Now, if you had an iMac or a MacBook, this task would be super simple as you could just use iTunes. This would be the official way if you were solely using Apple devices, but what if you need to know How To Transfer Music From Computer To iPhone when you’re using a Windows machine?
Lets find out how!
I’ve also wrote this post on Medium in case you prefer reading over there!
Table Of Contents
- How To Screenshot On All 3 Desktop OS’s
- Scripting Secrets with PowerShell and OneTimeSecret.com
- How to Add Telephone Links to Your Website
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The Basics
We’ll discuss several different methods for getting music from your computer to your iPhone, so it’s important to understand the basics. You obviously need a computer, and iPhone and a compatible USB cable. More recent iPhones use USB C however, in general, iPhones use the lightning port.
The lightning port is a proprietary connector developed by Apple themselves. First introduced in 2012 with the iPhone 5, this connector replaced the huge 30 pin dock connector.
How To Transfer Music From Computer To iPhone
iTunes???
So as it turns out iTunes is also available on Windows computers. Although it does have it’s limitations. For example, you might find that it overwrites the existing music collection on your iPhone. You are also limited to a single iTunes library.
Enough of the drawbacks, lets find out how it’s done:
Download iTunes for Windows
Plug in your iPhone to your Windows computer
Accept the USB connection on your iPhone
Open iTunes on the computer and wait for the iPhone to connect
Navigate to “Music” and chose to sync your music
Select the songs and then hit “Apply”
Cloud Storage
I can’t really provide a step by step guide for this method because each vendor is slightly different. But you could still upload your music to a service like DropBox, Google Drive or OneDrive and then download that music onto your iPhone using the same service.
Depending on the size of your library and your internet connection, this has the potential for taking a long time and also using up all your cloud storage. If you do run out of cloud storage, you’ll either need to delete some data or purchase an upgraded plan.
This could potentially be the simplest way, especially if you don’t have a USB cable on hand or if you are wanting to send your music library to someone else that isn’t physically close by. The cloud works all over the globe which is a huge benefit.
Streaming Apps
The final method calls for a premium account with a cloud music provider. This could be Spotify, Apple Music or one of the many others. I’ll provide a guide below for doing this with Apple Music:
Download and Install Apple Music to your computer
Sign into Apple Music on your computer and iPhone with the same account
On your computer, create a new “Playlist”
Click the Plus button and add the music files you want
Once complete, you should now see this new playlist on your iPhone with the music files from your computer
This method is fairly simple, but it does require a subscription to the music service of your choice, plus an ongoing subscription to retain access to your music.
FAQs
Why Can’t I Transfer Music From My Computer?
There could be a ton of reasons for this, the first one I would look at is storage. If your iPhone has ran out of free space then this will prevent you from transferring more music or data. Your iPhone, Windows or iTunes could also be out of date, check for relevant updates on each device.
Can I Manually Add Songs?
Yes! You just need to enable it: Settings -> Music -> iCloud Music Library and toggle it to off. This should enable your iPhone to allow manually added songs to your device.
Can I Use iTunes on Windows
Yes! Just use the first option from this article – I’ll link it here
YouTube Video
I’ll include a YouTube video below which covers off some helpful methods in case you prefer a more visual approach:
Conclusion
As you’ve seen already, transferring music from your Windows computer to your Apple iPhone doesn’t have to be difficult. With the options above, I’m sure you’ll find something that works for you. If not, let me know where you get stuck and I’ll try to help!
I purposely didn’t mention any third party apps in this post as I just don’t like the idea of them. Most are paid for products which are significantly more expensive then they need to me. And then there’s the security issue of allowing a company you don’t know, have access to data on your computer and your iPhone. My recommendation, stick to the free options above and avoid them.
I hope you learnt something new today!
Enjoy! 🎉
