How to Download Music From Computer to iPhone

Plug your iPhone into your computer to fill the iPhone with music

The iPhone is an excellent portable jukebox that can provide unlimited hours of musical entertainment. This is possible because old music on the iPhone can be replaced with new music from any computer. You can even organize songs into playlists and play them back in groups. All you need is a folder full of songs and a copy of iTunes. If you don't have iTunes, you can download it from Apple's support site (see Resources).

Things You'll Need

• Apple iTunes

Instructions

1. Start iTunes and Select "File > Add File to Library". A file dialog window will open. Locate a music file on your computer and click "Open". The song will appear in the iTunes file list located in the center of the screen. If you can't find the file, sort the columns by "Date Modified" to bring the file to the top of the list.

2. Right click the song and select "Get Info" to view the song's file type. The iPhone supports these file types: AAC, WAV, AIF and MP3. Although all of these formats will work, Apple says, "When compared side-by-side, AAC proves itself worthy of replacing MP3 as the new Internet audio standard." All songs that you download from the iTunes store are AAC files.

3. Convert the file to AAC if it has an unsupported file type. Do this by right clicking the file and selecting "Create AAC Version". Even if your file type is supported, you might want to convert it to AAC. See Resources for more information on the AAC format.

4. Select "File > New Playlist" (at the top of the screen) to create a new playlist. Name the playlist "My Computer Music".

5. Connect your iPhone to your computer using the phone's USB connector. After a few seconds, an iPhone icon will appear in the iTunes sidebar.

6. Click the iPhone icon to open the iPhone window.

7. Click "Music" at the top of the screen. A list of current playlists will appear. Select the playlist that you created.

8. Click "Sync" (located at the bottom of the window). iTunes will download the song from the selected playlist to the iPhone.

Tips & Warnings

• You can transfer multiple files to the iPhone by placing them in your "My Computer Music" playlist. You can also create multiple playlists and group songs according to your musical tastes. Remember to select those playlists before clicking the "Sync" button.

References

• Apple: AAC Audio
• Apple: Syncing iPhone With iTunes

Resources

• Apple: Download iTunes
• Columbia University: AAC Versus MP3 for Podcasts