Simple way to music from iMac to iPhone?

Ok.

There's no way in the Apple ecosystem to do what you want.

There used to be apps that ran on Macs that were sort of File Managers that could use to to see the file structure of iphones (when connected via USB) and could do what you want to do in terms of copying and moving music files. I used one for something (can't remember) but it was more than ten years ago. I don't know if such apps exist any more or even if such access is possible any more. MacOS and iOS security have changes so much since I used one that it might not be possible any more.

Your best bet is, as I posted yesterday before this thread got out of hand (apologies for my part in that) to search google for music transfer, iPhone file manager, etc. If you find something it will almost certainly not be in the app store. It will be a web download of an app that runs on your Mac which will claim to give you access to your phone's file structure and allow you to copy, move and delete files from your phone to you Mac. Some of them might even do that. They will almost certainly want money before they let you transfer more than a few files across.

You need to be very careful. Do lots of research**. In terms of risk, the best case is that you permanently brick your phone and lose your music for ever. Worst case is worse. Create a new user on your Mac to run it and don't log in to your Apple ID. If in any doubt - don't.

Best of luck.

**search these boards for posts by turingtest2 would be a great place to start your research. No one around here knows more about iTunes/Music than they do.

Connect the phone to the Mac using a USB cable.

Open Finder

Select the phone in the LH pane**

You will see tabs to synch music, TV, movies, photos, etc. Select the music tab and choose which tracks, artists, playlists, albums that you want to synch

Hit the synch button at the bottom right.

** if you can't see the phone make sure it's on and open. You should get a pop-up to trust the Mac.

More detail here

Connect your device to your Mac to sync Music content – Apple Support (UK)

In Music app on Mac simply drag the tracks onto iPhone in the sidebar.

The OP was confused about how it works and how it used to work.

Apple didn't change anything. What the OP has run into is that they have apparently dropped media onto their phone from a media library that no longer exists. Unfortunately, there is no (supported) way to get that media back off of the phone to a computer.

They shot themselves in the foot.

If you own the music then you won't lose it when you synch. All you have to do is put the tracks into Music on your Mac and you'll be able to synch them to your phone. What format are the originals in? Mine are all vinyl and CDs so it would be a pain for me, which is why I've got backups of them scattered all over the place.

Any tracks that are not in Music on your Mac will be wiped from your phone. If all the tracks on your phone have been dragged and dropped from your Mac then as long as you've not deleted them from your Mac then it won't be a problem - you'll just have to make sure that they are all in the Music app on your Mac.

If you've got tracks on your phone that you haven't got anywhere else the you have got a problem. There's no official Apple way to transfer music from your phone to your Mac. The absolute guru of iTunes/Music is the best way to start but this post is quite old now so if it doesn't work then you need to either search these forums (don't use the forum search, use Google and add site:discussions.apple.com to the end of the search to get results only from here) or wait until someone comes along who can help.

Recover your iTunes library from your iPo… - Apple Community

There are only 2 ways to get music into the music app on the phone.

One is to sync music from the music library on a computer to the Music app on the phone. The other is to download the music directly from the iTunes music store.

There are no other legal options to do that.

It is not possible to have music that is 'singular' to the music app on the phone. It can not have gotten there through any means other than those I described.

That means either you would need to re-download the music from the iTunes Store, which you can do at no cost using the apple account that was used to purchase it, or you would have to re-sync it from the music library on your computer.

If the music was in a music library on a computer that no longer exists for some reason, and you don't have another copy somewhere other than in the music app on the phone, you're out of luck.

curious to know if you tried to airdrop your music.

Thanks. I am reluctant to do that because the last time Apple did this, I tried that and the music all got wiped off my phone. If I could transfer the needed items from my phone to my Mac, that would be a different story, but after last time I don't have faith in that option.

Music sync is one way. From the computer to the phone. You can't do it the other way around.

If you have music on your phone that was originally synced from a computer and it is no longer on the computer, you will have to re-download it or rip it from the original media to your computer. I you no longer own the original media, you no longer own the music.

ringthembells wrote:

Thanks again--basically I'm screwed. There is no logical reason for Apple to screw us like this.

Sure there is. It's to prevent piracy.

That's how it's worked since the very first iPhone hit the market over 19 years ago. Come to think of it, that's the way it's been since the iPod was introduced.

In what way are you being screwed? You've loaded music onto your phone that you don't own - because if you owned it you'd still have it - and now you're complaining that you can't transfer something that's not yours to your Mac.

ringthembells wrote:

I own all the music that is on my phone. I own the phone. I own the iMac. That is why I am

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You don't "own" commercial music at all. You have a license to listen to it and to make a copy for personal use.

If you give away, sell, lose, or discard the original media, your license is void. You no longer have rights to it, including any copies you may have made.

There still might be apps out there that let you reverse copy. There certainly used to be but iOS security has moved on a lot since those days and it's not an area I have any interest in so I can't help any more than suggest you get googling (other search engines are available). The turingtest link has a list of what was available, but it's 4-years old so I assume most of them are gone.

If there are only a few special tracks then you could record them analogue via hi-fi and a USB recorder, but if there's more than few hours of music then the track-splitting could get tedious.

ringthembells wrote:

Thanks again--basically I'm screwed. There is no logical reason for Apple to screw us like this.

At some time you had original copies of some music that you value so much that you won't synch any more music to your phone because you don't want to lose it.  These tracks are so important that the only place you stored them was in a limited-lifetime iPhone via a one-way only save process.  You didn't keep copies of them on your Mac.  Apple provides a virtually seamless, idiot-proof click-and-forget system to do backups; all you had to do was buy a drive, but you didn't do that either.  You didn't back them up using any of the other backup apps which are available.  You didn't even burn them to CDs and stick them in a wallet in the loft.  Someone screwed up, but it wasn't Apple.

For commercial CDs you own the physical item that you bought but the rights to the music on it don't belong to you. You can't make copies of the music, burn them to CD and sell them - or even give them away. If you want to become a DJ and make money out of playing the CD you or the venue needs to be licensed to do so.

It's the same as your Mac - you own the hardware but the OS belongs to Apple.

Music you made yourself you can do what you like with.

Zurarczurx wrote:

For commercial CDs you own the physical item that you bought but the rights to the music on it don't belong to you. You can't make copies of the music, burn them to CD and sell them - or even give them away. If you want to become a DJ and make money out of playing the CD you or the venue needs to be licensed to do so.

Just to be clear, in the U.S., you are allowed to rip music to your computer from CDs you own for your own listening enjoyment. What you are not allowed to do is then sell or give away the physical CDs or make new copies of the CD (or mix CDs) and then sell or give away those.

I digitized my entire CD collection years ago. The physical CDs are in a box somewhere in my basement.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

I digitized my entire CD collection years ago. The physical CDs are in a box somewhere in my basement.

I did the same, though mine are stored on a shelf in the garage, much to my wife's annoyance...

I don't know why she's upset about all the 'stuff' in the garage. We can actually fit 2 cars in comfortably, unlike most of the neighbors.

Just to be clear, I don't care about the music from my cd collection and downloads. I have music that is singular to what's on my iPhone that cannot be replaced if a sync wipes it out. This conversation got way too complicated. It feels like two monkeys trying to, um...make love to a football. Sorry I asked.

ringthembells wrote:

Just to be clear, I don't care about the music from my cd collection and downloads. I have music that is singular to what's on my iPhone that cannot be replaced if a sync wipes it out. This conversation got way too complicated. It feels like two monkeys trying to, um...make love to a football. Sorry I asked.

My apologies for any confustion. I was responding spefically to a post by another person.

Not according to the original post:

"Simple way to music from iMac to iPhone?

Nearly ten years ago, Apple took away the ability to drag and drop music from Apple Music on iMac to iPhones. There was pushback from users and the ability was restored. Now, with Golden Gate, we no longer can do that. What the heck? I have a ton of stored on my phone--some of which are concerts I recorded and no longer have on hard drive. I will lose them if I use the new sync settings."

The opposite way has never been possible without third party apps.

I read the whole thing. My point being that drag and drop from Mac to iPhone still works in Golden Gate which was what the OP was originally complaining about ie it no longer works. And I won't be replying to you again.

Thanks again--basically I'm screwed. There is no logical reason for Apple to screw us like this.

By the way--you said "this post is quite old now." I posted it this morning. Shelf life here is pretty **** short! lol

I own all the music that is on my phone. I own the phone. I own the iMac. That is why I am

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I meant the turingtest post that I linked to.

ringthembells wrote:

I own the iMac.

True, but not software on it.

So, are you telling me I don’t own my cds, or whole albums I bought outside of Apple? Or that I don’t own my own recordings I personally made of my own music? That’s flat out silly.

Nice, but they don't allow it anymore--at least in Golden Gate OS.

The OP wants to get music from the phone to the Mac not from the Mac to the Phone.

So you just read the title of the thread and nothing else whatsoever?

Wrong – it works in Golden Gate.