3lina

Q: How do import music from my iPhone to a new Mac?

I recently bought a 13" Macbook Pro and tried to sync the music from my iPhone to the laptop, and yet when I tried to iTunes keeps saying that it want's to wipe the phone in order to sync it to the new computer. If I do this, I lose everything, as my previous Microsoft computer is irreparably damaged and I don't have a backup of my music. Considering I have thousands of songs on my phone I don't want them to disappear and be replaced with only the ones that I have bought through iTunes. Is there any way possible to transfer my music onto my Mac without wiping the phone?

Mac Pro, iOS 9.2.1

Posted on Mar 19, 2016 2:03 PM

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Q: How do import music from my iPhone to a new Mac?

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  • by Limnos,Apple recommended

    Limnos Limnos Mar 19, 2016 2:53 PM in response to 3lina
    Level 9 (53,976 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 19, 2016 2:53 PM in response to 3lina

    Your i-device was not designed for unique storage of your media. It is not a backup device and media transfer was planned with you maintaining a master copy of your media on a computer which is itself independently backed up against loss.  To use a device with a different setup you transfer the old library from a computer or a backup directly to the new setup, not the device to the library. Media syncing is one way, computer to device, updating the device content to the content on the computer, not updating or restoring content on a computer. The exception is iTunes Store purchases which can be transferred to a computer.

     

    Redownload or transfer your iTunes Store purchases from an iPhone, iPad or iPod to a computer - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201267 - "This feature works only for content bought from the iTunes Store." As of iOS9 it no longer does apps which now must be re-downloaded directly from the Store.

     

    For transferring other items from an i-device to a computer you will have to use third party commercial software.  See this document by turingtest2: Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991  Even this method may not fully recover what you had in the library originally. For example if in order to save space when syncing you had converted music files to a lower bitrate, or photos to a lower resolution, it is those lower quality files you will recover.

     

    If you subscribe to Apple Music, tracks which are not part of content you have purchased or uploaded cannot be transferred and have to be downloaded directly from iCloud.

  • by bedoin,

    bedoin bedoin Mar 19, 2016 5:20 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 19, 2016 5:20 PM in response to Limnos

    What about moving an itunes library form one computer to another. I have my library on my mac book - 10000 plus songs - all my i devices are synced to this machine yet i have an imac now that i would like to make the main library storage - is this possible?

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Mar 19, 2016 8:00 PM in response to bedoin
    Level 9 (53,976 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 19, 2016 8:00 PM in response to bedoin

    Moving a library: Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings:  Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its sub-folders and files) intact to the other drive, hold down the option/alt key (shift on Windows) while starting iTunes, and when requested to select a library select the iTunes Library.itl file in the copied folder. 

     

    When this is to a new computer put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music  (or Home > Music) then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there.  (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)  Remember to authorize the computer in iTunes to your Apple ID if you use this to sync to Apple mobile devices or play DRM protected media (e.g., movies).

  • by Kikillll,

    Kikillll Kikillll Mar 21, 2016 1:00 AM in response to 3lina
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 21, 2016 1:00 AM in response to 3lina

    I don't think transferring pictures from iPhone to computer can be complicated. There are many way you can use. Firstly, you can use iCloud. You can access iCloud by logging in icloud.com/ to transfer music from iPhone to Mac.

    sign-in-icloud.jpg

    Secondly, you can use iTunes to sync the MUSIC. But personally, I don't like use this way. Thirdly, you can use hard drive on computer. These are the steps:

    If iTunes or any other software fires up automatically, close it.

    1. Navigate to My Computer.

    2. Double-click on the iPhone drive that shows up in the list

    3. Now, navigate to /Internal Storage/DCIM/

    4. The folders within this folder (DCIM) contains the music from all playlist on iPhone

    Just copy and paste them in any other folder on computer’s hard drive.