Transfer music playlist from iPhone XR (ver 13.6) to iMac (Catalina 10.15.5)

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Level 1

8 points

Transfer music playlist from iPhone XR (ver 13.6) to iMac (Catalina 10.15.5)

I have extensive playlists on my iPhone I wish to add to "Music" playlists on my new iMac. One support thread on this site I read expressly says I can do this if I subscribe to "Apple Music". I do. The playlist songs on my iPhone are mostly purchased from Apple, but not all.

When I follow the instructions - essentially doing "Sync Library" on both iPhone and iMac, there is a warning that a sync will occur across all devices. I note the Apple support web site advises in relation to this procedure:

"WARNING: If you choose to replace the music library on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, the music files on the device are deleted. The original files are kept on the Mac you previously synced them from, and iTunes Store purchases are always available to download again."

Is this warning relevant to what I'm trying to do? I do not want to replace my iPhone library. I want only to merge it, including songs ripped from my old CD collection, with my new iMac library to form one combined library. Can anyone advise me please - is it safe to proceed with syncing.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jul 29, 2020 7:19 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Brian_P7

Community Specialist

Aug 1, 2020 5:40 PM in response to MyDianne

Hello MyDianne,

From your post, it sounds like you have some questions about Apple Music. This would apply to the steps you're taking. When turning on Sync Library, you'll see two options to either "Delete and Replace" or "Keep Music." To prevent the music from being replaced, be sure to choose Keep Music. You may find this article about Sync Library helpful: Turn on Sync Library with Apple Music

Alternatively, you have the option of using iTunes Match which will give you access to all of your music on all of your devices, even songs that you've imported from other sources such as CDs. iTunes Match uploads your music library from the Apple Music app on your Mac or iTunes for Windows on your PC. Then you can access your music library on all of your devices that have Sync Library turned on. Additional details about iTunes Match can be found here: Subscribe to iTunes Match

Best wishes!

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

274,516 points

Aug 2, 2020 5:11 AM in response to MyDianne

See also Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - Apple Community.

tt2

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Answer 3

MyDianne Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 2, 2020 8:43 PM in response to turingtest2

Thank you Brian and turingtest2, helpful as always.

I went to Sync library on iMac, and noted there was no visible option to "keep library", ...maybe you have to take the plunge and click Sync first, and then the options appear afterwards? But I was worried that I had misunderstood something, and so, wanting to play safe, signed up for iTunes Match, and then returned to Music on iMac to reappraise the situation. I immediately noticed the Sync box was now ticked, apparently executed by the Match app. No options to "keep library" were given or shown. No doubt Match would keep my iMac library, I was less sure about my iPhone library.

Turning to my still non-synced iPhone I noted my precious playlists were still intact. But as there were also no options visible there to "keep library" on Syncing (maybe its options are also hidden behind the Sync command), I baulked at pressing the Sync button, and instead referred to the 3rd party apps list kindly provided by turingtest2 in his reading references. I subsequently installed one of them (TouchCopy16), and transferred my playlists to iMac. It all works fine, job done. The help and leads from this forum are much appreciated.