How to Transfer iTunes Music to My iPhone

Upload your favorite music to the iPhone 4's built-in iPod app.

Apple's iPhone 4 has lots of new, flashy features -- but it still plays music. The built-in iPod app lets you sync music, movies, TV shows and podcasts from your iTunes library with your iPhone so you can access your media on the go. iTunes, Apple's digital music management software, lets you categorize your music into playlists or just load individual music files onto your device. 

Step 1

Turn on your iPhone. If your iPhone is locked with a passcode, enter it to unlock your device.

Step 2

Connect your iPhone to your computer using the USB cable that came with your device. Open iTunes on your computer if it does not open automatically after connecting your iPhone.

Step 3

Click the device icon for your iPhone in the left column of the iTunes application window beneath "Devices." A general overview of the contents of your device will be displayed on the right side of the program window, and you can manage and edit content on your iPhone.

Step 4

Click the "Music" above your iPhone details on the right side of the iTunes program window to access settings for syncing your iTunes library with your iPhone. The capacity bar at the bottom of the window shows you how much space is available for music and other media on your iPhone.

Step 5

Click to check the "Sync Music" box to turn on music syncing. Click to check the "Entire music library" box if you have enough storage space and you want to sync your entire music library, including playlists, with your iPhone. If you want to include music videos and voice memos, click to check the corresponding boxes.

Step 6

Click the "Selected playlists, artists, albums, and*genres" box if you want to choose what music to sync with your iPhone.

Step 7

Select the playlists you want to sync by checking the boxes under the "Playlists" heading. You can also sync your playlists and Genius mixes created by iTunes with your iPhone.

Step 8

Select the artists you want to sync by checking the boxes under the "Artists" heading. Use this option if you want to sync all of the songs by a particular artist with your iPhone.

Step 9

Select the music genres you want to sync by checking the boxes under the "Genres" heading. Syncing a genre will import all of the songs you have categorized in that particular genre with your iPhone.

Step 10

Select individual albums to sync by checking the appropriate boxes under the "Albums" heading. If you previously checked the box to sync an artist, you do not need to sync albums by that artist.

Step 11

Click the "Apply" button to*sync your iPhone and apply changes. Wait until you see the "OK to disconnect" message in the iTunes status window to disconnect your iPhone. Your imported iTunes music is located in the iPod app on your iPhone.