Just got a new iPhone. Got some questions about music

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Deadjasper

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Been Googling all afternoon and can't believe how freaking complicated this is, JHDFC.

What I want to do is this. I have an mp3 player that I plug into my computer. I then copy songs from my computer to the mp3 player. I then unplug the mp3 player from my computer, stick my earbuds in my ears, plug them into the mp3 player, press play and music comes out of them and into my ears. I don't need or want a nanny program to dictate to me how I listen to my music. I don't want or need any sort of cloud or other internet connection to listen to my own damned music. I want to be in control.

Am I pissing in the wind or is the above scenario possible with an iPhone.

TIA :)
 
Yes, you just sync music manually to the iphone using iTunes from your computer.

Although TBH, I gave up a few years back, because I started subscribing anyways to Apple Music, and I dumped my entire collection locally stored collection now that everything is at least CD quality from Apple Music.
 
Deadjasper said:
Been Googling all afternoon and can't believe how freaking complicated this is, JHDFC.

What I want to do is this. I have an mp3 player that I plug into my computer. I then copy songs from my computer to the mp3 player. I then unplug the mp3 player from my computer, stick my earbuds in my ears, plug them into the mp3 player, press play and music comes out of them and into my ears. I don't need or want a nanny program to dictate to me how I listen to my music. I don't want or need any sort of cloud or other internet connection to listen to my own damned music. I want to be in control.

Am I pissing in the wind or is the above scenario possible with an iPhone.

TIA :)
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It's not that cut and dry in the Apple universe. You have to use iTunes in order for you to do that. Your other option is to buy everything thru iTunes and everytime you upgrage to a new iPhone you stuff will just download onto the new phone.
 
wra18th said:
It's not that cut and dry in the Apple universe. You have to use iTunes in order for you to do that. Your other option is to buy everything thru iTunes and everytime you upgrage to a new iPhone you stuff will just download onto the new phone.
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If you subscribe to apple music you can also just upload your entire library via iTunes, and that will auto-download to the phone as well. However, if you don't plan on subscribing, it's best to just leave all that stuff alone and manually sync via cable on iTunes.
 
Mchart said:
If you subscribe to apple music you can also just upload your entire library via iTunes, and that will auto-download to the phone as well. However, if you don't plan on subscribing, it's best to just leave all that stuff alone and manually sync via cable on iTunes.
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None of the bunch of CDs I ripped into iTunes over the years will automatically download onto the phone. I have to sunc it to the PC. But, once I get a new iPhone and do a side by side transfer, it will all be there. It's definitely a flawed setup but I bought into the iTunes world a long time ago and have too much invested in it.
 
wra18th said:
None of the bunch of CDs I ripped into iTunes over the years will automatically download onto the phone. I have to sunc it to the PC. But, once I get a new iPhone and do a side by side transfer, it will all be there. It's definitely a flawed setup but I bought into the iTunes world a long time ago and have too much invested in it.
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It only works if you subscribe to apple music or itunes match, and if you have a lot of music it will take a while for it to all be uploaded to Apple's servers.
 
The whole idea of "syncing" I want to avoid. I just want to copy and play. I really don't care anything about Apple's servers. I don't need them to be a nanny to my stuff. I can take care of myself. I also don't give a damn about the convenience of having my music available on "All my devices". My computer and iPhone is all I have and the computer has nothing to do with Apple. And besides, I'm running Linux. :)

So if I use iTunes to get my music to the phone, what do I play it with? When I hit the music Icon I get the option to subscribe to Apple music and nothing else. Will my music show up here once I get it on the phone or do I need to have another app to play it?
 
Deadjasper said:
The whole idea of "syncing" I want to avoid. I just want to copy and play. I really don't care anything about Apple's servers. I don't need them to be a nanny to my stuff. I can take care of myself. I also don't give a damn about the convenience of having my music available on "All my devices". My computer and iPhone is all I have and the computer has nothing to do with Apple. And besides, I'm running Linux. :)

So if I use iTunes to get my music to the phone, what do I play it with? When I hit the music Icon I get the option to subscribe to Apple music and nothing else. Will my music show up here once I get it on the phone or do I need to have another app to play it?
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Yes, the music will show up under the library icon on the bottom right.
 
Ya, once there is music on the iPhone you will see this screen.
67230A6F-64A5-4475-97E4-E6212FEA3BB9.png
 
Deadjasper said:
The whole idea of "syncing" I want to avoid. I just want to copy and play. I really don't care anything about Apple's servers. I don't need them to be a nanny to my stuff. I can take care of myself. I also don't give a damn about the convenience of having my music available on "All my devices". My computer and iPhone is all I have and the computer has nothing to do with Apple. And besides, I'm running Linux. :)

So if I use iTunes to get my music to the phone, what do I play it with? When I hit the music Icon I get the option to subscribe to Apple music and nothing else. Will my music show up here once I get it on the phone or do I need to have another app to play it?
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There should be an option to skip the Apple Music sign-up, but if not you can just add music as Zepher indicates.

As for syncing? I do think it's a pain that you have to use iTunes (Music on a Mac) or a third-party gateway app to move songs over, but at the same time, it is nice to know that any new music will automatically reach your phone when you connect. To some degree, this is a holdover from the iPod days, when Apple was trying to solve truly unwieldy music transfers that were a problem on rival MP3 players.

One nice thing to know is that Apple Music is available on the web, so if you do sign up you won't have to leave Linux just to stream your tunes. Of course, you can also do this with Spotify and other alternatives.
 
Aurelius said:
There should be an option to skip the Apple Music sign-up, but if not you can just add music as Zepher indicates.

As for syncing? I do think it's a pain that you have to use iTunes (Music on a Mac) or a third-party gateway app to move songs over, but at the same time, it is nice to know that any new music will automatically reach your phone when you connect. To some degree, this is a holdover from the iPod days, when Apple was trying to solve truly unwieldy music transfers that were a problem on rival MP3 players.

One nice thing to know is that Apple Music is available on the web, so if you do sign up you won't have to leave Linux just to stream your tunes. Of course, you can also do this with Spotify and other alternatives.
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You don't have to enable auto-sync if you're just manually moving the music over via cable. In fact, it's recommended you keep that setting off if you're doing so.

Where Apple screws you is if you want to start using Apple Music it requires you to turn on syncing of the library on the iOS device, which in turn can cause a cluster-fuck if you're trying to maintain a specific library of songs that you manually transferred from PC as you can no longer just transfer over specific music using iTunes to that device without also turning sync on in iTunes, and it becomes almost impossible to tell the difference between shit that was from your own collection, and shit that you added to the library and downloaded under the apple music subscription.

Although, again, I gave up maintaining my own CD rips as Apple Music is now offering higher than CD quality audio downloads for most of my favorite albums, some even have the dolby atmos on them like most of the Rush albums. I've stuck most of my SACD collection in the basement, and literally just use my iPhone as the source device now as it's passing 24-bit/192khz to my DAC for most of my favorite albums.
 
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Aurelius said:
There should be an option to skip the Apple Music sign-up, but if not you can just add music as Zepher indicates.

As for syncing? I do think it's a pain that you have to use iTunes (Music on a Mac) or a third-party gateway app to move songs over, but at the same time, it is nice to know that any new music will automatically reach your phone when you connect. To some degree, this is a holdover from the iPod days, when Apple was trying to solve truly unwieldy music transfers that were a problem on rival MP3 players.

One nice thing to know is that Apple Music is available on the web, so if you do sign up you won't have to leave Linux just to stream your tunes. Of course, you can also do this with Spotify and other alternatives.
Click to expand...

The only streaming I need to do is from my phone to my ear. I try to keep it as simple as possible. :)
 
Mchart said:
You don't have to enable auto-sync if you're just manually moving the music over via cable. In fact, it's recommended you keep that setting off if you're doing so.

Where Apple screws you is if you want to start using Apple Music it requires you to turn on syncing of the library on the iOS device, which in turn can cause a cluster-fuck if you're trying to maintain a specific library of songs that you manually transferred from PC as you can no longer just transfer over specific music using iTunes to that device without also turning sync on in iTunes, and it becomes almost impossible to tell the difference between shit that was from your own collection, and shit that you added to the library and downloaded under the apple music subscription.

Although, again, I gave up maintaining my own CD rips as Apple Music is now offering higher than CD quality audio downloads for most of my favorite albums, some even have the dolby atmos on them like most of the Rush albums. I've stuck most of my SACD collection in the basement, and literally just use my iPhone as the source device now as it's passing 24-bit/192khz to my DAC for most of my favorite albums.
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That's true on all counts. Apple is clearly trying to keep things simple, but in doing so is making things complicated for those who have intricate music libraries. I thankfully haven't had issues juggling my legacy of locally stored songs and those saved for offline use, but I know some folks haven't had it so easy.
 
I maintain a Windows 7 and a Windows 10 box for things that don't work with Linux, like iTunes. I recently updated my Garmin LMT GPS and had to use Windows 10 to do it. I also use Windows 10 for my HTPC because Bluetooth works much better. But my daily driver is Linux and there's a whole list of things it does better than Windows.
 
Deadjasper said:
The only streaming I need to do is from my phone to my ear. I try to keep it as simple as possible. :)
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I actually see streaming as simple. So long as you have a decent internet connection, you can listen to almost anything on all your devices without having to transfer a thing. Offline playback is a bit more complicated, but in your case you could just tell an app to download any tracks you absolutely want to play regardless of your connection.

That and, simply speaking, streaming is much gentler on your bank account if you thrive on new music or exploring unfamiliar music. I'm a big fan of dance music, and it's much cheaper (not to mention more enjoyable) to stream new singles and EPs than to buy everything that sounds vaguely interesting. I'm much more familiar with some artists than I would have ever been if I'd had to weigh the merits of buying their latest releases.
 
Aurelius said:
I actually see streaming as simple. So long as you have a decent internet connection, you can listen to almost anything on all your devices without having to transfer a thing. Offline playback is a bit more complicated, but in your case you could just tell an app to download any tracks you absolutely want to play regardless of your connection.

That and, simply speaking, streaming is much gentler on your bank account if you thrive on new music or exploring unfamiliar music. I'm a big fan of dance music, and it's much cheaper (not to mention more enjoyable) to stream new singles and EPs than to buy everything that sounds vaguely interesting. I'm much more familiar with some artists than I would have ever been if I'd had to weigh the merits of buying their latest releases.
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Cheaper also if you want highest quality possible. SACD / DVD audio is such a pain in the ass. The fact that I can take any iOS device and stream/download most albums in 24-bit/192khz and just plug it straight into my audio setup is amazing. When i'm done, I just unplug my iPhone, and I still have all my same music downloaded or can just stream new music anyways at high quality for on-the-go usage. For only $99 a year it's a no brainer for me. That's basically only two SACD albums anyways.
 
I feel your pain Deadjasper . This and the fact that I couldn't plug and play copy audio books from my collection onto an iPhone is one of the reasons I don't have it anymore and one of the reasons I don't try it again.

It really doesn't need to be this hard...even in a walled garden.
 
kirbyrj said:
I feel your pain Deadjasper . This and the fact that I couldn't plug and play copy audio books from my collection onto an iPhone is one of the reasons I don't have it anymore and one of the reasons I don't try it again.

It really doesn't need to be this hard...even in a walled garden.
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You find it hard?

The steps are this -

Install iTunes on Windows.
Point iTunes to your music collection folder(s). You can either manually add, or just point to locations and it will add them.
Plug iPhone in.
Drag songs from iTunes music list, to the iPhone icon on the left.
Songs transfer.
Done.

Sure, it's not as easy as just dragging/dropping via Windows explorer only, but iTunes is NOT difficult to figure out for simple transfers.

It only becomes a pain if you decide you want to mix your local collection with an Apple Music subscription.
 
Mchart said:
You find it hard?

The steps are this -

Install iTunes on Windows.
Point iTunes to your music collection folder(s). You can either manually add, or just point to locations and it will add them.
Plug iPhone in.
Drag songs from iTunes music list, to the iPhone icon on the left.
Songs transfer.
Done.

Sure, it's not as easy as just dragging/dropping via Windows explorer only, but iTunes is NOT difficult to figure out for simple transfers.

It only becomes a pain if you decide you want to mix your local collection with an Apple Music subscription.
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Audio books didn't like iTunes for some reason. I ended up having to upload it to iCloud and then tell some audio book player (no iOS version of the one I use for Android) to look at iCloud to play it.

Total PITA when with my Pixel 5, I simply plug it in, copy the files, and point the audio book reader app to the directory.

Once again, it doesn't need to be that hard. There's no reason why I can't plug in an iPhone to a computer and copy files like it's a USB drive.
 
I suspect that Apple would rather you buy their music than listen to your own and that's the reason it is like it is.
 
Deadjasper said:
I suspect that Apple would rather you buy their music than listen to your own and that's the reason it is like it is.
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Maybe?
I think it's more accurate to say that it's been this way since long before the iPhone even existed (the original iPod was released in 2001) without even thinking about "always on" connections or "Apple Music" which is also relatively recent comparatively (2015) and they haven't bothered to use any other system to do transfers.
Certainly it was more than possible to do drag and drop transfers on other audio devices (in other words it's obviously not a technical limitation) and it was and is still possible to use an iPod as a hard-drive, it just also means that the OS doesn't 'see' those things.
Take it for what you will.

But to answer your initial question posed in the OP, the answer is: there is no other solution. If drag and drop is a 'must have' then sell the iPhone and buy something else. Although as Mchart notes, it's not particularly difficult to do the "Apple Method".
 
For music it basically is drag and drop though. You drag the music files into iTunes from windows. You drag those music files onto the iPhone icon in iTunes. It’s that simple. The only caveat is if the music files aren’t in a format the iPhone supports, but about the only common format that would be is WMA if you’re still using that for some reason. Every other common format is supported.
 
kirbyrj said:
Audio books didn't like iTunes for some reason. I ended up having to upload it to iCloud and then tell some audio book player (no iOS version of the one I use for Android) to look at iCloud to play it.

Total PITA when with my Pixel 5, I simply plug it in, copy the files, and point the audio book reader app to the directory.

Once again, it doesn't need to be that hard. There's no reason why I can't plug in an iPhone to a computer and copy files like it's a USB drive.
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I have some audiobooks I got in the past.
The iPhone sees them in the Books app

70B281E3-072C-4D92-AF76-A40996E4DFE0.png
 
drutman said:
Set up a Plex or Emby server on your PC.
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If I understand correctly, that defeats the whole idea of what he wants to do. He wants everything local on the iPhone and wants to be able to get it there as easily as possible.
 
I've never done local audiobook file transfers, so that one I honestly can't answer. Every audiobook of mine is on audible which has a decent iOS app.
 
Grimham said:
If I understand correctly, that defeats the whole idea of what he wants to do. He wants everything local on the iPhone and wants to be able to get it there as easily as possible.
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True local storage is great but you have unlimited space for videos, movies and media with a media server.
 
GoldenTiger said:
I'm so sorry. You can get a windows key for free off an old laptop or something, no need to use desktop Linux!

No, you can't just copy/paste in the apple world :(.
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There is peace in the Linux world, I don't need big brother to hold my hand.
 
Deadjasper said:
Right now I'm checking out Pandora. I like it except for the ads.
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If you're going to pay for only (1) service I recommend YouTube Premium. With it not only do you get ad free YouTube on whatever device you're on, but you also can use YouTube Music. And basically YouTube Music has every song ever, including stuff that's live, and of course all of the musicians that are putting up music as channel content (which you can also listen to). If you want the biggest library with the upside of not having to watch YouTube ads, it's pretty worth it.

You also can choose to download songs or playlists in the app. If you need music anytime you're not going to have cell service and you want it local, YT Music gives that option. I think Spotify Premium does as well - but I think their limited library isn't worth it in comparison to the premium you pay for their service. Just IMHO. There's other side benefits like YT is slowly getting an actual movie library. But honestly all their original content is more or less "whatever" and all of the movies they're starting to put up are kinda old.

I think it's better to just look at it as a Music service with upsides, rather than consider those other things as being defining features.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
If you're going to pay for only (1) service I recommend YouTube Premium. With it not only do you get ad free YouTube on whatever device you're on, but you also can use YouTube Music. And basically YouTube Music has every song ever, including stuff that's live, and of course all of the musicians that are putting up music as channel content (which you can also listen to). If you want the biggest library with the upside of not having to watch YouTube ads, it's pretty worth it.

You also can choose to download songs or playlists in the app. If you need music anytime you're not going to have cell service and you want it local, YT Music gives that option. I think Spotify Premium does as well - but I think their limited library isn't worth it in comparison to the premium you pay for their service. Just IMHO. There's other side benefits like YT is slowly getting an actual movie library. But honestly all their original content is more or less "whatever" and all of the movies they're starting to put up are kinda old.

I think it's better to just look at it as a Music service with upsides, rather than consider those other things as being defining features.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll check it out.
 
For movies, I simply upload to iCloud and then download them locally to my phone. I don't see how music would be any different unless you wanted to use the Apple Music player on the phone.

My wife subscribes to Pandora family plan, which is great for finding new artists. I'm a huge fan of Trans Siberia Orchestra and using the Find Deep Tracks option let me discover the symphonic metal universe. I also have Apple Music for when I want to stream entire albums. There are some groups where Pandora has a lot of music available and Apple Music has only three or four songs so I find having both services to be valuable.

As far as quality of the music is concerned, unless you're directly wired (i.e. audio cable to input jack or wired headphones) you're going to have quality degradation so I don't consider the musical quality much of a differentiator between the two services unless I'm listening through my headphones.
 
Install the app "Documents by Readdle" and you can connect to a Windows share, log in and copy your files over Wi-Fi from your PC. You can also do this with the built in IOS "Files" app, but I can never reliably connect with it. You can also just stream movies and music this way without copying the files over. I sometimes will watch a movie lying in bed this way. I don't even have iTunes installed on my PC.

Mp3's won't show up in the Apple Music app if you do it this way though. So you would need to have a 3rd party player.
 
Maybe the Itunes simple drag work well for people that have nice collection, but with folder of the type best musics of the 90s and audiobook it really was a pain for me to not simply be able to copy folders and look at the collection has folder like the old days, which inferior to the well setuped Itunes setup, worked well for me.

Enough to make me go to the music service route, that come with the Amazon prime account.

To answer the OP question, back in the days it was quite complicated to not simply go with Itunes and drag and dropping on your Phone your music, I would give it a try, maybe you will prefer it, specially if you collection is small enough to simply fit in your Iphone, witch could make the process really painless.
 
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