Hey everyone, I'm facing a real problem here. I have a ton of music that I didn't purchase through iTunes, and I can't seem to transfer it from my iPhone 14 Pro Max to my new iPhone 17 Pro Max. My laptop, which had all the backups, was stolen two years ago, so I'm in a tough spot. I spoke to an Apple advisor, and they mentioned that even if I back up my old iPhone to another computer, it won't allow me to transfer the actual music files over. I even tried my dad's computer, but the music showed up in gray - it's there but unplayable.
I've collected around 900 songs over 25 years, most of which are from CDs that I no longer have, and many aren't even available on iTunes. Plus, I noticed that these songs have disappeared from my iPad too, which is frustrating.
I was looking into iTunes Match, but if I can't download non-iTunes music to a computer, how can I transfer it to a new phone? I'm desperate to find a solution so I can keep my music. I just ordered a new laptop, but I doubt that'll help with this issue. I'm considering switching to Spotify, but I really want to save my collection first. Any advice or apps that could help me with this would be greatly appreciated!
4 Answers
Unfortunately, without a computer that has the music originally synced through iTunes, you won't be able to transfer non-purchased music directly. It's all about Apple's compliance with music industry regulations that restrict sharing. They made these rules to get rid of DRM on files, but it sure makes things complicated for users like us.
You might want to try out iMazing. A lot of people say it works well for extracting music from their iPhones when they can't get it through iTunes. Just a heads up though, I've never used it myself, but it could be worth checking out!
+1 to that, I've heard good things about it too! Give it a shot!
I've used iExplorer by Macroplant to pull non-iTunes music off my old iPhone when I didn't have the original computer anymore. It worked like a charm for me, and might be exactly what you need!
As far as I know, the standard method requires having iTunes on an older computer with your music on it. But I completely get your frustration; it feels like they're making it harder to keep our collections intact. I'll keep an eye out for alternative solutions!
That's frustrating! I had some luck transferring my music when moving from an iPhone 13 to a 14 using my work laptop, though it didn’t have iTunes. Not sure how that worked, but I'm looking into non-traditional methods as well!