Follow these easy steps to copy songs into iTunes and then load the songs onto your iPod or iPhone.

Follow these easy steps to quickly copy songs from a memory card or CD into iTunes, and then copy the tracks onto your iPod or iPhone:

1. Importing songs from your memory card or CD into iTunes

Insert the memory card into your media slot, or your music CD in your CD drive and wait while Windows recognizes the CD and asks you what action you’d like to perform.

Select “Import songs using iTunes” and click OK to start the import. Windows will automatically open iTunes and start the import, converting each music track into an mp3 file along the way. If the import does not start after iTunes opens up, then click the “Import CD” icon in the top right of your iTunes screen.

The import will take a few minutes, depending on the speed of your CD drive, and iTunes will show you the progress for each music track. When the import is finished, you’ll see green checks next to each music track in iTunes.

2. Copying songs from iTunes to your iPod

Now that your music has been imported into iTunes, you’re ready to copy the mp3 music files to your iPod.

Plug in your iPod to your computer and wait a few seconds while iTunes recognizes it. You’ll see your iPod show up on the left-hand side of your iTunes screen.

Click “Library” in iTunes and select your newly imported music tracks. You can press the Shift key while clicking each track with your mouse, until they’re all hightlighted.

You can drag them over to your iPod, on the left side of your iTunes window. Or you can select Copy from the Edit menu, click on your iPod and select Paste from the Edit menu.

iTunes will copy your selected music tracks over to your iPod. Once the transfer has completed, just right-click on your iPod and select “Eject” from the shortcut menu.

Unplug your iPod from your computer, and enjoy your new music.

Uploading photos, videos, and contacts

You can also upload your photos, videos and contacts by using a software program like iMacSoft (which also lets you copy text messages from your iPhone to your computer).

iMacSoft loads your iPhone as if it were an external hard drive, and gives you tools for managing literally everything on your iPhone. It comes in versions for both Mac and Windows.

Take a look at the menu on the left side of each screenshot to get an idea of all the types of files iMacSoft can transfer between your iPhone and your Mac. It let’s you transfer in either direction too, so you can upload songs and photos from your Mac to your iPhone, or download from your iPhone to your Mac.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive tool for managing your iPhone files including photos and contacts, then iMacSoft is worth downloading and taking for a spin.

85 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    ipod
    I just bought a used ipod from a friend of a friend,,,etc. All I got was the ipod, no instructions, how do I get rid of the last owners name and etc.?

    • Anonymous

      First go to settings then go
      First go to settings then go to general click on about and it should say name and click it and type your name. I hope this helped you alot.

  2. Pam

    Your directions are very
    Your directions are very easy to understand… But problem is when I put the CD in my CD Drive… I do not have the option “Import Songs using ITunes”.. What now???

    • Ricky

      Assuming you have iTunes
      Assuming you have iTunes installed, you can just skip that step and open iTunes directly. Then select the CD, which will show up on the left side of iTunes, and click the “Import CD” button at the top right of iTunes (shown in the second screen shot above).

      Hope this helps ๐Ÿ™‚

      Ricky

  3. ipod
    when i do plug in my ipod itunes does not recognized it wat should i do now?! Please help!

  4. Caitlin

    ???
    do you have to have itunes installed to import music?

    • Ricky

      You don’t have to have
      You don’t have to have iTunes installed to import music from a CD to your computer (you can use Windows Media Player), but you do need iTunes if you want to transfer that music to your iPod.

      • Jo

        Ipod
        How do I transfer my tunes on Windows Media Player to my Ipod?

  5. Anonymous

    Thanks
    Thanks ssooo much. Im thinking about getting an iPod and I have been wandering if you could put music on your iPod from a CD. Thanks a lot!

  6. Junior

    If I copy song from a CD to
    If I copy song from a CD to my Ipod and then I decide to copy onother CD from the same artist will my previous song that I copy before from that artist will they be deleted from my Ipod?

    • Ricky

      No, iTunes will store the
      No, iTunes will store the other songs under a different Album name, so you can have multiple albums from the same artist.

  7. green

    help
    hi, i got a cd and itunes downloaded on my pc. but the problem is that i cannot drag the mp3 from my ipod. it like that it not activated or something. please help me on this. thank you

    • Ricky

      That’s a frustrating
      That’s a frustrating limitation of iTunes, which is why I wrote this article titled How To Copy Music From Your iPod To Your PC that explains how to do this using a program called iPod 2 iTunes, which is what I use to do this.

  8. Rania

    I followed the instructin
    I followed the instructin and everything is OK but I cannot drag the music to the IPOD and I cannot copy it

    • Anonymous

      Connect your ipod to your
      Connect your ipod to your computer.
      When the ipod icon appears in the itunes window (under devices) select it.
      If the summary pane is not showing, click the summary tab.
      Select ‘manually manage music’ (if youhave an ipod that displays video, the checkbox says ‘manually manage music and video’)
      Click Music (below Library, on the left side of the itunes window) and then drag songs and playlists to your ipod.

  9. Anonymous

    Hey man, my problem is when
    Hey man, my problem is when i put my cds in, my laptop doesnt read it.
    can you help ?
    thanks Davidd =D

  10. sam

    itunes
    how can i copy my song from library to my ipod?

    • Ricky

      Check out this article
      Check out this article (there’s a section on copying music from your itunes library to your ipod that should help).

  11. Gtagg

    x?
    Ugh I have the new Nano And the itunes is different then your pics I can’t find library *die*

  12. Anonymous

    IPOD
    Can the name be changed on the ipod? It’s my daughter but when I started using it I put in my instead of hers.

  13. Sparky

    Hey Ricky I have a quick
    Hey Ricky I have a quick question how can I put the same artwork in a ipod I have a classic 160 gb and I have like 5 cds of tupac but you know on the ipod you can arrange the album well I want to just put the same album artwork by the same particular artist regartless of how many different albums they have that way I won’t have different albums by the same artist thanks for the help.

  14. Anonymous

    thanks. i’ve been so used to
    thanks. i’ve been so used to buying songs that i forgot how to put them on.

  15. Anonymous

    When I put my CD in it goes
    When I put my CD in it goes to Roxio Creater Basic v9, and when I put it in the Audio CD (D:) doesn’t pop up. Can you help me?

  16. Anonymous

    me
    im trying to get music to my ipod and i dont have itunes
    but i have 900 free songs but i really dont know
    how to put them on. i really need some help before
    i go back to school. can yo help me put music on my ipod

  17. Anonymous

    I imported a cd onto my
    I imported a cd onto my itunes. It shows up in my library and even shows up when I click on “music” under my ipod icon. However when I sync my ipod the songs won’t go through onto my ipod. They are checked so that isn’t the problem. Do you think you could help me? I tried copying and pasting but they are listed there so I don’t know what to do.

  18. Nana

    iPod Shuffle
    Hi,
    I’m really new to this technology but I went ahead and got me a new IPod Shuffle the other day now I don’t know how to use it. I figured out how to get the music to ITunes but now when I plug in my Ipod, my computer tells me it recognizes the hardward but wants me to use the software disc to install it. It didn’t come with a disc and I can’t find one online that will help. please….what do I do? Thanks

  19. Susie

    I copied music from several
    I copied music from several cd’s into my computer (Itunes) but I am having trouble transferring the music into my ipod. When I attempt to sync I get a warning that existing music will be gone from my ipod. I don’t want to lose the songs I’ve already put into my ipod.

    • Kiera231

      YES! I get the exact same
      YES! I get the exact same thing happen to me, i dont know whatta do :/

  20. JR

    Hey Ricky I have a quick
    Hey Ricky I have a quick question I have a ipod classic and I just added some songs from my CD to my itunes library but it says 2 albums instead of one how can I fix this problem?

  21. Anonymous

    where is this mysterious
    where is this mysterious ”library” b
    button??! ๐Ÿ™

    • Kiera231

      library button
      Well, its not a button, its a sub title on the left hand side of your screen ๐Ÿ™‚

  22. Luis

    this is more of a
    this is more of a troubleshooting question. I have put tons of cd’s into my ipod. But this one specific cd, that I already imported into my library, won’t go into my ipod. I drag the tracks onto my ipod but no synchronizing happens. What can I do?

    • Anonymous

      I had the same issue and
      I had the same issue and found that I could drag and drop from the “recently added” section under playlists (at the bottom of the page). I did click the eject button next to the cd name under devices as well but not sure if that had any impact.
      Hope it helps!

  23. me

    i need help.i put in a cd
    i need help.i put in a cd and it wont import to my libary on itunes therefore i cant put it on my ipod what should i do?

  24. Christopher

    Iphone
    Hi, i was just wondering, does this method work for the iPhone?

  25. Anonymous

    i have the music imported
    i have the music imported with checkmarks and everything, but when i drag it to the library or my playlist, it is not there! it doesn’t show up. what should i do?

  26. Allie

    um im having 3
    um im having 3 problems.
    first, when i got on i connected my ipod and started itunes. a popup came up saying “scan and fix” so i clicked that. it said it was fine. on the screen of the ipod it says connected. itunes didnt show it though. then, i put in a CD and it gave me two options: “play with windows media player” and “open folder to view files”. so i waited a while. then, i went to the folder of my ipod on my computer, and clicked open ipod w/ itunes or something. so i waited, and noticed itunes had closed itself out! so i have clicked it multiple times, right clicked selecting “open” too, and NOTHING is happening! At all! I took the cd out, put it back in, and the same popup came up. what do i do?

  27. Meaza

    help
    my problem is that i imported my cd, it finished. I highlighted all the songs and dragged them to my iPod but its not transfering. I even did the copy and paste thing but that doesnt work either. the funny part is that when i try other songs, they transfer but not the songs on the cd. i even tried doing it one by one but it doesnt go. whats wrong?

  28. VSM

    I made a homemade CD from
    I made a homemade CD from our laptop and i want to sync it to my new ipod on a desktop. I have done all the steps, so i hightlighted all of them but when i drag it to the Music library it does not show up!! Help!

  29. Cheyenne

    Heyyyy. I just got the iPod
    Heyyyy. I just got the iPod Touch for Christmas. I have some CDs that i want to put on my ipod, but they’re in MP3 format. And when i tried to put them in my itunes library and sync them to my ipod, it didn’t work. Is there any way that i can put mp3 format songs onto my ipod?? Please help me, thankk youu!

    ๐Ÿ™‚ cheyenne

  30. kc

    ipod
    Hi,
    I have an extensive library of music in my windows media player library is there a way to import that all to i-tunes & convert to MP3 format without getting all the cd’s back out & reloading them all? Currently, all saved in windows media is in WAV format. Too time consuming! Please help

  31. Shayla

    Extremely Helpful
    Thank You so much! I added you to my favorites. I just got an IPod and I was having a hard time understanding(seeing as how nothing comes w/ a paper manual anymore) and I followed your instructions and had no problems at all. I’m glad I ran into your site. I’m sure I’m gonna have a lot more questions that need answered. Thank You Rick! ๐Ÿ™‚

  32. Diana

    Thank’s. You were helpful.
    Thank’s. You were helpful. I’ve been trying to get musci on my Ipone for 5 months now and then I found your web page! THANKS!

  33. Anonymous

    heyy i’ve got a problem when
    heyy i’ve got a problem when I insert my CD my computer can’t seem to read it AND it’s not there on the left side of Itunes either!

  34. Anonymous

    ?
    When i put the CD into the computer nothing happens. It doesnt even ask if i want to do anything with it. This is soo stupid!!!!!!!!!

  35. Anonymous

    Hi, is there a charge to do
    Hi, is there a charge to do this? (transfer music from your cd to itunes to your ipod)

  36. Anonymous

    I was able to download music
    I was able to download music from CDs to my Ipod, but under playlists on my Ipod it just has tracks. How do I get the artist and name of the song to be listed?

  37. missy white

    IT WORKED!
    thanks so much for your help ive been trying to put the songs from my cd on my ipod all day and it wouldnt work. THANKS AGAIN SO MUCH!

  38. my iPod and ripping
    Hi, I downloaded iTunes and I ripped a cd. How do I transfer the music onto my iPod?

  39. Anonymous

    Itunes
    I was able to download music from CDs to my Ipod, but under playlists on my Ipod it just has tracks. How do I get the artist and name of the song to be listed?

  40. Jovy

    Thanks
    Thank you so much!!! I can now change my old music into baby’s music. Expecting on august and I would like to have some relaxing music into my ipod that me and my baby can listen. I am happy thanks

  41. HinataStaz

    ipod
    Hi, i need help. i tried downloading itunes for a long period of time and it still doesnt work. A message keeps appering saying APPDATA. And i really dont know what this means

  42. Kristen

    When I click “music” under
    When I click “music” under “library” on iTunes, i don’t get a list of songs, i just get a silver square with a music note inside it and underneath is the name of the CD i just imported. I only want 2 of the songs on my iPod. How do i download only the 2 songs to my iPod?

  43. flynbyu2

    Ipod Touch 32GB
    I just bought a CD and transferred it to itunes with no problems. However, even after syncing several times, the music will not show up on my ipod touch. What gives?

  44. sbcent

    Ipod touch
    Hi,
    I have an Ipod touch and when I connect to itunes to the darn thing automatically syncs photos and wipes out the ones I have stored on the Ipod while replacing them with the new ones that are on the computer that I don’t want on the Ipod. When I want to load some music on the Ipod it does this too, first it syncs the photos and then it syncs the music. So the music gets on the Ipod, but my photos I had on the Ipod are erased and replaced with photos I did not want on it! How can I get the music on and keep the photos that are already on the Ipod too?

  45. Anonymous

    hey does it cost money to
    hey does it cost money to import music from a cd onto a ipod?

  46. Anonymous

    i love your instructions,
    i love your instructions, they’re so easy to understand! but what should i do because it will not let me drag the songs into my ipod. now what?

  47. Anonymous

    I put in the CD like you
    I put in the CD like you told me, but nothing would pop up. I have itunes downloaded, but i don’t have windows media player… will it still work?

  48. Anonymous

    sorry if i already posted
    sorry if i already posted this but i cant tell if i did or not but i have a notebook and copyed the cd tracks onto an external hard drive and now it wont let me put it on itunes. please help!?

  49. dave

    ipod audio
    when I try to copy cd to itune everything ok all checked etc but will not show time ie reads 0.00 so no audio available all tracks there though.

  50. Anonymous

    multiple ipods
    Our family has several ipods. I have cds that I would like to have all of the ipods be able to view and upload. Is this possible/legal?

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