4 ms·

When did you buy that album? iTunes went DRM free 15+ years ago.

by smugma 3y ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
danaris 3y ago
...and at the time, all previously-bought content (AFAIK) was eligible for upgrading to DRM-free status. And while I've never had this particular weird problem, I have tens of gigabytes of music in my iTunes library that were never bought from Apple in the first place, which sync to my other devices just fine. No manual copying required. And, um...how would you even "manually copy" music to an iPhone or iPad? The only way I know of puts it in the Files app, rather than the Music app, leaving it unable to be played "as music" (though you can, of course, still play the audio files one by one). Something doesn't seem right here.
- likeclockwork 3y ago
  You can't manually copy music to an iPhone or iPad? This is basic functionality.
  - turquoisevar 3y ago
    It depends on your definition of “manually copy”. The file system on iOS isn't exposed, so you can't browse around in the files and folders and copy it somewhere there. Instead, each app has its own little container with files, so you can use iTunes on Windows or Finder on macOS to copy it into either a specific app’s container or the Files app’s container. If you do the latter, then you can access it on the device via the Files app and third-party music players. The stock Music app provided by Apple doesn't get access to the files in the Files app. Instead, it maintains its own library synced with other devices, with the option to import your music files into that library. The optimistic reading of this is that this prevents apps from accessing files that they have no business looking into. The pessimistic reading is that this prevents users from messing around with files and prevents them from tweaking or hacking apps. I think the truth is a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B.
  - cqqxo4zV46cp 3y ago
    Ignoring that you’ve misunderstood, this is functionality that I would put a huge sum on 99.9% of people never using in the past 10 years.
- turquoisevar 3y ago
  > And, um...how would you even "manually copy" music to an iPhone or iPad? The only way I know of puts it in the Files app, rather than the Music app, leaving it unable to be played "as music" (though you can, of course, still play the audio files one by one). There are a couple of ways. You can import it via iTunes/Finder into the Files container, like you said. The stock Music app won’t read and play it, but third-party music player apps will. Another option is to import it into your Apple Music library, f/k/a iTunes library. That way, it’s playable in the stock Music app and available on other devices as well (although it might need an Apple Music subscription, not sure).
  - danaris 3y ago
    > Another option is to import it into your Apple Music library, f/k/a iTunes library. ...That's syncing. It's the absolutely normal way to get music onto your iPhone. I can't see any reasonable way to call that "manually copying".
- nebula8804 3y ago
  You connect your iDevice to a computer running iTunes/Apple Music app (PC or Mac). In iTunes settings there is an option to "Manually manage media". Select that. Now you can drag your music to the device and it will appear in the Music app on your iDevice. Videos will appear in the TV app I believe (they have renamed this app from something else but it will play on your device). Only certain media formats are supported. On Audio I think its WAV,AIFF,MP3 and Apple Lossless(ALAC). If you have flac there are plenty of lossless converters from FLAC to ALAC (Lossless to lossless). For Video I think MP4, and MOV are supported? Maybe more though I dont think MKV is. For Pictures I think you just copy using the OS to the DCIM folder? There is a Ukrainian company called Softorino that provides a one click app to just transfer any media with any format to your iDevice and have it magically appear in the right app. It does all the conversion work for you in the background.
  - danaris 3y ago
    Ah, I see. That's not what I would have thought of as "manually copy"; you're still syncing using the built-in software—and, of course, you're doing this for all the songs, not just the ones at issue. In any case, I'm still very puzzled as to how this could be a solution to the specific problem that was originally described...
    - nebula8804 3y ago
      Its partly legacy because in the 00s Apple didn't want non-tech savvy people to get frustrated when trying to get their music on to iPods. So when 'docking' your iPod, iTunes would automatically open and you'd have your purchased music right there and you can just drag and drop. They got extended to iPhone when it came out. As the actual on device buying process became better over many iPhone generations then the need for a computer to dock to at all became unnecessary.

When did you buy that album? iTunes went DRM free 15+ years ago.

by smugma 3y ago

When did you buy that album? iTunes went DRM free 15+ years ago.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

danaris 3y ago

...and at the time, all previously-bought content (AFAIK) was eligible for upgrading to DRM-free status. And while I've never had this particular weird problem, I have tens of gigabytes of music in my iTunes library that were never bought from Apple in the first place, which sync to my other devices just fine. No manual copying required. And, um...how would you even "manually copy" music to an iPhone or iPad? The only way I know of puts it in the Files app, rather than the Music app, leaving it unable to be played "as music" (though you can, of course, still play the audio files one by one). Something doesn't seem right here.

likeclockwork 3y ago
You can't manually copy music to an iPhone or iPad? This is basic functionality.
- turquoisevar 3y ago
  It depends on your definition of “manually copy”. The file system on iOS isn't exposed, so you can't browse around in the files and folders and copy it somewhere there. Instead, each app has its own little container with files, so you can use iTunes on Windows or Finder on macOS to copy it into either a specific app’s container or the Files app’s container. If you do the latter, then you can access it on the device via the Files app and third-party music players. The stock Music app provided by Apple doesn't get access to the files in the Files app. Instead, it maintains its own library synced with other devices, with the option to import your music files into that library. The optimistic reading of this is that this prevents apps from accessing files that they have no business looking into. The pessimistic reading is that this prevents users from messing around with files and prevents them from tweaking or hacking apps. I think the truth is a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B.
- cqqxo4zV46cp 3y ago
  Ignoring that you’ve misunderstood, this is functionality that I would put a huge sum on 99.9% of people never using in the past 10 years.
turquoisevar 3y ago
> And, um...how would you even "manually copy" music to an iPhone or iPad? The only way I know of puts it in the Files app, rather than the Music app, leaving it unable to be played "as music" (though you can, of course, still play the audio files one by one). There are a couple of ways. You can import it via iTunes/Finder into the Files container, like you said. The stock Music app won’t read and play it, but third-party music player apps will. Another option is to import it into your Apple Music library, f/k/a iTunes library. That way, it’s playable in the stock Music app and available on other devices as well (although it might need an Apple Music subscription, not sure).
- danaris 3y ago
  > Another option is to import it into your Apple Music library, f/k/a iTunes library. ...That's syncing. It's the absolutely normal way to get music onto your iPhone. I can't see any reasonable way to call that "manually copying".
nebula8804 3y ago
You connect your iDevice to a computer running iTunes/Apple Music app (PC or Mac). In iTunes settings there is an option to "Manually manage media". Select that. Now you can drag your music to the device and it will appear in the Music app on your iDevice. Videos will appear in the TV app I believe (they have renamed this app from something else but it will play on your device). Only certain media formats are supported. On Audio I think its WAV,AIFF,MP3 and Apple Lossless(ALAC). If you have flac there are plenty of lossless converters from FLAC to ALAC (Lossless to lossless). For Video I think MP4, and MOV are supported? Maybe more though I dont think MKV is. For Pictures I think you just copy using the OS to the DCIM folder? There is a Ukrainian company called Softorino that provides a one click app to just transfer any media with any format to your iDevice and have it magically appear in the right app. It does all the conversion work for you in the background.
- danaris 3y ago
  Ah, I see. That's not what I would have thought of as "manually copy"; you're still syncing using the built-in software—and, of course, you're doing this for all the songs, not just the ones at issue. In any case, I'm still very puzzled as to how this could be a solution to the specific problem that was originally described...
  - nebula8804 3y ago
    Its partly legacy because in the 00s Apple didn't want non-tech savvy people to get frustrated when trying to get their music on to iPods. So when 'docking' your iPod, iTunes would automatically open and you'd have your purchased music right there and you can just drag and drop. They got extended to iPhone when it came out. As the actual on device buying process became better over many iPhone generations then the need for a computer to dock to at all became unnecessary.