iTunes, iPhone and sharing non-purchased Music
January 14, 2016 10:03 AM   Subscribe

Hope someone can help - I can't seem to find the answer anywhere. I have my music library shared with my wife's mac. I would like to put some of these albums on her iPhone, but iTunes/Family Sharing won't let me- it only works with iTunes-store-purchased music. Is there any way to share my own CD collection that I have in my iTunes with my wife's iPhone, without deleting what she already has on hers? Thanks!
posted by chirico to Computers & Internet (8 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
If the music is in iTunes on the computer/account she syncs to, she can put it on her phone.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:06 AM on January 14, 2016


Response by poster: I've turned on family sharing so that my music appears in her iTunes, but any attempt to drag my music to her phone doesn't work. I can drag her music, but when I switch to the shared library (mine), dragging no longer works.
posted by chirico at 10:31 AM on January 14, 2016


It has to be in her Library. Can you copy it to her computer from yours?
posted by Rock Steady at 10:46 AM on January 14, 2016


This assumes you're both running a reasonably current version of iTunes.
  1. On your computer, turn on "Home Sharing" in iTunes prefs. This is at the bottom of the sharing tab.
  2. Go to her computer. You should see a little "house" icon near the top. This is a popup menu; you should see your iTunes library as an option. Switch to that.
  3. Find the music that you want to be able to sync to her phone. Select it and hit the Import button at the bottom. This copies the files to her computer, rather than just referencing them on your computer, which is what normal sharing does.
  4. Switch back to her library using the little house icon. You should see the music there now.
  5. Build the playlist you want to sync.

posted by adamrice at 10:50 AM on January 14, 2016


Response by poster: I was hoping to avoid it- I know, it's not a huge deal, but the drive isn't connected to her computer. Guess that's the only way then, so I'll do that.

I appreciate your help!
posted by chirico at 10:50 AM on January 14, 2016


This has nothing to do with the drive. However, if your music only exists as CDs, you'll need to rip them before you can do anything else with them.
posted by adamrice at 11:00 AM on January 14, 2016


Response by poster: @adamrice - sorry, i meant that for Rock Steady. As all my CDs are already ripped and on my machine's local drive.

@adamrice -I've tried that, and we're both running current iTunes versions. However, I don't see the import button at the bottom. That's what's puzzling me. I've done everything else as you've written.
posted by chirico at 11:03 AM on January 14, 2016


Well, that's a head-scratcher. I'm not sure what else is going on.
posted by adamrice at 11:14 AM on January 14, 2016


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