iPhone / iTunes and how do I avoid wiping my music?

Probably quite a basic issue to solve (if you understand the minds of Apple), but I thought I'd ask you delightful people (I'm after something) to see if you can offer advice.

Basically I have had an iPhone for ages, and every 2-3 years I upgrade to whichever the latest model is, pretty standard for most people I should imagine. The very first time I had an iPhone I was also using a desktop PC to host iTunes, but after many years of service that has finally died a death.

Unfortunately, I am now left with the situation that my iPhone has all the music on it that I have built up over the years, but now I need to use a new iTunes on my laptop. I have heard that if I were to attach my iPhone to the new iTunes, it would sync and my music would disappear.

So,

a) Is that true?

and if so,

b) How do I avoid that happening?

Download an app on your laptop that let's you copy the music files across from your iPhone to your Laptop (just don't sync it when you plug it in prior to copying the files off), add them iTunes again and then sync ... I'm not sure of names for PC versions as I have only done this on a iPhone to Mac but there is software out there for PC as well

Quote:

Originally posted by BWT

Download an app on your laptop that let's you copy the music files across from your iPhone to your Laptop (just don't sync it when you plug it in prior to copying the files off), add them iTunes again and then sync ... I'm not sure of names for PC versions as I have only done this on a iPhone to Mac but there is software out there for PC as well

Thanks BWT - can you recommend any particular apps? I know you said you've only used Mac versions but there may be an app that covers both Mac/PC.

So basically just copy the files onto the laptop via this app, THEN download iTunes, then sync?

You can also subscribe to iTunes Match. It will save all your non-iTunes music (CD's, etc) so you can share it across multiple devices. I think the limit is 5 devices. Never lost a song using it.

Another option is to backup your phone to the apple cloud, and then restore the settings/files to your new phone. I've had to do it with multiple iPads and iPhones now, and it works just great. I haven't needed to sync an iPhone or iPad to a computer in several years now. Everything is sync'd across them through the cloud.

Quote:

Originally posted by vdg1959

You can also subscribe to iTunes Match. It will save all your non-iTunes music (CD's, etc) so you can share it across multiple devices. I think the limit is 5 devices. Never lost a song using it.

Another option is to backup your phone to the apple cloud, and then restore the settings/files to your new phone. I've had to do it with multiple iPads and iPhones now, and it works just great. I haven't needed to sync an iPhone or iPad to a computer in several years now. Everything is sync'd across them through the cloud.

Can I backup my phone using Apple Cloud without iTunes then?

I think so. Go to Settings/iCloud, and then look at the settings dialog. You can decide what to enable for backup and such. I've not used iTunes for transferring files in a couple years (except for audio files of interviews I sometimes conduct using my phone/skype). My music files get restored through iTunes Match (I think, haven't done it in a while), but everything can be backed-up to the iCloud and restored at any time. I recently did that with an iPad replacement, and it took a couple hours to restore everything to my new iPad (including the music).

I looked into a bit more, and found that iTunes Match is separate from iCloud backup. You would need to set up iTunes Match through iTunes for $25US a year. It saves/restores/shares all my music, including everything not purchased through iTunes. The iCloud backup is $10US per year for 10GB.

Cool, thanks for your help.

you're welcome

and thanks for all the great threads in the forums!