Need help getting my music files from my iphone back to Itunes

[mamohr686]

Basically I built a new desktop computer. Prior to my computer build, I created a playlist and uploaded over 7gb of songs into my Iphone for a back-up. The majority of the music came from my CD collection. Now that I have the new computer up and running I can't sync the existing music from my phone to the itunes program. I googled the subject and came across a 3rd party program called copytrans. It was a total waste of time because it limits the number of songs to 100. I don't want to waste an entire week re-burning my entire music collection. If anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

[Shack]

You will not have to. It should be a simple fix. I will ask which version of iOS and iTunes are your currently running. Just to get this out of the way.

First, have you power the PC down and un-replugged your phone back in while turning the PC back on? This fixes this most of the time.

If this does not work then open up:

Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>Devices and Printers>

and let us know if you are seeing the iPhone on either the first line of the listed devices like this:

Or down at the bottom like above.

[fisherman-andy]

What your asking is not possible to a certain point. This is not an issue with you iPhone not being recognize or not seeing your music on your new pc.

1. Your music collection stems from CD's, iPhone cannot transfer those files. Purchased content from iTunes can transfer via sync or transfer purchases option in iTunes. Or purchased media can transfer via the cloud.

2. Digital music files sync to iPhone, if not bought from the iTunes store it cannot transfer to another pc from iPhone. Plus files that sync are sometimes are compressed to lesser quality to save space meaning it may not be in its original format on the iPhone.

3. If your iPhone has jailbroken 3rd party underground Apps have a way to access the file system and extract the files. But again in lesser quality.

In otherwords you can either move your entire music library from your old PC to new one by moving the iTunes Media folder or the location of your music files and import them into iTunes on the new pc. This way you retain full media files in original format quality. You can also do this via iTunes home sharing or the cloud services by Apple.

You will have to sync up again, meaning it will erase and sync with a new pc. What ever media currently on the iPhone will be completely wiped out and sync from the new pc to iphone via iTunes or from the cloud if you have iOS5.

If your looking for more help go to apple.com/support/iphone

[mamohr686]

The computer doesn't have the problem syncing the iphone. The problem is like Andy suggests, it wants to replace my itunes library with only purchased music. I get a warning that all current playlist will be lost when I sync my phone. I really don't understand this because there is a built in feature of itunes to add your own cd's into your library to make playlists. Why can't I put my existing playlist back into a new copy of itunes?

[upnorth]

This is a way to squeeze more money out of you and why I am not a fan of Mac products. They don't allow the flexibility of other systems.

[Shack]

My bad.

I read into this:

Now that I have the new computer up and running I can't sync the existing music from my phone to the itunes program.

But Andy is right after reading this

Originally Posted By: mamohr686

The computer doesn't have the problem syncing the iphone. The problem is like Andy suggests, it wants to replace my itunes library with only purchased music. I get a warning that all current playlist will be lost when I sync my phone. I really don't understand this because there is a built in feature of itunes to add your own cd's into your library to make playlists. Why can't I put my existing playlist back into a new copy of itunes?

MediaMonkey may help. When I do, I sync my music primarily through this audio player. It is free and syncs better than even iTunes. Sync up to MediaMonkey first after installing it, verify you have your music and then let iTunes do what ever.

There is an easy way to do the through iTunes and I believe it involves a backup to all this and restoring the phone after the start up sync with the freshly install copy of iTunes. I just do not use my iPhone enough for stored music to be sure at the moment. I stream music.

Asking by chance, but you are signed into the same account used from the previous installation of iTunes and have verified this computer while logged in as this account?

[fisherman-andy]

You may be able to use Media Monkey as Shack suggested. It claims to be able to backup or copy tracks from the iPhone to the computer. Typically a jailbroken iphone is needed to do such but there is no indication from Media Monkey that a non jailbroken device wont be able to so. Make sure your iOS version is supported before attempting.

If the media files are able to be transferred, you will have to sync them back from iTunes, thus doing a erase/sync. Remember that if your files were in higher quality format from iTunes it may be in less quality format on iPhone unless otherwise noted. It may be better to just transfer yoru media files to the new pc and sync up.

Remember that when iTunes backups your phone it doesnt backup your media/apps. However purchased content from iTunes can be redownloaded from the cloud.

[spearchucker]

Do you have access to the old computer yet? If so, just copy the music to your new PC directly and then sync the iPhone, or am I missing something here?

[upnorth]

Their HSOforum states that the latest version of Media Monkey synches with the iPhone 3g..

Quote:

Ventis Media has released a new version of its award-winning MediaMonkey music management software that syncs with Apple’s iPhone 3G and iPod Touch v2. For music lovers seeking an alternative to iTunes, it is the only application capable of syncing to the new iPhone 3G and iPod Touch.

[fisherman-andy]

Let me rephrase as some of you seemed confused.

1. iTunes cannot sync or transfer non purchased content (music created from CD's) from an iDevice to another PC. It will want to do an erase and sync with a new PC.

2. Your Media files from iTunes on your old PC, use iTunes home sharing or some sort of medium storage device like a external USB hard drive and copy the files over to your new pc. (There is Apple support documentation on this)

3. You may be able to use Media Monkey to transfer media files from your iPhone to your new PC. Not sure about Apps, didnt check that.

4. Purchased iTunes content can redownload over the cloud to any iDevice running iOS 4.3/5.0 later.

[Shack]

LOL I have only used Media Monkey with my iPhone 4.

On another note, I have not tried to sync for awhile with Media Moneky and and never with a beta version. Might just be the beta, but iOS 5 (at least beta 7) might be tackling the syncing possibilities with Media Monkey:

Here is a log when I tried to sync with Media Monkey:

Quote:

[5104 @ Thu Oct 20 15:35:29 2011] [(unknown facility) MediaMonkey.exe] _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 6544): Device 'AMDevice 0916C510 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' attached.

[7064 @ Thu Oct 20 15:35:29 2011] [(unknown facility) iTunesHelper.exe] _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 4420): Device 'AMDevice 00598D60 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' attached.

[7888 @ Thu Oct 20 15:37:22 2011] [(unknown facility) iTunesHelper.exe] _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 2616): Device 'AMDevice 009BC8C8 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' attached.

[7888 @ Thu Oct 20 15:42:45 2011] [(unknown facility) iTunesHelper.exe] _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 2616): Device 'AMDevice 009BC8C8 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' detached.

[5104 @ Thu Oct 20 15:42:45 2011] [(unknown facility) MediaMonkey.exe] _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 6544): Device 'AMDevice 0916C510 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' detached.

[5104 @ Thu Oct 20 15:42:57 2011] [(unknown facility) MediaMonkey.exe] _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 6544): Device 'AMDevice 0916C4A8 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 2, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' attached.

[7888 @ Thu Oct 20 15:44:19 2011] [(unknown facility) iTunesHelper.exe] _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 2616): Device 'AMDevice 00A0F6F0 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 2, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' detached.

Now it never denied me the ability to sync with Media Monkey, but popped up a Apple developer confidentiality agreement for me to agree to. For various reasons (extraction of some files from an XP .bkf) I was in the Admin account when doing this. The extraction had 30 minutes of wait time and I figured what the heck. The admin account is not my user account so this could trigger additional flags. I did not agree to the doc and back out of it because Apple will drop you with no warning from the Dev program, which is something I was not going to chance.

On another note, if the OP has not resolved this concern post back. I might have some ideas as the release of IOS 5 has driven a handful of botched install iPhone's my way.

[delcecchi]

I didn't think getting stuff off an ipod or iphone and back onto the computer was possible, at least with normal apple software. I thought it was a one way street.

Is it not?

[Shack]

Yes it is. It has been normal as long as I have known with your image and video files. It shows up in My Computer and opens like a tree'ed directory. Pluck and pull. The sync does the back and forth, but it's an all or nothing sync. The warning message within iTunes are a little miss leading at times. The way the warning messages are very similar and worded so closely leaves you wondering if your data is being erased and replaced or synced. 99% of the time it just syncs iTunes and the device with eachother. In the case of the OP's issue I believe it was a true sync and die sinario. If you have become comfortable with seeing these warning and not fully reading them, iTunes will write over stuff like playlists and music files. They figure you have this safe in Media player for one reason or another.

It gets really hairy when you start using two Apple ID's with one phone.

iOS 4 saw many advancements with mobile content transfer and you deciding what stays, comes or goes. The first two tabs of your Apple devices display page within iTunes has many features which you need to scroll down to enable. Most all the apps which create and or display document file types have the ability within iTunes to to transfer files between the phone and Windows.

I would assume it is mainly a Windows thing. I have never synced iTunes and my iPhone in an Apple machine. Linux and Unix if you hook an iPhone up it displays files down to the root without doing a single thing to the phone.

[delcecchi]

All I have is an ipod, but here is what I think with music...

If you have a computer with no tunes or a few tunes in the library, and you plug the idevice in, I don't think you can get the sync process to go backwards and copy the music to the computer, instead of deleting all the music off the idevice that is not on the computer. They may have made an exception for iphones.

I just saw something about the icloud and itunes match that might help.

[fisherman-andy]

All I have is an ipod, but here is what I think with music...

If you have a computer with no tunes or a few tunes in the library, and you plug the idevice in, I don't think you can get the sync process to go backwards and copy the music to the computer, instead of deleting all the music off the idevice that is not on the computer. They may have made an exception for iphones.

I just saw something about the icloud and itunes match that might help.

Some iPods can be use as a hard drive. iPhones cannot without 3rd party software or jailbreaking. From iPhones you can transfer purchased iTunes contents such as Apps, Music, Videos. You can also transfer Photos/Videos taken by your iPhone as well as certain files like text, spread sheets etc. But you cannot transfer non purchased music/media content without the aid of a 3rd party software or a jailbroken iphone.

Im all ears for a better solution. I use to work with Apple support and Apple engineers your options are the what I suggested earlier especially when using iTunes.

[fisherman-andy]

LOL I have only used Media Monkey with my iPhone 4.

On another note, I have not tried to sync for awhile with Media Moneky and and never with a beta version. Might just be the beta, but iOS 5 (at least beta 7) might be tackling the syncing possibilities with Media Monkey:

Here is a log when I tried to sync with Media Monkey:

[5104 @ Thu Oct 20 15:35:29 2011] [(unknown facility) MediaMonkey.exe] _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 6544): Device 'AMDevice 0916C510 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' attached.

[7064 @ Thu Oct 20 15:35:29 2011] [(unknown facility) iTunesHelper.exe] _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 4420): Device 'AMDevice 00598D60 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' attached.

[7888 @ Thu Oct 20 15:37:22 2011] [(unknown facility) iTunesHelper.exe] _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 2616): Device 'AMDevice 009BC8C8 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' attached.

[7888 @ Thu Oct 20 15:42:45 2011] [(unknown facility) iTunesHelper.exe] _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 2616): Device 'AMDevice 009BC8C8 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' detached.

[5104 @ Thu Oct 20 15:42:45 2011] [(unknown facility) MediaMonkey.exe] _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 6544): Device 'AMDevice 0916C510 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 1, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' detached.

[5104 @ Thu Oct 20 15:42:57 2011] [(unknown facility) MediaMonkey.exe] _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 6544): Device 'AMDevice 0916C4A8 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 2, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' attached.

[7888 @ Thu Oct 20 15:44:19 2011] [(unknown facility) iTunesHelper.exe] _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 2616): Device 'AMDevice 00A0F6F0 {UDID = *********************, device ID = 2, location ID = 0x0, product ID = 0x1297}' detached.

Looks like its trying to start both Media Monkey and iTunes. You may need to check you sync preferences.