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For reasons known only to the ghost of Steve Jobs, the Music app on my Macbook won't transfer new music purchases to my phone.
I don't use Apple Music/iTunes Match or anything like that - all I want to do is transfer ripped CDs from what was once iTunes onto my phone, as I've done on hundreds of occasions in the past.
I've tried all the online suggestions, such as rebooting everything, plugging/unplugging cables etc and nothing works. I can transfer the files as 'files' but none of the metadata transfers, meaning I have hundreds of single tracks rather than albums or compilations etc.
So, does anyone have any recommendations for alternative programs that allow you to manage the iTunes library in a similar way, and will transfer tunes to the iPhone music app?
Most of the programmes I've seen either act as library managers or transfer only, not both.
I don't want to use Spotify/Tidal/Deezer etc - I already have the music, just want to move it from A to B!
I use Walter 2 for this purpose as I found itunes never wanted to transfer half my music but Walter 2 has never failed.
Ah, thanks - I thought Walter was only a transfer app, but does it allow organisation etc?
I find it does everything for you. Just plug your phone into the laptop open the app open iTunes and drag the song/album you want into the opened app and it transfers them. It does the artwork and will even look for artwork, it will automatically put different albums from the same artist into the correct folders so when you're in iTunes on your phone and click the artist you want it will show all relevant albums transferred.
Sofrino often has deals on, IIRC you can try it for free first.
Actually, you don't even have to plug your phone in as it will transfer over WiFi now.
This might be worth a try:
https://www.easeus.com/iphone-data-transfer/best-free-itunes-alternatives.html
I’ve got a similar issue, but it’s due to my having signed to Apple Music, but I’m not streaming, I’m downloading albums, but having done so, I can’t copy anything I rip into iTunes without turning off the Music link, and then I’ll automatically lose everything I’ve downloaded, so I’m going to give that app a go. It’s free, and seems to be highly regarded.
My Mac is a 2010 Mini, so a bit elderly now, and limited to what OS I can run, with limited storage, and as I’ve got nearly 400Gb of music on my phone, I’m not keen on losing it, just for a few albums that aren’t available in Apple Music.
Ditch the iPhone and get any Android phone. Plug it into your computer, then drag any mp3's onto it.
I love Apple computers but hate their phones and tablets. Too restrictive.
iTunes is great as long as you don't tick the little box that says 'keep folders organised'. I like to keep my music in Artist folders, with album subfolders. For some reason iTunes likes to rearrange them if you tick that box, making it hard to find the files.
If you’re using Big Sur then iTunes/Music doesn’t do any of that transferring now. It’s all done in Finder. You’ll see your iPhone or iPod show up in the left hand list and you just select it and go from there.
the exception to that is if you use Apple Music online in which case ‘it’s all in the cloud’ and you manage it directly from your iPhone.
iTunes is great as long as you don’t tick the little box that says ‘keep folders organised’
agreed. This checkbox is a code for ‘ completely mess up my music organisation and naming’.
Kuco
I use Walter 2 for this purpose as I found itunes never wanted to transfer half my music but Walter 2 has never failed.
Just to come back to this, I have tried and am now successfully using Waltr2. It's a bit pricey, but it does (thus far) seem to be foolproof - just drag and drop, and supposedly even works over WiFi.