Sharing music with a Windows laptop

Unlike your iMac, Windows PCs still use iTunes.

If you install iTunes, from here: iTunes - Apple on the Windows machine, you can then use that to manage the music on the memory stick. However; two very important caveats:

1. on the page I've linked to, there is a link to install iTunes from the Microsoft Store (for use with Windows 10), or further down, under the heading Looking for other versions?, there is an option to download iTunes direct from Apple (use the Windows version, which will not only be okay for Windows 10, but for Windows 7 as well). Although there is a link under that heading for Mac, it doesn't apply to OS Catalina, which doesn't use iTunes)
2. if you do install iTunes, and use t to manage the music on the memory stick, bear in mind that the memory stick must be connected to the laptop and ready to read, before starting iTunes every time.

I assume that when you mention iPlayer, you mean iTunes, because believe it or not, iPlayer is a BBC application, which has nothing to do with Apple.

enteeen wrote:

I apologise for my slip-up and although I do know the difference between iTunes and iPlayer my concentration failed me.

I just wanted this to be clear, otherwise you would end up trying to play your music using the BBC iPlayer app (which wouldn't work!).

What I didn't appreciate is that my iMac doesn't use iTunes!

A Mac using OS Catalina uses Finder to manage the iPod. However, I don't know enough about OS Catalina to advise you on using Home Sharing etc. on a Mac. At the moment I am unable to find the support article about managing an iPod when using OS Catalina. Macs running older versions of software (before Catalina) still use iTunes.

Regarding the second point I'm not sure what 'ready to read' means - won't the iTunes software know where to find the music once it has initially been organised?

It's not that simple.

• On a phone, if you add a new song to your phone (or iPod), the music app will automatically find it, even if you move the file to a different folder on the phone or if you rename it. It's the same for documents or pictures; the app that can read the documents can automatically find all the documents and the app that deals with pictures can find the pictures. (The obvious exception of course, is the "recent" list. That will not find something that you have moved or renamed.)
• On a computer, you have to tell each app where to find each and every file that you want the app to use. So you have to tell iTunes where each file is located
  • with applications such as pictures or documents, to open each file you use File/Open each time, or the recently used list
  • with iTunes, you tell iTunes where each and every file is located and iTunes remembers this permanently. Once you've told iTunes where the source file is located, it has to say in that location, or iTunes will not be able to use it

My use of the phrase "ready to read" really refers to disc drives, which have to rotate a disc in order to work, but until the motor which rotates the disc is up to speed, the disc is not ready to be used, so iTunes can't read what is on that disc. But in principal, the same thing apples to memory sticks; if you start iTunes - and then plug in the memory stick, the stick will not be ready when iTunes looks for the music, so it will mark the library as missing. If a memory stick takes several seconds to be ready, but iTunes looks for it before it's ready - hey presto, iTunes cannot find the song or songs.

We see a lot of posts here about problems caused by this.

.... I'm assuming that the additional <....> folders in the download from Catalina will not interfere with the operation of iTunes?

I see no reason why they should interfere.

Hi,

you could use the iTunes built-in function "Home Sharing".

See this: Use Home Sharing to share media from a computer to other devices - Apple Support

You're welcome.