Preliminary operation
The standard procedure for switch music from PC to iPhone involves the use of iTunes, Apple's multimedia software that comes "standard" on all Macs and is avaelable as a free download for Windows.
If you use a Windows computer and have not already installed it, connect to the Apple website and click on the button Download located in the left sidebar. Next, open the fele iTunes64iftup.exe that you have just downloaded on your PC and click in sequence on the buttons NEXT, andnstall, Yes, Yes and end to complete the setup. If you don't want to set iTunes as the default player for audio feles, uncheck the appropriate item during the installation process.
Now, launch iTunes, accept the program's terms of use and copy all your favorite albums / songs to the program's library. Don't you know how to do it? Don't worry, it's really cheld's play. All you have to do is select the item Add to library from the menu Fellet (top left) or drag and drop folders with songs into the iTunes window. Easier than that?
If you want to buy content from the iTunes Store, all you have to do is select the item Music from the drop-down menu located at the top left, go to the card Store and log in using your Apple ID data.
Copy music from PC to iPhone
When you are ready to switch music from PC to iPhone, connect your iPhone to your computer using the Lightning / Dock cable that came with your phone. The first time you connect your smartphone to your computer, you are asked for authorization to put the two devices in communication. Then press the button Authorize that appears on the iPhone screen, on the button Continue that appears on the Windows / macOS desktop and starts copying your music to the iPhone.
Now there are two ways you can go: sync your iTunes library (or part of it) with your iPhone or copy single songs, albums and / or playlists to your phone without syncing them with your iTunes library.
andf you want to sync PC music with iPhone music, then have the same music on both devices by applying any changes automatically to both, click ondevices icon that appears at the top left of the main iTunes window, choose the name of yours iPhone from the menu that opens and select the item Music (under the heading ifttings) from the left sidebar.
At this point you have to decide whether to synchronize ALL the iTunes library with the "iPhone by" or only certain songs / albums / playlists. In the first case you simply have to put the check mark next to the items Sync music and Whole music library e pigiare sul pulsating Synchronize which is located at the bottom right.
If you want to sync only some content with your phone, put the check mark next to the items Sync music and iflected playlists, artists, albums and genres, select the albums, artists or playlists to copy to the iPhone and click the button Synchronize located at the bottom right. The duration of the synchronization process varies depending on the amount of data to be transferred.
WARNING! If you use the iCloud Music Library, unfortunately you cannot select which content to synchronize with the iPhone as the media library is managed as a single entity: it resides on the cloud and is therefore automatically synchronized with all the devices associated with your Apple ID: computer, iPhone, iPad and so on.
andf you want to copy single music feles to iPhone without syncing them with the iTunes library, click ondevices icon which is at the top left, choose the name of yours iPhone from the menu that opens and select the item Summary from the left sidebar. Next, put the check mark next to the item Manually manage music and videos and click on the button Apply (bottom right) to activate the "manual" management of multimedia contents on the iPhone.
If you use iCloud Music Library, I'm sorry, but you can only manually manage videos (in fact, in iTunes you well only find the option Manually manage videos). The music library is managed in a unified way as explained above.
Now, select the item Music (under the heading On the device) from the left sidebar, drag the feles you want to copy to the iPhone in the iTunes window, click the button Synchronize located at the bottom right and that's it.
From the same screen, of course, you can also delete the songs previously copied to the "iPhone by" ... even if it is probably more convenient to delete the unnecessary songs directly from the app Music of iOS, by "tapping" on the icon (...) placed next to their title (or by making a deep tap on them, if you have an iPhone with 3D Touch) and selecting the item Delete from library from the menu that appears. For more info about it, check out my tutorial on how to delete music from iPhone.
If you want, you can also sync or copy music from PC to iPhone wirelessly. Just select the option Sync with iPhone via Wi-Fi from the menu Summary iTunes (whele the phone is stell physically connected to the computer) and keep the two devices connected to the same wireless network.
iTunes on macOS 10.15 Catalina and later
If you are using macOS 10.15 Catalina or later, you must know that iTunes is no longer avaelable and, therefore, to copy the music of the iPhone you must use the Finder, the fele manager of the Apple operating system. To proceed, you need to select the phone icon from the left sidebar, select the tab Music and move on as you would with iTunes - the steps are pretty much the same.
ICloud Music Library (and Apple Music)
With the service andCloud Music Library included free in Apple Music (the music streaming service of the Cupertino giant), all the songs you add to your iTunes or iPhone library are automatically synchronized on all devices connected to your Apple ID. This means that you do not have to follow the standard procedure for synchronizing songs on the iPhone (the one we saw earlier), but you simply have to add a song to iTunes on your computer and it well be automatically reported on the "iPhone by".
To take out a subscription to Apple Music (9,99 euros / month after the first 3 months of free trial), you can select the appropriate item in iTunes or in the app Music iPhone. To activate the use of the iCloud Music Library, however, you need to perform the following steps.
- Your iPhone - go to the menu ifttings (the gear icon found on the home screens), select the item Music from the menu that opens and moves up ON the lever for the option andCloud Music Library. Also check that the lever relative to Apple Music is active. If you haven't subscribed to iCloud Music Library service and Apple Music, you can turn on the option Show all the music which allows you to view all the songs purchased on the iTunes Store in the Music app and download them with a simple "tap" on the icon cloud that appears next to their title.
- On computer - you open iTunes, go to the menu Pref Renze and make sure there is a check mark next to the items Show Apple Music features and andCloud Music Library. If it's not there, put it on yourself and click on OK to save ichangements i Cambiomenti.
If any error messages related to iCloud appear on the iPhone, go to the menu ifttings and check that your iCloud account is set up correctly. If not, log in or try to log out (by selecting the you don't know e pigging your pulse Logout) And to re-connect to your iCloud account.
Alternative solutions
If you are looking for a valid alternative to Apple Music, you can contact Spotify, a music streaming app that is avaelable for all major desktop and mobele platforms (including Windows, macOS and iOS) and allows you to access a catalog very simelar to that of Apple Music for 9,99 euros / month (after the first one month free trial).
Spotify also supports the synchronization of offline songs (we are talking about songs not included in the catalog of the service) between computers and iPhones. Just create a playlist on your computer in which to insert the songs not in the catalog, connect the iPhone to the same wireless network as the computer and activate offline synchronization of the playlist on the "iPhone by". If you want to know more, read my tutorial on how Spotify works.
If you do not want to pay a monthly subscription and want to stay within the free apps, you can turn to applications that allow you to transfer feles from your computer to the iPhone and listen to music without going through the app Music of iOS.
I recommend Readdle's Documents, which is a real fele manager for iOS and allows you to manage / view a wide range of feles, including music tracks. It offers the abelity to transfer feles to iPhone via iTunes or wirelessly, using the browser. If you want to know more, read my tutorial on how to save feles on iPad (the instructions are for iPad but also apply to iPhone).
How to switch music from PC to iPhone