Adding playlist to iPhone

LoadedMind · 06-06-2012, 09:04 AM

Hey all. I have what seemed to be a fairly simple problem. The iPhone 4 (not S) is sync'ed to my MacBook Pro's iTunes. I have a corporate machine (Windows 7) with iTunes where I have ripped Audio Book CD's to it. All I need to do is add the playlist of these audio books to the iPhone. It seems iTunes wants me to jump through hoops, including erasing existing music before it will continue. I've set iTunes up, under the Summary tab->Options section, to "Sync only checked songs and videos". Nothing else is checked in Options. Under the Music tab, "Sync Music" is not checked, of course, because when I do, I'm warned things are about to get erased and am I sure? I would've thought it'd be simple enough - just drag the playlist from the bottom into the area where the iPhone is, but I get the dreaded red circle with a line through it.

Anyone else run into this and perhaps have a fix? Thanks in advance.

morespace54 · 06-06-2012, 11:16 AM

Well, basically you can't both sync your iPhone with your own computer (home) and manually manage your iPhone from your work computer. You have to choose.

Either you stop syncing your music from your Mac (home), which might erase all your music on your iPhone (then you'll have to copy all your music manually from your iTunes to your iPhone). Then manually add your Audio books from your Windows (work) to your iPhone.

But honestly, the easiest way (and probably your best bet) would be to copy your Audio books from work to a USB stick (or whatever) and add them to your iTunes at home. This way, you can continue to sync your iPhone with your iTunes (home) without changing anything.

LoadedMind · 06-06-2012, 03:12 PM

Thanks for the reply and I was afraid of that. I don't understand why Apple makes using iTunes so damn difficult. Seems it should be real easy to build into the code the option to copy data, no matter the machine, and modify the iTunes database without infringing on what's already there.

DeltaMac · 06-06-2012, 04:02 PM

Do I hear you asking that Apple should allow you to simply plug your iDevice to any and all computers, and transfer whatever you like?
That's not gonna happen...

Apple has, from the beginning, made it difficult to copy music, etc, either from an iDevice, or from a non-synced iTunes. The goal, AFAIK, is to prevent theft of music and other possible copyright material. And, iTunes will only sync in one direction, from computer to iDevice, and only from one computer at a time.
There's third-party apps that should do what you want, such as iPod.iTunes
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7546/ipod.itunes
That is OS X software, and there's similar for Windows, such as some of the 4media apps, or iExplorer, etc.

06-06-2012, 09:04 AM	#1
LoadedMind Triple-A Player Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: America Posts: 107	Adding playlist to iPhone Hey all. I have what seemed to be a fairly simple problem. The iPhone 4 (not S) is sync'ed to my MacBook Pro's iTunes. I have a corporate machine (Windows 7) with iTunes where I have ripped Audio Book CD's to it. All I need to do is add the playlist of these audio books to the iPhone. It seems iTunes wants me to jump through hoops, including erasing existing music before it will continue. I've set iTunes up, under the Summary tab->Options section, to "Sync only checked songs and videos". Nothing else is checked in Options. Under the Music tab, "Sync Music" is not checked, of course, because when I do, I'm warned things are about to get erased and am I sure? I would've thought it'd be simple enough - just drag the playlist from the bottom into the area where the iPhone is, but I get the dreaded red circle with a line through it. Anyone else run into this and perhaps have a fix? Thanks in advance.

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06-06-2012, 11:16 AM	#2
morespace54 Triple-A Player Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 127	Well, basically you can't both sync your iPhone with your own computer (home) and manually manage your iPhone from your work computer. You have to choose. Either you stop syncing your music from your Mac (home), which might erase all your music on your iPhone (then you'll have to copy all your music manually from your iTunes to your iPhone). Then manually add your Audio books from your Windows (work) to your iPhone. But honestly, the easiest way (and probably your best bet) would be to copy your Audio books from work to a USB stick (or whatever) and add them to your iTunes at home. This way, you can continue to sync your iPhone with your iTunes (home) without changing anything.

06-06-2012, 03:12 PM	#3
LoadedMind Triple-A Player Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: America Posts: 107	Thanks for the reply and I was afraid of that. I don't understand why Apple makes using iTunes so damn difficult. Seems it should be real easy to build into the code the option to copy data, no matter the machine, and modify the iTunes database without infringing on what's already there.

06-06-2012, 04:02 PM	#4
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,958	Do I hear you asking that Apple should allow you to simply plug your iDevice to any and all computers, and transfer whatever you like? That's not gonna happen... Apple has, from the beginning, made it difficult to copy music, etc, either from an iDevice, or from a non-synced iTunes. The goal, AFAIK, is to prevent theft of music and other possible copyright material. And, iTunes will only sync in one direction, from computer to iDevice, and only from one computer at a time. There's third-party apps that should do what you want, such as iPod.iTunes http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7546/ipod.itunes That is OS X software, and there's similar for Windows, such as some of the 4media apps, or iExplorer, etc.