Airdropping a song from iMac to iPad Pro

Below is a screenshot of the beginning of my Music App on my iPhone. I can play any album, or any song within an album, at wish. Like I mentioned, I don't subscribe to anything and Apple does not pester me to do so (only in the beginning). I sync any album on my PC (or on my Mac for that matter) to my iOS devices using iTunes. Since I own the CDs there are no restrictions. The App does say Radio on the lower right and if I click on that it offers me to subscribe to Apple Music which I decline. I just keep the Music App on My Music and then Albums. Songs is also an option under the Albums dropdown.

No, you can do exactly as you want and just sync one song, play it, and then delete it as you wish, no iCloud involved.

Important: First open iTunes in your computer before you connect your iPad, from the upper left select iTunes, Preferences, Devices. Then put a checkmark next to "Prevent iPods, iPhones....... from syncing automatically" and click OK.

Then connect your iPad, select the iPad icon that will soon appear on the upper left, select the music tab on the left, select the one song you want to sync. You may have to have that song by itself in a separate folder in Finder and then point iTunes to that one song/folder.

Then sync that song only to your iPad. No iCloud is involved, all done by USB charging cable. The song should appear in your Music App, likely the only song there (the U2 free album may be there perhaps, just ignore it). When you first open Music it will likely nag you about Apple Music and iCloud Music Library, say NO to both. May nag you one more time, say No again. It will quit nagging you, never nags me now. Then when you want your slideshow just play that song in the background. When you are through delete it (you can delete it from within the Music App). If you want it again just resync it.

I have just the songs/albums I want on my iPad. None on iCloud, do not use Apple Music, do not use iCloud Music Library. Never an issue once set up.

BTW I also dislike iCloud Photo Library, never use it.

No. The Music App is the, shall we say, hub for all things related to music.

It has different features, and while some like Apple Music or iTunes Match do use iCloud, you are under no obligation to use them.

In and of itself the Music App is also not a subscription service. Features within it, may require a subscription again like Apple Music or iTunes Match but the Music app itself is entirely free.

Now, the only way to get music into the Music App, is to either buy it directly from the iTunes Store and download it into it, use Apple Music or iTunes Match to download it into it also, or Sync it from iTunes on a computer.

You cannot airdrop a track, and expect it to be saved into the music App, it simply does not work that way.

You can however sync 1 song only if that is what you want to do, by Manually managing your iTunes library, and dragging the specific song onto the iPad when it's connected to the computer.

Move content from iTunes on your computer to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Beyond that there are literally hundreds of MP3 players in the store that can manage your list of songs directly and will accept files being Airdropped. You may want to browse the store and see which one fits your requirements.

I like one called Moliplayer, since it can also manage videos of many formats.

When a picture is first taken, "date created" and "date taken" are the same. As one copies or edits the picture, "date taken" tends to stay the same whereas "date created" changes to the copy date. The bright minds at Apple decided to sort iOS pictures by date created. What you did works in OS X. iOS is a different beast as you well know. If interested see my answer in this thread:

Re: How can I sequence photos in an Pad album? The photos are sequenced by file name (e.g., C 10, C,20, CN) within their folder (album) in Photoshop Elements on my Windows 10 PC, but the sequencing is disrupted upon import/synch to the iPad via iTun

Babowa, I use the Music App on both my iPad and my iPhone without subscribing to anything. I am like you, no thank you. You should be able to use Music and decline Apple Music. It may pester you a couple of times but then it gives up. I have a large CD collection which I rip to my PC using iTunes. I am then able to sync any music I want to my iOS devices without paying or subscribing to Apple Music or iCloud Music Library or any such nonsense. Could this possibly help you?

babowa wrote:

Just out of curiosity, I'd still like to know why a song winds up as a video in iMovie. The inner workings of Mac OS are simply easier to figure out than the walled iOS.

I have no idea.... And yes, iOS can be a pain in the ***. It took me for ever to figure out the criteria iOS uses for sorting synced photos in iPads (date created, not date taken) and how to edit them so they would appear in the order I wanted. But there are many other worse anomalies out there.

Here is what happens when I select one of the albums on Music in my iPad. I can play all movements or just one at will.

You are welcome as always.