Manually managing music for iPhone

I recently upgraded my OS to Windows 7 and reinstalled iTunes. All my files and music were erased from my library. Is there any way I can manually manage music and videos for the iPhone without losing all the current content? Whenever I select "manually manage" from the summary page and press apply, it wants to sync my iPhone and erase all current files.
If not... I hate iTunes!

Try using mediamonkey to manage it initially and there are apps out there to copy the music back.
There is a thread around here about someone who lost their itunes without a backup and explains alot about this
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2380615&tstart=0
Start looking there is what I would suggest.

Similar Messages

ITunes 10.6.1.7 - Manually manage music with iPhone no longer queues selections

I couldn't decide if this was an iTunes or an iPhone related issue so I opted to place it in the iTunes discussions since it's more related to its features than the iPhone.
I just discovered that when you have your iPhone set up to "Manually manage music and videos" it no longer queues your selections as you drag and drop music or playlists. What I mean is in previous iterations of iTunes, I could drag and drop as many playlists on the iPhone in the DEVICES window of iTunes and hundreds of songs would literally queue up showing you the number XX of XXXX in the top window of the program, of which the latter number increasingly got larger the more music you dropped on your iPhone. With this latest revision, iTunes 10.6.1.7, it no longer queues that music, instead it interrupts what was previously queued with a "Preparing to update" message, stops the previously queued music, and then starts with the newer music you dropped on your iPhone device.
Is this intentional? Is everyone else experiencing this rather odd revision of this program's functionality?

iTUNES 10.6.1.7
How do I restore the original iTUNES that recognizes our music libraries and our iPODS?
Thanks for your consideration.
Message was edited by: mrtruffles

Manually Managing Music on iphone 5

How come manually manage music works for ipad and ipod on more than one library but not an iphone? The iphone isnt that much different from an ipod except you can call with it. Iphones shouldn't be exempt from this.

Because this is how Apple chose to design the iphone.

Manually managing music on iPhone from multiple computers

Everything I've read 'claims' this can be but I don't think the people who tell you how to do it even bother to see what happens. This is one of the things that really frustrate me about forums. It's the complete lack of thoroughness of the people who reply to a question without knowing the outcome.
It's a simple task. I want to be able to move music from multitple computers to my iPhone. When I go into iTunes and select the device, in my case it's the iPhone, and check the box to manually manage music and videos then click 'apply' I get a warning that everything is going to be erased from the phone. WTH!?! And no one on ANY forum who suggests this is the proper way manually managing music even has a solution to be able to do this WITHOUT erasing the phone.
C'mon Apple. It's a SIMPLE drag-n-drop implementation. How hard can it be? I'm not the least interested in syncing with some music library on the computer. In fact I don't even sync my phone with the iTunes Library. It's a waste of time because I can't even selectively sync music. It's either all or nothing. STUPID. I simply want to move music on and off the phone. You know, drag into the window to add and drag off to remove. And I want to be able to do it from any computer I want that's running iTunes. I shouldn't have to copy music from a different computer, carry it home and add it from the home system. That completely defeats the concept of portability. And if my home computer happens to go south for some reason then what? Even if I have all my music backed up, I have to wipe out all my music on the phone and start all over because I'm now using a different computer. Who was the genius that came up with that ludicrous idea?
Apple you really need to take a page from Sandisk and allow iPhones to be treated as external drives so we can drag and drop our music onto them. No muss no fuss. Simple and clean with no hair pulling. It's already established the you create some very pretty devices. Now let's work on improving usability. Because the way I see it, it's a bit backwards.

Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
Although it isn't possible to sync an Apple device with two different libraries it is possible to sync with the same logical library from multiple computers. Each library has an internal ID and when iTunes connects to your iPod/iPad/iPhone it compares the local ID with the one the device normally syncs with. If they are the same you can go ahead and sync...
I have my library cloned to a small 1Tb USB drive which I can take between home & work. At either location I use SyncToy 2.1 to update the local copy with the external drive. Mac users should be able to find similar tools. I can open either of the local libraries or the one on the external drive and update the media content of my iPhone. The slight exception is Photos which normally connects to a specific folder on a specific machine, although that can easily be remapped to the current library if you create a "Photos" folder inside the iTunes Media folder so that syncing the iTunes folders keeps this up to date as well. I periodically sweep my library for new files & orphans with iTunes Folder Watch just in case I make changes at one location but then overwrite the library with a newer copy from the other. Again Mac users should be able to find similar tools.
As long as your media is organised within an iTunes Music or Tunes Media folder, in turn held inside the main iTunes folder that has your library files (whether or not you let iTunes keep the media folder organised) each library can access items at the same relative path from the library folder so the library can be at different drives/paths on different machines. This solution ensures I always have adequate backups of my library and I can update my devices whenever I can connect to the same build of iTunes.
When working with an iPhone earlier builds of iTunes would remove any file not physically present in the local library, even if there was an entry for it, making manual management practically redundant on the iPhone. This behaviour has been changed but it will still only permit manual management with a library that has the correct internal ID. If you don't want to sync your library between machines on a regular basis just copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the current "home" machine to any other you want to use, then clean out the library entires and import the local content you have on that box.
tt2

Help with manually managing music on iPhone

I set up my iPhone on my pc and just got a macbook. I want to manually manage music and video so I can use both, but when i set it up to do so on my pc my mac wants to wipe everything. How do i set it up to manually manage music on a mac and a pc?

An iPhone does not support want is called disk mode which is required for this.
An iPhone can be synced with iTunes content on a single computer only, and the same for manually manage music and video. You can sync contact information, calendar events, and bookmarks with multiple computers, but not with iTunes content, and the same for photos transferred from a computer to an iPhone.
If you want to sync iTunes content with your MacBook, you need to transfer your iTunes library from your PC to your MacBook.

How do I manually manage music for my iPhone 4?

Hi,
I have an iPhone 4, and I am trying to manaually manage my music. I have searched all day for an answer, and frankly, I am just getting more questions than answers. I may have something simple wrong, but I am unable to manage my music manually. I know you are suppose to plug in the device and go to the summary page, but it does not give me a "manually manage" box to check at all. Also, there is no "Add to" button under the "On This iPhone" tab, nor can I just drag the music over to the device in the sidebar. What is going on? I cannot add or remove music from my device. Any advice? I would greatly appreciate it!

Ok... nevermind... I have no idea what I did, but I now have all the needed buttons. Thanks anyways!

I selected manually manage music for my iTouch yet it keeps trying to sync to my entire music library. I do not want that as it is taking up too much space. How can I stop my iTouch from continuing to try and sync so I can manually manage my music?

How do I get my iTouch to manually manage my music? I selected manually manage, yet every time I hook my iTouch to my computer, it attempts to sync and load my entire library. I do not want the entire library as it takes up too much space and I don't want all of those songs on my iTouch. What am I missing? What else can I do?

Oops, sorry, I think you probably already did what I suggested (turning off auto synch).
I have the same question - how to synch, say, just one playlist.
There is an option to synch only things that are checked. But everything (in every playlist and item, is checked and there doesn't appear to be a box to "uncheck all", nor can you check each playlist individually.

Cant manually manage music on iphone 3gs

Itunes will no longer let me drag and drop songs on to my iphone.
I've tried everything. Restored my iphone, and reinstalled itunes.
The only way i can put music on my iphone is with the autofill option.
I only sync my iphone on one computer, but i always charge it with my laptop.

First i would see if you have an update for iTunes that could be causing the problem but if that doesnt work i would try reinstalling iTunes using the link provided.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1923

How do you delete songs that you purchased through iTunes but don't show up when you connect the iphone to iTunes they don't show up in music when you click on "On this phone"? I have my phone setup to manually manage music. Please help.

How do you delete songs that you purchased through iTunes but don't show up when you connect the iphone to iTunes? They don't show up in the music section when you click on "On this phone". Side Note: I have my phone setup to manually manage music. Please help.

Hi, Mrs.Frankie57.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
If you want to delete a song from your iOS device on iOS 7, tap Songs, swipe the song from right to left, then tap Delete. The song is deleted from iPhone, but not from your iTunes library on your Mac or PC, or from iCloud.
iPhone User Guide
Cheers,
Jason H.

Music appears grey with a sync symbol on iPhone 4 (iOS 6.0.1) on iTunes (newest version as of 11/20/2012) and will not play on iPhone. It is set to manually manage music.

So I got a brand new iPhone 4 from a Sprint retailer, and it came with the software that was available at the time of the release. I left it that way for a while and put music on it through iTunes (latest version as of 11/20/2012) with no problems. Then I updated the software on the iPhone to iOS6.0.1 and when i tried to put music on it through iTunes like normal the songs showed up in the library of the iPhone (still on the computer) however they were grey and they had a syncing symbol to the left as if it were still syncing the music. I waited and waited but it would not go away. then I clicked the arrow at the middle top of iTunes where it shows you what song is playing and everything else iTunes is doing, and it did not say that it was syncing the music like normal. Basically the library indicated the music was still syncing but iTunes was not putting it on. I currently have it set to manually manage music. I do not want to switch it to automatically sync or reset my iPhone because I will lose my information. Any immediate help would be greatly appreciated!

When I went to restore my phone, I may have found the cause of these problems. I never deleted all of my original synced songs before enabling iTunes Match.
When I just went to do the restore, I figured I'd delete all of my songs, then disable iTunes Match. After deleting about 3.5 GB of music and disabling iTunes Match, I ran the sync to backup my iPhone. It said there was still 2.2 GB of music. I checked my phone just in case and there was 2.2 GB there, probably the original synced songs that I never removed.
Anyway, I'm doing the restore now just in case and will respond tomorrow with how everything is working.

Manually manage music on two computers with iPhone 4s

For the past few months I have had not issues manually managing my ipod touch on two computers. This is a necessesity as I own a mac laptop but like to listen to audiobooks from my local library which will only download to a PC. With my iPod touch all I had to do was make sure that the manually manage music was turned on and I could put the music from my computer on the device than go and use my friend's pc to put on the audiobooks (WMA Overdrive format). Since getting the iPhone 4S it has been a nightmare to get the same result. I even went so far as to plug it into each computer completely when nothing was on the iphone and turn on manually manage music in each, than put all my music from the mac on it. Only to find that when I opened up itunes in the PC manually manage music was unchecked again. The only way to turn it back on is to sync and erase all my music, thus forcing me to carry around both an ipod and an Iphone, which is more than a little annoying.
Please help!

Unlike the iPods, including the iPod Touch, iPhones will synch with ONLY ONE iTunes library at a time. You will NOT be able to manually manage music from 2 computers with your iPhone.

Unable to manually manage music and videos on iPhone 4 without erase and sync, same computer!

Ok, so I know you all have heard this before but I do believe my case is rather unique, and quite frustrating.
I purchased an iPhone 4 and synced it to the same computer I am using now - created the playlist and used it to sync with phone. Worked great for awhile; but one day I contracted some nasty malware and had to wipe my computer and reinstall my OS (Windows 7). Albeit my music library was on my external HDD which survived the onslaught. I obviously had to reinstall iTunes afterwards. The playlist was gone on reinstall.
Afterwards I still didn't see an issue with my iPhone and iTunes: When I plug it in it syncs, everything seems to be working accordingly.
But I recently transferred some new music from a CD to my iTunes and wanted to throw those songs on my iPhone, the drag and drop method I was so very used to did not work and I noticed that "manually manage music and videos" was uncheck under my devices summary.
When I attempt to check this option in iTunes it gives me a popup notification telling me I need to erase and sync in order to use this option because my 'iPhone is synced with another library". Again, I DID have to reinstall iTunes after reinstalling my OS.
I have tried all the tricks that google could supply me with with no avail; authorizing, stopping the sync from automatically starting.... yada yada - none of these cookie cutter methods have worked for me.
Here's a too long didn't read:
>iPhone 4 was working fine - used playlist to sync with.
>Had to reinstall OS (Windows 7) Playlist gone.
>Reinstall iTunes.
>iPhone still syncs with library, no error messages on connect.
>Unable to manually manage music and videos without erase and sync.
>None of the usual methods work.

Hmm, I will say after posting this and looking at the related threads it seems I can only either use manually manage or sync.
I was using sync before but since the playlist disappeared I was syncing with I simply want to add music to my phone without deleting everything. Is this possible?
If I use "manually manage music and videos" will it delete everything or just the music and videos? It doesn't specify...
Could I just create a new playlist and sync it with that? If so how?
The bottom line is it isn't that big of a deal if I need to simply rebuild my iPhone music library but losing my configuration, contacts etc is not an option. Optimally I would just like to be able to add my new music to my iPhone without having to rebuild my library.

HT1535 my iphone is set to "manually manage music and videos" and it still does not allow me to add music from my other computers.

I have followed the steps in order to manually manage the music on my 3GS iphone. (used the latest version of itunes and my iphone is up to date with iOS5) and it still is not allowing me to add music from another computer.
when i plug it into the second computer, it is asking me to click "manually manage music and videos" again. when i do that, it says it is going to sync with this new library and erase all music that is already there. i dont want this to happen! i only want to add a few select songs from each library. I have waaayy to much to add and erase every time.
both of the computers i am using are PCs and have my itunes id for homesharing... please help me!

Refer to this article
Using iPhone, iPad, or iPod with multiple computers
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1202
Notes:
iPod shuffle and iPhone are intended for use with a single computer. You cannot load music from multiple computers or iTunes libraries onto iPod shuffle and iPhone like you can with other devices.

Cannot Select Both "Manually manage music" and "Sync ringtones" for iTunes

iTunes won't let me sync when both "manually manage music and videos" and "sync ringtones" is checked. If I choose "manage music and videos" first, add my music, then check "sync ringtones" all my music that I sync'd is deleted. The only way it worked for me was to sync the ringtones first without any music in the iPhone then checking "manually manage music and videos" afterwards but the problem is that once the "manual manage music and videos" is checked the "sync ringtones" isn't checked anymore so if I decide to add a ringtone later on I have to check "sync ringtone" causing my music to be deleted from the iPhone. This is a bad glitch Apple please fix it!

If you manually manage music, to get ringtones on your phone, you have to drag them to the "actual iphone icon" in the device pane window, on the left side in itunes.
FYI:
Since the iphone DOES NOT support disk mode(like some ipods), there is no advantage to manually managing music, IMO.

Manually manage music + import .m3u playlist to iphone 5 = duplicate songs

hello,
I tried searching the forums for a related questions but didn't find any. if it exists let me know.
i have a iphone 5 (ios 6) and a ipod 2g (ios 4.2). I use itunes on windows and manage both devices manually for music and videos. Now I have a playlist in WMP which I exported as a .m3u file.
In itunes, I can import the playlist and it shows up under the 'playlists' correctly. Now I wanted to transfer this playlist to my ipod and iphone (note: my ipod and iphone already have all the songs in the playlist plus many others. I never use them in 'sync' mode).
I was under the impression that a playlist is just a list of pointers to songs and not songs themselves. So when I drag the playlist into the ipod within itunes, it creates a new playlist with that name on the ipod and correctly transfers the pointers onto the ipod. the playlist works perfectly on the ipod and there and no duplicate songs.
now with the new iphone 5 and new ios 6, something seems to be different. when i drag the playlist into the iphone, it does create a new playlist but it copies all the songs again, even though the exact songs (all metadata identical since they're from the same physical source on my harddisk - album, artists, art, title, etc). so it creates duplicates of these songs.
now the still tougher part. I tunes apparently has a find duplicates feature. But it onyl seem to work for music imported into itunes library. It is greyed out if you click on the iphone and then try to find duplicates (if iphone is set to manually manage music.)
so is this expected behaviour? I think this is a bug in the new ios since the drag drop playlist manually works perfectly in ios 4.2.
any thoughts?

Unfortunately, you'll need to 'start fresh,' as it were. However, you could transfer your library from the old computer and sync. This MAY keep you from having to erase everything. Worst case scenario, if you transfer your library, though, would be to wipe it and then load the same content right back on.
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer

Manually managing music for iPhone

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