How do I download songs to my MP3 player?

Hi Dave, I just got a brand new Samsung D500 and I want to put music onto it via USB cable, but it won't work. How do I do it?

Dave's Answer:

First off, a disclaimer: I don't have a Samsung D500 so I can't test out what I'm going to explain here. However, just about all the MP3 players on the market work in the same way - and it's how the Sony PSP works too, in fact - so let's just talk about the general solution for downloading music onto an MP3 player.

The first step is to see if there's any special software available from the vendor to help the process along. With the D500, for example, go to the Samsung Web site and click on "Support", then type in the product name. I typed in D500 and then choose "TV, video and audio". Wrong choice: no matches. I tried again with "Computer and related products" and got a list of three possible matches, one of which is your product, the SGH-D500.

Turns out that the D500 is a mobile phone, actually, not a simple MP3 player at all (wish you would have mentioned that, btw!) but I figured it out. Turns out that there's a raft of different user manuals available on the D500 download center page, and, clicking on the Software tab, it turns out that there's software you can download from Samsung too, including "Samsung PC Studio PC Sync (ver 2.0)" which is probably what you'd want.

Generally, though, if you don't have any software or can't find anything for your MP3 device (which, as you can see, includes cellphones!) then you should be able to copy across MP3-format audio files by:

Hooking up the device to a USB connection on your computer.
Going through the settings on your device to find a "USB CONNECT" or "USB MODE" option. Some devices do that automatically when they detect power on the USB cable, others (like the Sony PSP) require you to do it manually).
Your computer should now automatically detect the device, probably showing it as a removable hard disk. Both Macs and Windows XP computers do a very good job with this, older operting systems can be more challenging (e.g., Windows 98, MacOS 9).

Now you just need to rummage around a bit and figure out where music files should be stored. One way to do this is to pay for one song to be downloaded from a service, if that's an option, then see if you can find where it's stored on your MP3 device and drop other songs into the same place. If that's not an option, then just put a few songs in different directories and see if your device can find it once you disconnect and try to play a song or two.

Hope that helps you out! If anyone wants to send me a fancy MP3 player so I can test it out, I'd be happy to hear from you. :-)

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Reader Comments To Date: 671

special said, on November 3, 2008 8:57 PM:

please tell me how to put songs on my mp3 player because i am getting one for my b-day......

Cornell said, on November 5, 2008 1:09 AM:

I got a sana c240 mp3 player for my birthday, how do I download music onto it. I do have windows media player. Can you help me out.
Thank you

Bridie said, on November 11, 2008 6:47 AM:

Hi dave i have just bought a new Samsung 2GB MP3 Player YPU3QP and i don't know how to put any songs on it can you help ?

MIsty said, on November 14, 2008 6:37 AM:

all you do is if you have limewire just download those songs and then save them into my documents and then open my documents and then once you find ur file open it and it will bring up media player and t hen click sync and then drag your songs over into the box it tells you to and click start sync and thats it.

ally said, on November 16, 2008 5:22 PM:

i have nooooo idea how 2 download music on my samsung k3 help please

becky said, on November 21, 2008 4:31 PM:

dear david i just got an mp3 player i know how to work it i just dont know how to downlode songs on it PLEASE help me.

sincerly: Becky price

daedae said, on November 22, 2008 7:26 AM:

i got a mp3 player yesterday and i dont know how to put music on it at all

35484 said, on November 23, 2008 11:51 AM:

I got a new mp3 but I can't put music on it I have to find out because I got it on 11\22\08 I need to now!!!!!

Faith said, on November 24, 2008 11:48 AM:

I have a pearl mp3 player and have now clue how to download to it

Ryan said, on November 25, 2008 5:34 PM:

ha i got this mp3 player its a coby 512mb and when i try to put more songs on it usally has a pic it looks like this MP3..........COMPUTER
but wheni huck it up to my comuters usb port on the mp3 screen its grey and i want to know why its grey.

kim wilkins said, on November 26, 2008 5:40 AM:

Please could you help me download music to my creative zen mp3 player i have no idea were to start as i'm new to all things technical meaning pc's to ipods i'm a complete beginer ...help

Bebe said, on November 29, 2008 3:56 AM:

I have been given a Veho VMP-008 mp3 player, but do not know how I am supposed to connect it to my pc, as it does not have a USB cable.
I am a novice when it comes to this sort of gadget.

Any help I would be grateful

new orleans said, on December 3, 2008 3:54 PM:

I JUST GOT AN MP3 AND DONT KNOW HOW TO PUT MUSIC ON MY MP3 FROM ITUNES OFF LAPTOP

nana said, on December 8, 2008 3:29 PM:

this is not my mp3 its my cousins and im trying to put some songs but i cant can you tell me how to

DJ said, on December 9, 2008 9:21 AM:

Got my kid a Coby mp3 player. How do I add songs to it for him? It's a cheap one...it has 512 mb,
# on back is MPC854. HELP!

erick said, on December 10, 2008 8:18 PM:

help i don't know how to download song's to my mp3 player!!!!!!!!!!

a.j said, on December 10, 2008 8:23 PM:

please help me download song's to my new mp3.

kieran shaw said, on December 11, 2008 12:23 PM:

how do you download music onto an samsung mp3 player

alexus said, on December 11, 2008 7:52 PM:

hey dave i need help i need to find a website to downlosad crank that roy got any suggestions?

verecia said, on December 12, 2008 9:09 PM:

i bought a SanDisk Digital Audio Player
and i cant download my music on my computer. the device isnt even showing on my computer.

Angel said, on December 14, 2008 7:20 PM:

I want to know how to download music to my mp3 player.

sam said, on December 16, 2008 7:42 AM:

i got an mp3 player and i can get the music from windows media player to the mp3 player how do i do it.

tyson bandy said, on December 16, 2008 12:16 PM:

so say i dont have a computer can i dowload them off my playstaion or enything else

Rosanna Tester said, on December 18, 2008 9:05 AM:

HI, I have bought my Daughter a MP3 player E-Matic is the name and can't figure out how I would download music to it. Can you help?

lida said, on December 20, 2008 8:03 PM:

i have a cobya player i tried so many times to put videos in it but it did not work at all it saya no files when i go to movies on my mp4 player i tried to download flv and many other websites but it did not work can anyone plz plz help me i tried like 100 times but the videos wont come in the mp4 player i treid the cd to that came with the mp4 player.when i bought the mp4 player there was 3 videos it worked but i delete it so i need real help plz

barira said, on December 22, 2008 8:09 AM:

Hi Dave!!
I have a problem,i bought new micromax mp4,and it has all the software builtin but i m not getting how to download songs from net!!
Hope u will answer my question as soon as possible!!
regards

jhai said, on December 22, 2008 11:31 PM:

i had my mp3 player 4 like 2 year . when i first got it i could put songs on it no when i try to put songs on it now it says cannot copy ( name of song) the diretory of file cannot be created. what do i ?

kenyata said, on December 24, 2008 6:10 PM:

hey I bought a new mp3 player and i don't know how to music on it from my computer or the radio.

PLEASE HELP ME

paige said, on December 25, 2008 12:09 AM:

My mum just broght a mp3 Player for me and we dnt know how to download SONG..... !!

kay-kay said, on December 25, 2008 8:52 AM:

hi dave i wanna know how to put songs on a mp3 video player and music player

esther said, on December 26, 2008 12:06 AM:

please help me, i dont know how to put music on my philips mp3

suzann said, on December 26, 2008 7:24 AM:

Dave,
I have the same question which you apparently have answered for many people. I bought my own daughter an Mp3 ematic player and cannot download it. Please help.
Thanks,
Suzann

Dave Taylor said, on December 26, 2008 7:43 AM:

All these different players, because it turns out that it's pretty darn easy to build an Mp3 player, so lots of vendors have done so. The challenge is to get music on them, as you're now learning.

Generally I think you should try to follow a three step process:

1. Start up and get familiar with Windows Media Player. That's the key application that works with just about every non-Apple Mp3 player I've seen and it's free and included with Windows. If you don't have a copy, you can download one from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/

2. To get music, the easiest is to have Windows Media Player (I'll call it WMP from here on in) running then insert a music CD into the computer. WMP should ask you if you want to "rip" or "copy" the music. Say "yes" and it'll make a copy of all the songs that were on the CD onto your computer. Repeat until you've loaded up all the music you want to eventually put on the Mp3 player.

3. Now plug in the Mp3 player and, if your system is properly configured, WMP should "see it" after a minute or so and show you it on one of the tabs as an external device. If it doesn't, most versions of WMP have a "search" or "connect" button that makes it look for appropriate external drives.

At that point, you should be able to either drag selections from your scanned music or "sync" your Mp3 player with the music you've scanned and saved on your computer and it'll automatically copy everything across.

The reason I'm being rather vague about which buttons to push, btw, is because each version of Windows Media Player seems to have a different interface and different buttons and tabs, so it's very difficult to be definitive about this.

I hope that helps. I do have more articles on how to work with Mp3 players here on my site too, so do poke around a bit to see what you can find, and don't forget to check the manufacturer's Web site to see if they have a download area and specific software for working with your Mp3 player too.

Good luck to you!

dede said, on December 26, 2008 2:49 PM:

i just got a mp3 from my daddy and i dont now how to download song or video.

Amanda said, on December 26, 2008 5:02 PM:

I just dont get it.... but send me the steps to it and send it....

PLEASE>>>>>>>>>>>

haries said, on December 27, 2008 9:14 AM:

ummp i still dont get dee way u need 2 download maybe u should explain the websites i need 2 go 2 DUHHHH

gary brewster said, on December 27, 2008 11:19 AM:

bout my sons a multi media player mp4 touch screen cant get my itunes music to work on it .it show a lock on the song hyow can iget the music to work

mary said, on December 27, 2008 10:38 PM:

i just got a mp3 player but i dont know how to download songs on it from my computer

saikrishna said, on December 27, 2008 10:43 PM:

Recenly i brought 2 Coby 1 GB Mp3 players(MP 550).
i try to load podcastready software into my mp3 player. but i n ot able to do that. could please sujest , how to load software as well as song in to my mp3 player.

k unknown said, on December 28, 2008 4:39 PM:

i got a new spi mp3 for christmas this is my 3rd mp3 but someone else always put the music on there for me now i need to know how because they aren't around how do i add songs,videos, and pictures what should i do??

MARKO said, on December 28, 2008 9:57 PM:

I GOT A MP5 THE TOUCH SCREEN ONE AND I DONT KNOW WERE TO GET THE SOFTWARE FOR IT

kenya said, on December 29, 2008 12:46 PM:

i need step by step info on how to put music from the computer to a mp3 player. can you help?

karl duncombe said, on December 31, 2008 10:37 AM:

hello i recently got for christmas a jm3 mp3 player. and was wondering if there was anyway of downloading stories from limewire for it
thanks karl

erika said, on December 31, 2008 6:24 PM:

how do i download music to my mp3 player

monaehickman said, on January 1, 2009 11:09 PM:

hi dave i was just asking would i need a plug to go into the computer.Or do i need to put the mp3player in the computer and
downloaded from itunes.

sandii said, on January 2, 2009 10:41 PM:

i have an apple ipod for xmas when i downloaded some songs from my usb,other songs worked but miost of the songs doesn't work.i dont know where i can download songs.
pls do help.

t t said, on January 8, 2009 5:12 PM:

i need help downloading music on my mp4&3 please help me!!!!!!!!

Dayton said, on January 9, 2009 9:18 PM:

Hey i just got a Spi Digital AUdio PLayer and don't Knowz how to put songs on it

KEYLEIGH said, on January 11, 2009 2:36 PM:

I JUST GOT AN TOUCH SCREEN MP3 PLAYER AND I DONT NO HOW TO PUT MUSIC ON IT..

name said, on January 11, 2009 5:38 PM:

Wow. Maybe try and read an instruction manual??? That might help.

Carrie said, on January 15, 2009 7:34 PM:

Hi Dave,

"Santa" brought my son an EMATIC mp3 player for Christmas. I downloaded songs onto it and they played just fine, for a few days...now when its turned on, it only shows a message "file system error." Nothing will work, it only brings up this message. I attempted to try and download the songs again, but nothing will download now. Please help!! Thank you!

ELang said, on January 18, 2009 7:44 PM:

I just got a mp3 and I don't know how to put music on it, It came with a small CD that really doesn't fit into the thing where you put normal CDs in. It also came with a cord that I use for charging, but am I supossed to use it for putting music on too?

monalisa brown said, on January 19, 2009 4:52 PM:

i dont under stan i have a mp3 mini i dont no wat 2 do please help me

Amber M Doop said, on January 24, 2009 2:44 PM:

I got a MP3 for Christmas and i want to download my TS to lisen to. How do I download??????

sandra said, on January 24, 2009 5:29 PM:

hey i have a mp3/mp4 /wma and how do u download song to it

magen said, on January 25, 2009 4:26 PM:

hi dave my name is magen and i cant figer out how to download songs on my mp3 player

unknown said, on January 29, 2009 1:31 AM:

hey i just got a new mp3 and i dnt kno how to download free music can u tell me which website i can download free music and its really easy to use and i can come on and off any time please help me i have no music on my mp3

EMALATA said, on January 30, 2009 2:14 AM:

HI I HAVE A MP3 BUT WHEN I DOWNLOAD A SOND THERE IS NOTING IN IT PLEASE HELP ME

maddy said, on January 30, 2009 4:23 AM:

i got an ematic mp3 player and how do i put music on it?

FLORENCE said, on January 31, 2009 6:27 PM:

I BROUGHT AN MP3 FLASH...AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TO DOWNLOAD THE SONGS ONTO THE PLAYER...AND IT IS NOT WORKING...SOMEONE HELP ME...I REALLY NEED HELP...

Ruth Hennick said, on February 1, 2009 4:52 AM:

I just got my mpe player . How do I doewnload songs into my mpe player? Do I have to buy songs to download or canh I download songs free? Thanks Ruth Hennick

nayela said, on February 3, 2009 9:50 PM:

hi i have a mp3 player and i am trying to put some songs from my cds to the mp3 player but it doesent work. what do i have to do put audio songs from my cds into my mp3 player.

please could you help me out

LINDA HERRERA said, on February 4, 2009 8:51 AM:

How do I download music to my MP3 player it is model GC-810

Melvin Cade said, on February 6, 2009 4:37 PM:

how do i load music from my itune library to my mp3

ezekiel said, on February 9, 2009 1:43 PM:

i just got a mp4 how do i download music?

Alisha J. said, on February 12, 2009 5:03 PM:

when i plug my usb into the computer, it puts songs on it without me doing anything.I need assistance! this is not working. it also wont let me put any songs on it either!!!!

Nate Jones said, on February 13, 2009 9:32 AM:

I just got an mp4/ipod but do not know how to put music on it i got an ipod nano and used itunes but it wont work for the mp4/ipod do you know hot to put music on it

alhassan jalloh said, on February 19, 2009 1:38 PM:

i want to knw how to download musics mp3 from internet to my computer or divce

jabeen said, on February 19, 2009 3:44 PM:

Hi Dave My daughter just bought mp3 player and i have the site indianwap to download music from,but i don't know how to do it,please help me.It is model COPITIRM 2gb,i don't know anything about mp3s.I go on the site click on download music and connect my mp3 then further i don't know anything to do.please help me

cecilia said, on February 20, 2009 3:49 AM:

how do i download songs on my mp3

Brandy said, on February 22, 2009 7:07 PM:

I need help I dont know how to download music from my compotur that i have saved to my mp3. It just keep saying error

Helga Dowd said, on February 23, 2009 5:01 PM:

I have a new Samsung LASER 2 GM MP3 LCD player - it looks as though my songs are on the player - after many attempts to download them - but for some reason, when I press the play button, nothing happens - I do get music when i choose fm radion from the menu. So it is working but can you tell me why my songs which I downloaded are not coming through. Thanks.

glenn said, on February 24, 2009 10:27 PM:

driver for audiosoltions c170 0103

kenia said, on February 26, 2009 10:35 PM:

hi Dave,
i just got an mp4 touchscreen, but no matter what i do i can't put music on it. I try with my computer and the computer says its downloaded it yet the music doesn't appear on my mp4! My manual doesn't really tell me how to do it and none of my friends could help me either. Please help me, it would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you!!!

caitlin said, on March 1, 2009 7:54 AM:

how do you download songs onto anmp3 player

cj said, on March 1, 2009 11:57 AM:

HELP ME!! i have a blue 2g element mp3 player .
it says i can fit up to 1,000 songs but i can only get 128 than it stops! iam so frustrated ! what do i do???

Marlon said, on March 3, 2009 2:28 AM:

i have just bought an mp4 player, brand: VGL, from a mall. then i tried to put some .mp3 musics. it says " Error Copying file or folder, cannot creat or replace Bleeding Love. cannot find the specified file. make sure you specify the correct path and file " please help. Thank You

Penny said, on March 5, 2009 11:13 AM:

I want to take the music i have downloaded to my sansdisk sansa clip and put it on my computer in my documents but i can't figure out how to do it please help

Miracle Hearn said, on March 5, 2009 5:00 PM:

I have one but i cant find any imformation on each step to get the songs on there. I dont know how to do it and yall ant even given the imformation i needed!

Lucas Yehle said, on March 6, 2009 11:35 AM:

how do i download all my music from itune to my mp3 ?

ester mccollum said, on March 7, 2009 1:14 PM:

i don't know how to get my music off my mp3 to my compter

Delanie said, on March 9, 2009 3:15 PM:

I can't down load a song on my MP3 player and my MP3 player is a PEARL-E I think....
Someboady please help me!

kaitlyn said, on March 11, 2009 6:05 AM:

hey i was wourding can you download music on to your mp3 player well write bacl plezzzz

malinda said, on March 14, 2009 9:07 AM:

i have had a little metallic pink mp3 player that i bought myself 3 WEEKS before christmas. l love this thing but i just dont know how to put the music in it. can you plese help me. i would greatly appreciate it. thanks so much.

imogen said, on March 17, 2009 2:40 AM:

please help i do not know how to get songs onto mymp3 from my music playlist

chris said, on March 20, 2009 4:35 PM:

how do you download music on an mp3??

monica said, on March 21, 2009 11:27 AM:

i dont know how to put music on a mp3player from limewire

Shnora said, on March 28, 2009 5:49 PM:

I have a MP3 Player and don't know how to work it.

Audrey said, on March 31, 2009 5:52 PM:

Unfourtunately, I have an older operating system, windows 98 to be exact, and I'm trying to download songs onto my Mp3. I have the USB cable plugged in, my Mp3 on the USB, but the computer won't recognize it. I've got a Mp3 song on a file folder, and I heard you have to transfer the Mp3 song to the Mp3 file, but how can I do that if the computer won't recognize it? Yes, I have tried downloading thousands of Mp3 software such as Limewire,Mp3 Rocket.Pro etc., and they all work on windows 98, but for some reason, it WON'T WORK FOR MINE! I'M REALLY DESPERATE! PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!

Ciara said, on April 8, 2009 4:59 PM:

Hi
i got a new mp3 player for christmas and i dont ahve a clue how to put songs on it. I would like if if you caould help me as soon as possible. Also i dont know where to get music from to put it on my mp3 player. Please help me as soon as possible...

princess said, on April 8, 2009 5:51 PM:

still how do you do it? this does not help at all

Rachel said, on April 12, 2009 1:05 AM:

i have a mp3 and i dont know how to put songs on it can u please help me my mp3 is a LG one =] from RACHEL

Jenny said, on April 12, 2009 3:43 AM:

Hi
I got a new Mp4 player.I want to put the songs .but I can't.Because of connection.Plz help me.

ea said, on April 13, 2009 7:18 PM:

how can i downlad music videos on 2 my mp3 philips mp3 player with 540 GB
Please let meknow

tyazona said, on April 14, 2009 10:56 AM:

can you really put music on my mp3

flomo said, on April 18, 2009 4:59 PM:

i cannot download music to my portable multimedia player.

DONNA said, on April 19, 2009 12:59 PM:

I CAN'T DOWNLOAD ON MY MP3. RCA MP3 PRODUCT OPAL.TELL ME HOW I CAN PUT SONG ON AND GO BY STEP BY STEP BECAUSE I VERY NEW AND DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW TO.

tracy said, on April 23, 2009 6:12 AM:

you can download music on my now mp3 player

Nicole said, on April 30, 2009 2:01 PM:

I just got a mp3 player from my friend that did not come with a cd. how do I download music it is a RCA LYRA player. please help me.
my computer is vista

Cat said, on May 2, 2009 5:00 PM:

I have a Memorex mp3 player, not sure of the model. My problem is that I can't put more than 128 songs on it. I still have 1.33 GB of memory left, but the system keeps saying it cannot create a file for it. Any suggestions?

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 download songs to my MP3 player?

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