I am unable to manually add music to my iphone.

Question

I have an iphone 3gs. Laptop running windows XP.
I have, for years, manually managed my music etc. I have the "manually manage music" box checked.
But when I drag music onto my phone in the sidebar, instead of getting the "+", at which point the device shows the spinning "synch" circle, I get a grey crossed out circle - the international symbol for "NO".
My phone has space on it.
Also, if I delete a song off my phone in itunes, it doesn't actually delete it off the device - there is no "synch" process. If i delete the song off the phone through the music ap, my computer/itunes thinks it's still there.
All i want to do is add an album, but this *** doesn't even do that. What is it, is my phone no longer supported by itunes because it's old?
Have i simply gone too long without buying a new phone and now it's "locked" (im being facetious, i know, but this is infuriating).
Please note, i do NOT want to "restore" or delete my phone. That is not a viable option for this sort of thing. You wouldn't get that in a hospital: "I've broken my finger."
"Ok, let's cut your arm off, and attach a new one"
I also do not want to automatically synch music - doing so will erase my music, and my computer library is bigger than the phone. I only want specific songs that i chose.

Answer 1

The new iTunes 12 Get Info dialog lacks right-click context menus (at least for now) but it still accepts most standard keyboard shortcuts and drag & drop actions.
Delete Artwork
On the artwork tab of Get Into, tap the image in question, use Backspace or Ctrl+X. Delete doesn't work.
Or, tap the image at the top left of Get Info, this time use Backspace or Delete, it is Ctrl+X that doesn't work.
Add Artwork
Select artwork, press Ctrl+C to copy, tap the centre of the Artwork tab, press Ctrl+V to paste.
Or, select artwork, press Ctrl+C to copy, tap the small image area at the top left, press Ctrl+V to paste.
Or, you can drag & drop to, or sometimes from, the same locations.
You can also copy artwork from the Get Info dialog to Windows Explorer with the keyboard shortcuts.
If the source image is on a web page right-click and use Copy Image rather than copy. (With Chrome I get a one pixel wraparound so tend to go for a temporary local copy anyway - not sure whose bug this is, but it isn't new.)
If you have multiple images embedded drag the one you want to be the primary artwork to the leftmost position.
Replace/Remove All Artwork
The top left image box can be used to add or delete art from multiple tracks. In either case all existing artwork in all tracks is replaced/removed.
Old Style Get Info Dialog
Select some items, right-click, hold down shift, then click Get Info from the context menu. (Use alt/option on a Mac)
If you still cannot add artwork via any of these methods then I would suspect a permissions problem. See Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows.
tt2