iPhone Music management

Using an iPhone with the latest iOS (16.x) version, and a MacBook, also with the latest Ventura version installed.

I have been using iPhone for years, but this is my first MacBook. So, very conversant with Windows computers, newbie with Mac.

I am amazed at how difficult it is to manage my iPhone music content. I want to sync some, but not all, of my albums. I have thousands of albums in my iTunes library (locally stored) and there's no way I can sync them all. Until this morning, I had a selection of music I created several iPhones (and Windows computers) ago, and I wanted to remove a single album. It just can't be done.

People suggest in about a zillion places, that I can can select an album in the iPhone Music app and delete it, but the only option is to "Delete from Library". Well, I only want to delete it from my iPhone, not from my library.

Apple products are supposed to be easy to use. I am cool with the concept of a learning curve when moving from PC to Mac, but this is ridiculous!

Apple has changed its music services over the years. I am wondering if I need to re-learn how Apple handles all this. Does Apple consider the stuff I have in the online store differently than what I have here at home? How am I supposed to know this, manage it?

Has anyone seen a document that clarifies all this? Is there an alternate way to sync music on and off my phone that using Apple's lousy native features, or is it possible for someone who is not an Apple software engineer to learn how to deal with all this?

I have an active AppleCare contract on the MacBook - can I use that to get help?

(Edit: I see that this message has a tag for an old retired iPhone instead of my current iPhone 13, iOS 16. Can't change that , apparently...)