Sync Music to an iPad

You can sync music to your iPad using either a cloud music service, like iCloud, or uploading your music files to your iPad with a media player, like iTunes. To use the iCloud Music Library, you will need to enable the feature in iTunes, wait for your music to sync/upload, then enable the feature on your iPad to access your music. Syncing with iTunes requires you to connect your iPad to your computer and sync directly from your iTunes library. Don’t forget to check your iPad’s storage space when storing music for offline listening!

Steps

Syncing iCloud Music Library

  1. Download and open iTunes. Macs come with iTunes pre-installed.
    • Similar software, like Google Play Music will function similarly if you do not want to use iCloud.
  2. Select “Sign in” from the “Account” menu and sign into your iCloud/Apple Music account. The “Account” menu is in the top menu bar.
    • If you are using Windows, you will first need to make the menu bar visible by pressing Ctrl+B.[1]
  3. Select “Preferences” from the “iTunes” menu. This menu is located in the top menu bar. “Preferences” will open a window display different iTunes settings.
    • On Windows, Preferences is located in the “Edit” menu.[2]
  4. Select the “iCloud Music Library” checkbox and press “OK”. The checkbox is located in the first section of the General tab (selected by default) and will set your iTunes to sync with iCloud.
  5. Click “Merge” if prompted.If you have previously existing music in iTunes and your Apple Music account, this choice will add any music to your cloud account instead of replacing it.
  6. Wait for you music to upload. Depending on how much music you are trying to sync, this process may take anywhere between a few minutes to a few hours. This process is done in the background and you can listen to your music while it is in progress.
    • You can shorten this process by subscribing to the iTunes Match service, which will give you access to licensed versions of the music from the iTunes store, for a fee.
  7. Open the “Music” app on your iPad. By default the app is located in the bottom dock.
  8. Tap the Profile icon and sign in using the same account as iTunes. This button is located in the top left corner of the screen.
  9. Return to the Home screen and open the “Settings” app. This app is represented by the gear icon and will open a list of device settings.
  10. Tap “Music” to open app-specific settings. This will be listed in the left panel of the settings menu.
  11. Tap the “iCloud Music Library” slider to turn the feature on. This option is listed under the “Library” section of the settings page and will enable you to access your iCloud music on this device.
  12. Return to the “Music” app. Your music uploaded from iTunes will appear in your library.

Syncing iTunes

  1. Download and open iTunes. Macs come with iTunes pre-installed.
    • Similar software, like MediaMonkey (for Windows) will function similarly if you do not want to use iTunes.
  2. Select “Music” from the Library dropdown menu. This menu is located in the upper left below the playback controls.
  3. Drag and drop music files from your computer to your Music Library. iTunes will support most common formats like MP3, AAC, ALAC, or WAV.[3]
  4. Deselect the checkbox next to songs/albums you do not want synced (optional). The checkbox appears on the left side of each song listing. Deselecting a file will remove it from the sync.
    • All imported music is selected to sync by default.
  5. Connect your iPad to your computer via USB. Your iPad will appear listed under “Devices” in the iTunes sidebar.
  6. Click the iPad icon. This icon will appear in the “Devices” section of the left panel.
  7. Click “Music” from the iPad menu bar. This menu bar is located below the playback controls and will take you to the music sync options.
  8. Select the “Sync Music” checkbox. This will unlock the sync selection options below it.
  9. Choose your sync preference from the options. You can choose “Entire Music Library” to transfer all of the music in iTunes to your iPad or “Selected playlists, artists, albums, and genres”.
    • Choosing “Entire Music Library” will override your the deselection you made previously and sync the entire library.
  10. Click “Apply” to begin syncing your music to your iPad. This button appears in the bottom right of the window. A progress bar will appear in the playback interface when the sync has started. Once the sync completes you can safely eject your iPad.
  11. Press the “Eject” button next to the iPad icon. Once ejected, you can disconnect the iPod from your computer.
  12. Open the Music app on your iPad. The synced music will appear in your library.

Tips

  • If you want to manually add music to your iPad, you can drag songs from your iTunes library onto your iPad’s icon in the iTunes sidebar.
  • Accessing your music from the cloud will not take up storage on your iPads flash storage, but you will need an internet connection to stream it. Music can also be made available to listen to offline, but will use storage space.

Warnings

  • Music can take a lot of space on your iPad, make sure you have enough space on your iPad by going to “Settings > General > Usage & iCloud storage”.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201762
  2. ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204926
  3. ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204310
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