Can't remove songs from iPhone

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Level 1

0 points

Can't remove songs from iPhone

A coworker got a used iPhone. His friend filled the iPhone to its capacity (3GB) with his own songs. The coworker wanted me to put pictures on the iPhone. I installed iTunes and connected the iPhone to the laptop. When I tried to sync pictures from the laptop to the iPhone iTunes informed me that there was no available space on the iPhone to sync the pictures. Indeed, iTunes stated that there is 0 bytes available on the iPhone.
I read online that if you want to remove songs from an iPhone you need to remove the songs from iTunes, then sync with the iPhone. The songs on the iPhone will be removed. Problem is is that there are no songs in iTunes yet, just on the iPhone, as his friend filled it with his own songs. I wish the iPhone was like an iPod in that you could drag and drop songs onto it.
Will I have to use the "factory defaults" option in iTunes to format the iPhone?
-Andrew

iMac Flat Panel, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Jul 30, 2009 7:41 AM

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Answer 1

Tbo6652

Level 4

1,081 points

Jul 30, 2009 7:46 AM in response to everest63

if you sync to your iTunes and you have no songs listed...it should cause the phone to remove all songs that were on there after you sync

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Answer 2

Jul 30, 2009 7:53 AM in response to everest63

Did your co-worker activate this used iPhone with AT&T?

If not, did his friend include the no longer activated SIM card with the iPhone?

If the iPhone is not activated with AT&T and the no longer activated SIM card was not included - the SIM card that was used with this iPhone when the iPhone was activated with AT&T, your co-worker will not be able to install a firmware update on the iPhone or restore the iPhone with iTunes if wanted or needed - or won't be able to complete the process.

In regards to iTunes content, an iPhone can be synced or manually managed with an iTunes library on a single computer only. When syncing or manually managing iTunes content with an iTunes library on another computer, all iTunes content on the iPhone that was transferred from a different computer will be erased first.

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Answer 3

everest63 Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 7, 2009 1:04 PM in response to everest63

I tried to use the factory defaults option in iTunes and after 5 mins there was an error. The iPhone screen then showed a cartoon image of Steve Jobs and cartoon balloon text that was in a language that was Eastern European. The co-worker then took the iPhone to an Apple Store. The Apple Expert said that the iPhone was unlocked to another carrier (Verizon)and that was the reason for the image of Steve Jobs and the balloon text. The co-worker had been using it with his AT&T SIM card and the iPhone worked fine. The case is solved now as its out of my hands. Thanks for the replies!

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Answer 4

Aug 8, 2009 6:55 AM in response to everest63

If you were using manually manage the iPhone you could just delete songs on the iPhone to clear space for photos. The contents of the iPhone will show and you can choose what songs you don't want.

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Answer 5

Sboq

Level 2

430 points

Aug 9, 2009 8:25 AM in response to Denise Woodcock

but, won't turning on manually manage will erase all existing content? i thought i might have read that somewhere, but i can easily be wrong...

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