in the light that it charges a lot for its products and puts itself on a pedestal in terms of apparent tech insight, innovation and customer service, can't just admit when it is in the wrong - and devote the necessary resources to correcting its mistakes asap.

Not good enough Apple. If you have similar problems, please write on the Apple Feedback page, which I understand is the only customer feedback they pay attention to.