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Merging music libraries between two Apple devices without duplicates

I have an iPad and MacBook, both with their own music libraries. How do I merge/sync them without duplicating the common songs?

iPad Pro, iPadOS 18

Posted on Jan 25, 2025 12:53 PM

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1 reply

turingtest2

Level 10

280,629 points

Jan 26, 2025 7:47 AM in response to davidfrommccall

Apple don't really make it easy to copy media from their devices. You're supposed to keep everything on your computer, and make backups. See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - Apple Community. The easiest method may be a temporary subscription to the Apple Music service, merging the music on the device into an iCloud Music Library which you then download to a computer and backup for security.

Apple Music will generally eliminate duplicates as well, however see Duplicate songs in iTunes/Music - Apple Community if you decide to use a different method to extract your music, or still have duplicates that you need to eliminate.

tt2

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Merging music libraries between two Apple devices without duplicates