How do I copy music onto my Apple iPhone from iTunes?

I'm stumped. With my iPod I simply drag and drop the music I want to take with me from my library onto the iPod on the left side of iTunes, but my Apple iPhone doesn't allow me to do that. How the heck do I put songs on the iPhone without synchronizing my entire (massive) music library?

Dave's Answer:

As with much to do with the iPhone, there's a bit of a trick to getting this working smoothly so you can have control over your iPhone music, while keeping it as darn easy to work with as possible. The answer? Create a custom playlist for your iPhone music library.

Let me show you how to do it - it's pretty darn easy.

Pop into iTunes and choose File --> New Playlist. Now rename it to something logical: I use "iPhone Sync":

Apple iTunes in Mac OS X: New Playlist for iPhone

Now you can just drag and drop music from your iTunes library (in iTunes, needless to say) into this new playlist. When you're ready, you'll see a bunch of music happily ensconced in the playlist (remember, it's all just "pointers": the actual music files are still safely in the main music library, so if you delete something from a playlist , you haven't deleted the original music file itself):

Notice here on the very bottom of the iTunes window it shows you how many songs are in the playlist, along with the size and total playing time. For my current playlist, it's 140 songs, 10.1 hours, for a total file size of 851MB, no problem for my 4GB Apple iPhone.

At this point, you need to plug in your iPhone if you haven't already done so. It'll pop up the usual summary screen:

Cool. Now click on the "Music" tab and you'll see that you can select "sync playlist". Do that, then select the new iPhone sync playlist you've created, as shown here:

Apple iTunes in Mac OS X: Synchronizing New Playlist with iPhone

Set things up just as I have shown and that's all there is to it. Now click "Sync" in iTunes and it'll synchronize your playlist with the iPhone music library and next time you click on that ole' "iPod" button on the iPhone, your selections from you music library will be present.

Oh, and one really nice feature of creating this playlist is that you can manage it, adding and deleting songs to your heart's desire, even without your iPhone present. Whatever changes you make are instantly applied to your iPhone music library the very next time you synchronize the device. Suddenly even 8GB might feel small. :-)

Still learning about your iPhone? We have lots of iPhone help here on the site!

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Categorized: Mac OS X Help , iPhone and Cell Phone Help (Article 7470, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: apple iphone, apple itunes, mac os x
Previous: How do I download photos to my Apple iPhone?
Next: Why can't I watch a movie I just bought in iTunes?

Reader Comments To Date: 646

Stephanie said, on June 4, 2009 2:25 PM:

Hi i tried your tips for downloading music on to iphone and it did not work Help

Sonia said, on June 19, 2009 8:07 AM:

My 21-year-old wasn't available to help me. Thank you for helping me and being available to help so, so, so many others, too. You're awesome!

Linda said, on June 24, 2009 4:51 PM:

thank you thank you thank you--you made downloading music from iTunes to my new iPhone/iPod section very easy!
Linda

Debbi Roberts said, on June 24, 2009 5:28 PM:

Thank you thank you thank you!

colin said, on June 25, 2009 1:05 AM:

This was super helpful, thank you very very much!

Colin

Nina said, on June 25, 2009 9:59 PM:

Simple straight directions.............thank you, you are wonderful!!!!

Carol said, on June 27, 2009 9:24 PM:

Thank you very much. I was about to go crazy!!!!! trying to figure out how to put
my songs on my new iphone. Funny, but instructions didn't come with my new phone, you'd think as much as I paid, I'd at least get some sort of instructions to go by.

Anyway, thanks again!!!

nick said, on July 1, 2009 4:45 PM:

Hi

I followed your advise to download songs from Itunes to my Iphone, but when I get to the point (At this point, you need to plug in your iPhone if you haven't already done so. It'll pop up the usual summary screen:), the pop up screen does not appear ?

Anupam said, on July 3, 2009 11:12 AM:

Great article... I was so looking for this information... thx a bunch :)

Dips said, on July 3, 2009 1:50 PM:

Simple and easy. Thanks for this information.

Randy said, on July 6, 2009 12:06 PM:

bought iphone 3g and trying to sinc my 824 songs to it. works with my ipod 32, but not my iphone 32. About 600 songs are from cd;s and 200 from itunes. it only is transferring the itunes bought songs, although it works with my ipod 32 touch. help!

Subhan Babu said, on July 7, 2009 4:46 AM:

I have connected iphone cable to my PCs USB.But there is no message showing New Hardware Found and no display of Removable Drive my USBs are working perfectly can you sugget me Whats the problem...?

Chris said, on July 8, 2009 7:48 PM:

Thanks so much man, very detailed but yet very simple. much appreciated.

Fabian said, on July 9, 2009 2:16 PM:

I have a iphone and it doesnt let me put music or videos. i did wat u said and it still wont work. i drag it and it wont show up

Andrew said, on July 18, 2009 10:21 AM:

Many thanks!!! So easy. Spent so much time trying to figure this out!!

Ralph said, on July 19, 2009 2:45 AM:

Can you please tell me the best way to transfer music from limewire to itunes, and then to my ipod and iphone. Thank in advance.

monique said, on July 21, 2009 6:48 PM:

your instructions were perfect! thank you so very much :)

Mike said, on July 22, 2009 2:36 PM:

This is not (or at least, no longer) necessary. In iTunes, select your iPhone device and go to the Summary tab. Under Options, check the box for "Manually manage music and videos." You may then drag music from your iTunes library song list to your iPhone device listing in the left pane.

Alfred Maruma said, on July 24, 2009 1:39 AM:

HOW DO I SYNC MUSIC FROM ITUNES?

dennis said, on July 26, 2009 9:22 PM:

After I plug in mt I phone but the itune still the same,did not pop up the usual summary screen,why?

Satty said, on July 29, 2009 2:23 PM:

Man it worked great, Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!!

Rathish said, on August 3, 2009 1:56 PM:

when my iphone is connected to the pc it shows only camera plz tell me how to tackle this

Lisa said, on August 4, 2009 6:10 AM:

THANK YOU!!!

Linda Mac said, on August 11, 2009 8:10 AM:

When I plug the phone into the computer, there is no summary screen with my phone. It is only listed as a device but nothing happens after that? Please help?

Dave Taylor said, on August 11, 2009 8:21 AM:

Rathish and Linda, what happens if you plug in your iPhone then launch iTunes? Does the app, after a few seconds, see the phone?

Erin Herrero said, on August 16, 2009 1:12 PM:

Thank YOU! Thank YOU! Thank YOU!

Sheldon said, on August 29, 2009 5:12 PM:

Terrific tips! Too bad they've made it so darn difficult.

ONE POINT: The last button is actually "Apply" now, not "Sync." Maybe it's because I'm using the new 3Gs?

ali said, on September 3, 2009 8:36 AM:

thank you sooooooo much i can now listen to music on my iphon

Sara said, on September 9, 2009 7:29 AM:

Dave, thank you I bloody love you!

Kev said, on September 9, 2009 2:19 PM:

How do I get D Tunes on my iphone 3g S?
I'm trying to download movies. Thanks

Sahil said, on September 10, 2009 11:02 PM:

Thanx man....got it workin now...wow

Taylar said, on September 12, 2009 12:40 AM:

I followed your first few directions.., when i plug ,my iphone in the divice thing doesnt come up and it doesnt say my iphone. what do i do?

Daniel said, on September 16, 2009 4:36 AM:

I was wondering how can I get $50 in one day and not from my parents?

Robert Vallee said, on September 17, 2009 7:44 PM:

I have done this over and over and over and I have about 120 songs and a 32GB GS iphone and no matter what I do it only adds 56 songs to my iphone. I don't know what I am doing wrong but I have tried everyway I can think of to get the other ones to go and it syncs up fine but still on the original 56 are there.

kennith curtis said, on September 22, 2009 7:27 AM:

I jus got this iphone i tried to synced music
but it keep saying "the requried disc not found "
wat does this mean? and can you help me?

Faizan said, on September 27, 2009 4:42 AM:

Dear Thanks .... Thanks alot for shair and help... MAY GOD BLESS YOU.....

Aaron said, on October 1, 2009 3:40 PM:

Hey man thx alot that really helped

Ed said, on October 6, 2009 8:16 PM:

wow, thanks, so easy, you are the iphone king,
cheers for Dave

Cassandra said, on October 9, 2009 9:08 AM:

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I tried for the longest how to figure out how to put my itunes music from my computer onto my iphone. This really helped!

kev said, on October 15, 2009 2:26 AM:

i don't know how to download music from my laptop to my apple i phone i don't know how to use my i tune also i am very helpless too when ever i put the usb cord and try when i copier paste it doesn't show pls help me

laura said, on October 16, 2009 8:35 PM:

Worked perfectly! Thank you.

irfan said, on October 22, 2009 8:33 AM:

WOW man itz great. it worked.
i woz like regretting that i got iphone and u cant use ipod and by using ur idea it made me proud that i got ihone.

thnx dude

Brad said, on October 24, 2009 4:26 PM:

I tried this a million times but it asks me to apply and never sync. Guess I'm forced to spend more money at Apple Itunes!!!!!

kristina said, on October 25, 2009 12:28 AM:

Hi Dave,

I just got a new iphone 3GS and did what you said about syncing but everytime i plug my iphone into my computer the menu doesnt pop up. I dont know what I have to do? If you could help me in anyway i would appreciated it
thanx

Dave Taylor said, on October 26, 2009 10:06 AM:

Brad, you're stuck in the registration loop, it sounds like. Just go ahead and register and sign up for an iTunes account. It doesn't cost anything, that's just part of the configuration step. Then you should be good to go.

Kristina, if it doesn't pop up with iTunes, just launch the program manually and then give it 10-30 seconds to see your plugged-in iPod. Then you should be good to go too!

spincycle said, on November 6, 2009 11:01 AM:

Thanks, Dave! This worked just swell!

allen said, on November 6, 2009 9:08 PM:

I have an iphone 3g when I plug it into my new computer and try to put songs on it tells me that the phone is synced to another computer. How do I put songs on my phone from other computer without deleting my songs that are on there now.

Dave Taylor said, on November 7, 2009 9:31 PM:

Allen, what you should do is use something like the very latest version of Senuti or iPodCopy (see http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_to_get_songs_off_apple_iphone.html ) to get all the music off your iPhone, copy that into your iTunes library, then let the new computer wipe everything and start from scratch. THEN copy your music back on. Make sense?

me said, on November 8, 2009 9:13 AM:

download steps

Varun Nagwekar said, on November 8, 2009 7:04 PM:

Hello,
many thanks for giving out such a wonderful and simple tutorial. I managed to do this quite easily and without any hassles because of your great tutorial. Thanks for putting this up.
Keep up the great work.

Varun

FCUSED02 said, on November 12, 2009 12:05 PM:

THANKS MAN I JUST TRIED IT AND IT WORKED!!!!!

Emma said, on November 18, 2009 3:18 PM:

Many thanks, you've helped me out of a pickle!

Julio said, on November 20, 2009 12:34 AM:

Hello Dave,
I having a very hard time downloading music to my Ipod nano, a message keeps coming up saying that(attempting to copy to the disk Julio's ipo failed unknown error has occured, what can I do, PLEASE HELP

nina said, on November 21, 2009 8:00 PM:

thank you soo much!!! i was so confused when i got my iphone and you just made it that much clearer!! :D

julie said, on November 24, 2009 2:56 PM:

i just tried doin that before i even came to this site, and when i did it started to erase all of my apps, i stopped it cause i have quite a few on there and i dont feel like downloading them again, any help?

Harriet Barcroft said, on November 25, 2009 6:54 AM:

Thanks,
This was very usal.
IPhone 3GS. (:

dave said, on December 4, 2009 5:48 PM:

hi there dave i got a problem, i cant make a new playlist on my iphone whats wrong?????? I click file then the new playlist button is in a different color (grey) and it doesnt work.

hani said, on December 8, 2009 2:41 AM:

thank u for these important and interesting informations

owen Jones said, on December 9, 2009 8:52 AM:

wiked! cheerse bud Top man!!

Brok Lesnar said, on December 9, 2009 9:59 PM:

DEAR DAVE, IM SORRY BUT WOULDNT IT BE EASIER TO SIMPLY SELECT MANAGE MUSIC AND VIDEOS MANUALLY IN THE MAIN MENU OF YOUR IPHONE IN ITUNES RIGHT UNDER WHERE IT SAYS HOW YOUR MEMORY IS BEING USED IN YOUR IPHONE IF YOU JUST WANTED TO DRAG MUSIC AND VIDEOS DIRECTLY TO YOUR IPHONE.

-BROK LESNAR-

Steve said, on December 11, 2009 5:44 AM:

Hey Dave, I tried your approach but it still says it's going to clear my iphone and then copy the new songs. I have I have itunes on my computer and was able to copy all of those songs but my son has itunes on his computer and I want to copy some of those songs and that is where my problem begins. How can I copy these without losing my other songs.

Thanks, Steve

Ronnie D said, on December 11, 2009 7:41 AM:

Dave,
I'm trying to get music onto my iphone and I've followed your directions, but my folder call fabmusic Playlist will not accept selections from my playlist. I get the black circle with the line through it, when I try to move them over to the iPhone Playlist. Some of the music was downloaded from other sites apart from itunes.

How do I copy all the music to iphone successfully.

Thanks

Ronnie D

khaliq said, on December 11, 2009 8:15 AM:

hey there, i have a problem synchronising my musics to my iphone..everytime i sync it, there will be an error and it says "The iphone cannot be synced. An unknown error occurred (13001)" The funny thing is that when i sync it onto my brother computer, there wasnt a problem..i guess there is a problem with my itunes..can you please help me..thanks alot..

amy said, on December 14, 2009 10:00 AM:

Dear Dave, I was on the verge of taking a sledgehammer to both my phone and my computer when I found you....I'm not an idiot but was having a lot of trouble getting my library onto my iphone. I read your instructions and was finished in about 10 minutes. Thanks soooo much!! I could kiss you on the mouth!

Jess said, on December 14, 2009 3:23 PM:

Thank you ever so much! Was really stumped!

MiYon said, on December 15, 2009 6:11 PM:

Dave, thank you so much. I have an iPhone, just recently purchased and it is my first Apple product. Your instructions are spot on. Brownie points for the screenshots for those of us who understand better with visuals. Now that I know how to sync the music, I feel like an idiot because I should have figured it out on my own, it was so easy. Thanks again!

michael men said, on December 16, 2009 8:33 AM:

GThank a million , plain simple english and worked perfect, cheers really delighted as havent used itunes nor iphone til now. Recon you have saved me hours.

have a very merry xmas

maryerline said, on December 16, 2009 4:55 PM:

Thank you for thanking the time to post the tutorial. Your instructions were great and easy to follow.

Assaad said, on December 16, 2009 11:35 PM:

hi, i unlocked/jailbroke my iphone , but it doesnt seem to synchronize with itunes, i authorized the computer and all. is there any kind of software i need to use, your help is appreciated.
thanks

stroys said, on December 20, 2009 2:02 AM:

hi dave..
my iphone 2g 8gb version 3.0 has problem Syncing with my itunes.. do i have to download itunes again? do itunes, (like version 9 or version 8), have any problem in compatibility with any iphone?? your help is appreciated.. thanks..

ash said, on December 21, 2009 8:56 AM:

thanyou so so so so so much, been trying to get music onto my iphone for weeks. thanks again

Eliane said, on December 22, 2009 2:14 PM:

Thank you so much for your help.

Doug said, on December 22, 2009 6:50 PM:

New hard drive redownloaded iTunes all good sycing everything but music and video and books.

Renato said, on December 23, 2009 10:37 PM:

i have done everything that you have told me but i still dont have any songs on my iphone. itumes keep saying that iphone sync is complete and it's ok to disconnect but when i disconnect der is no songs in my iphone. can u pls e-mail me what the problem could be. is it because the sones may be licensed and cant be uploaded to iphone or is it the file type of the songs. what type of file does a song have to be for iphone. can it only be mp3. pls respond ASAP.

Dan said, on December 24, 2009 9:54 AM:

Thank you so much! You taught me how to get my music onto my iPhone. You'd think Apple would make it easier. I was really frustrated and you fixed my problem in under a minute. How do you fund the operation of this site? Do you rely on donations? If so let me know how to donate.

Trish said, on December 26, 2009 7:42 AM:

Thankyou SO much!!! I finally have music on my iPhone! Very clear and easy directions! Cannot thank you enough! :) Merry Christmas :D

dean said, on December 26, 2009 10:35 PM:

thanks alot.
realised how easy it was and now i feel like a wanker.
cheers

Rod said, on December 27, 2009 2:41 AM:

I have an Iphone 16gb and cannot get the music to my phone from my computer and each time is Sync I loose anything that I have downloaed from itunes to the phone. The computer takes it to the library but it will not come back . Basicly it wipes all music and podcasts etc from the phone to the library... one eay sync? what am I doing wrong.. please help me...

Rod (Australia)

lina said, on December 27, 2009 5:25 PM:

great !!!!!!!!!! thank you so much u r the best

appreciate it

Debbie said, on December 27, 2009 11:09 PM:

THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU its taking me days to figure this stuff out, now I can get on with the rest of my life !!! THANK YOU SO MUCH

Samantha said, on December 28, 2009 8:18 AM:

Hey Dave,

Just wanted to tell you that it worked! I just got my iphone 3G for Christmas from my wonderful hubby, and I wanted music on it and couldn't figure it out.
You helped and now it works. Now my iphone can play music on top of doing everything else it does.

THANKS!

helper said, on December 28, 2009 10:03 AM:

or, you can just do this:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1535

Kevbot said, on December 28, 2009 3:22 PM:

Thanks heaps for info, my teenage son wasn't around to save me, but you did, cheers !!

David E. Perez said, on January 1, 2010 6:33 PM:

Excellent! You are super! I always go where the talent is.

Thanks

Suchahippie said, on January 2, 2010 10:33 AM:

You are AMAZING... after 2 hrs of that "I'm so close" "I know it can be done" feeling I finally got to your site and bam... it worked. The songs I had on my PC were very random & older.(Everything from Black Flag to Henry Mancini & everything in-between so I loved it. Needless to say- family went to bed while I layed on the couch, Ipod in my ears grinin ear to ear. Excellent tutorial & the pictures helped. I have 75 songs now ! Thanks so much - I don't even know if you realize how much help you are !

john mack said, on January 6, 2010 12:36 PM:

Dave i have an apple i phone which i no longer use as a phone no number and new free phone from work, but have a lot of music still on the iphone, can i still play the music with a docking system. and also still add music from itunes.

Ed said, on January 9, 2010 11:53 PM:

Dave for some reason I connect my iphone to the computer and it does not recognize, also itunes does not show my iphone at all in order to copy music to the iphone

jo hendo said, on January 10, 2010 10:03 AM:

Thank you, you are a genius.

Sherri said, on January 10, 2010 8:20 PM:

Dave, you are my Knight in Shining Armor!
Thank you for your incredibly easy step by step instructions (the pictures really helped)! Now I can enjoy my favorite music everywhere!!!

dan said, on January 14, 2010 5:25 AM:

i did that and before i had 250 songs and now i have nothing u suck

Dave Taylor said, on January 14, 2010 7:32 AM:

Dan, can you share more details about what happened? The music's still in iTunes, I presume? if so, why can't you sync your iPod? What happens when you try to do so?

Fahim said, on January 16, 2010 8:23 PM:

Dave Please help me to add some music from my pc to my 8gb i phone.its like very Complicated issue for me, dave please help me soon.

Kerrie said, on January 21, 2010 12:09 PM:

Fantastic - thank you!

w said, on January 28, 2010 12:36 PM:

thank oyu hat was really easy & helpful!

shaukat said, on January 29, 2010 3:30 AM:

hi ive done everything what dave has said to do but when very thing goes through it says sync compllete but i can not see the tones on my fone ive tried looking everywhere but no luck can u tell me where they will be if they are on the fone.thanks

peter Cain said, on January 30, 2010 3:24 PM:

Hi

We've just changed over from PCs to Mac, and very happy with the decision, however i can't drag and drop music from our shared iTunes library into a playlist to then transfer music from itunes library to iphone sync playlist i just created...PLEASE HELP i miss my music walking home!!

John Washington said, on February 1, 2010 11:28 AM:

If you are looking for a way to copy music onto your iPhone without iTunes, try this out

http://www.iphone-without-itunes.com

It's really excellent!

John

dusty said, on February 5, 2010 1:34 PM:

all i can say it brilliant the screen shots and basic step language saved me from going totally bald and not haveing to sit with my very smug hubby who said i would never get the hang of my new iphone .................he is totally impressed with my tech knowledge ...he ! he ! i wont tell if you dont ;)

nikki said, on February 5, 2010 2:17 PM:

Hi Dave!!!!
I stumbled upon your site after hours of searching for help for my iphone. Thannk you so much for the information. It saved me a lot of money on purchasing "other" accessories to be able to download photos and music from my pc onto my iphone.

Tyson said, on February 10, 2010 1:39 AM:

please dave i need your help, im new to the iPhone, im trying to get some music to my iPhone, i got it plugged into the computer but it just doesnt show up in the devices bit in iTunes...

=) please reply

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

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How do I copy music onto my Apple iPhone from iTunes?

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