How to transfer music not purchased from itunes onto iphone

Only one "library" or subset of one library can exist on a single mobile device. You can manage your non-iTunes purchased music and move it to your device through iTunes. But you can not move it from device to device, or device back to PC. Why not? Doing so could promote piracy of songs (media).

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How do I manually add songs to my iPhone?
How do I recover songs not purchased on iTunes?
How do I manually move music from iTunes to iPhone?

You can only normally transfer music in one direction: iTunes -> Device. The reason for this is to limit music sharing, this follows the model apple created to satisfy the recording industries demands as apple demanded an end to DRM encrypted files.

Additionally, related but not part of your question, you are essentially prohibited from transferring songs from someone else's iTunes library directly to your phone. If you attempt to do so it will warn you that you are about to replace the existing library on the device with a new one, meaning all song currently on the device will be wiped if you continue.

If the original iTunes files are not available on the computer, you can't just transfer them from the device back to iTunes. There are however apps in the app store that allow you to transfer music back to a PC, at that point you can use iTunes to put it on the new phone. I can't personally suggest any of these as I've never used them. Google the term iphone transfer music to pc to learn more and read reviews.

Another method if the original CD's are still available you could use iTunes to re-rip them to iTunes on the computer, and then move them to the new phone.

Apple also sells an add-on called iTunes Match that will allow you to download songs in your ripped library directly to your device. However this service isn't a necessity at all, it just adds convenience over managing your library directly thru iTunes.

This is my opinion on the subject, but if a person understands how the system works, it's not hard to follow the rules, but it does seem confusing when a person is replacing their phone and doesn't know the rules. I would also rather have this system in place than DRM encoded music downloads from the app store.

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Home > iTunes Issues > Transfer Non-Purchased Music from iPod to iTunes for Free

Question: I have lots of non-purchased music on my iPhone and want to transfer them to iTunes. But the iTunes only transfer purchases, how can I do this? -- Edgar

Not everyone is able to purchase every song that they want to listen to from the iTunes store, which is why they have to download them elsewhere. However, if you want to sync non-purchased music from iPhone to iTunes then you’re going to run into some problems as iTunes doesn’t allow you to do that. Fortunately, we are going to show you the best method for transferring non-purchased music from iPhone to your iTunes – so, let’s jump right in.

Limits of Using iTunes to Transfer:

iTunes simply doesn’t allow you to transfer non-purchased music from iPhone to iTunes or from iPhone to computer.
If you want to transfer purchases from iPhone, all the purchases will be transferred together. You can select to transfer.
Syncing iTunes library to iDevice will delete the original library on device as well.
An iPhone can be synced to one iTunes library, or your device will be erased.
Secondly, iTunes is full of bugs and problems which are hard to fix.

If you are using an iPod, you can consider this way here to transfer non-purchased music from iPod to iTunes for free. But it’s more complicated, and it’s not available for iPhone and iPad. If you are using a Mac, this way is not suitable for you.

Step 1. Connect your iPod to computer with a USB cable.
Step 2. Open up the “My Computer” window andyour iPod will be shown up there.

Step 3. From the menu bar, click on “Folder Options” followed by “View”. Under “Advanced Settings”, make sure that “Show hidden files and folders” is checked.

Step 4. Head back to the “My Computer” menu and double-click on your iPod to open up its files.

Step 5. Locate and enter the “iPod_Control” folder, folder by the “Music” folder. Copy this folder to your desktop.

Step 6. Open iTunes, click on “File > Add Folder to Library”.

Step 7. Head to your desktop and select the music folder which you just copied. Click “Open”. After a few minutes, you will be able to find your iPod’s music in your iTunes library.
Step 8. Lastly, head to the “Edit > Preferences” menu and click on the “Advanced” tab. Check the box next to “Keep iTunes Media folder organized”.

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How do I manually add songs to my iPhone?

Touch and hold a song, album, playlist, or video, then tap Add to Library. When viewing the contents of an album or playlist, tap. near the top of the screen to add the album or playlist, or tap. , then tap Add to Library to add individual songs.

How do I recover songs not purchased on iTunes?

Open the Apple Music app. From the menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Account > Purchased. If you use Family Sharing, you'll see Family Purchases instead of Purchased. Find the music that you want to redownload.