Itunes 12 does not have the "Manually manage music" option

I've just done these suggested solutions (which worked) on my iPad Air and I'll bet this "problem" is a silent strategy by Apple to make it difficult to use your own physical music files library (ripped from your CDs, Amazon downloads, etc.) and to encourage exclusive use of AppleMusic. Am I being paranoid? As an added bonus to having checked the "Manually manage music and videos" function, it also made my whole iBooks library disappear from the iPad. I have quite a few books in iBooks and it's a total tactical nightmare having to resync them all.

Diskcikenget wrote:

I use an app called airdrop.

It allows me to transfer between iDevices and also my computer, all wirelessly of course.

Check it out, you might like it.

<Link Edited by Host>

Please keep your spam to yourself. 😠

Yes but as soon as you turn off the cloud if you downloaded any music for off line listening. That gets wiped out and u have to download whatever again. Don't understand why you just can't add outside music and not have to go back through all of that hassle!!

"Why would anyone even set this up to have the Icloud setting interfere? The two shouldn't have anything to do with one another."

Exactly! Worse than that, why have it so that iCloud is either on or off for all applications? I can't shut it off for music, and still sync Notes, etc. This is either massively dumb, or somehow nefarious as a way of conditioning us into using iCloud. Either way, I rebel. I refuse to use iCloud. This is a real let-down from Apple.

Hello there, Jenks855.

When wanting to manually manage content on your iOS device, the Knowledge Base article you were referred from provides some great information and practical steps for troubleshooting:

Manage content manually on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod - Apple Support

Manually add items to your device

1. Connect your device to your computer.
2. Open iTunes. Make sure that you have the latest version.
3. Choose the content that you want to add to your device from your iTunes library.
   
4. Drag the content to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod. A panel should appear. Locate your device.
   

What if I can't manually add content to or remove content from my device?

To manually manage your content, check to make sure that the "Manually manage music and videos" option is turned on. Then:

1. Connect your device to your computer.
2. Open iTunes. Make sure that you have the latest version.
3. Locate and click on your device.
   
4. Click the Summary tab.
5. Click the box next to "Manually manage music and videos."
   
6. Click Apply. If you see a message that your device is synced with another library:

• iPhone can only add music or video from a single iTunes Library.
• iPad and iPod can add music from multiple iTunes Libraries, but video from only one iTunes Library.
• If you choose to manually manage your movies and music with the new iTunes Library, the iTunes content currently on your device will be erased and replaced.
• You can’t manually manage music while using iTunes Match on your device.

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

Cheers,

Pedro.

The option for music isn't there. That's the problem.

Same issue here.

Same here! It won't even let me sync my playlists to my phone? UGH this is so annoying!

You need to turn off the iCloud library in settings on the iPhone, then the manually manage music and videos option should be available again.

Hope this helps

James

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've been trying to figure this out for three days! I don't like being stumped when I know there is an answer. Thanks for having it!

My thank you goes to jl_bush who stated

"You need to turn off the iCloud library in settings on the iPhone, then the manually manage music and videos option should be available again."

That's the trick, people. 🙂

I think I finally found the solution (iPhone 6, iTunes 12.2.1.16).

When I used Cellular Data it seemed to work, not Wifi.

1) On your iPhone, go to "Settings" and turn on "Cellular Data".

2) Go back to "Settings" and scroll down to "iTunes & App Store" & turn on "Use Cellular Data".

3) Go back to "Settings" and scroll down to "Music" and turn off "iCloud Music Library". You should see "Genius" pop up above "iCloud Music Library". Notice when you go back to "Settings" and go back to "Music" it does not turn back on.

4) Plug your iPhone into your computer. Go to iTunes and click the iPhone icon in the top left corner. Go to "Summary" and under "Options" it now says "Manually manage music and videos". Check it.

5) Go to "Music" under "Summary" and check "Sync Music" and now you able to sync selected playlist like normal.

Yep - that did it. Thanks!

Fantastic, finally the answer I was looking for. 😀

So much for Apple's intuitive interface 😝

Steve would be so disappointed.