How to import music without iTunes in MacOS Catalina

Sync your music onto your device in a few easy steps

By Alex Blake Published November 6, 2019

When Apple launched MacOS Catalina, it killed off iTunes for good, replacing it with Apple Music, Apple TV and Apple Podcasts. One consequence is you can no longer use iTunes to sync your music to and from your Mac. But don’t worry, the feature isn’t gone — it’s just been moved.

Instead of in iTunes, you now use Finder to import music in MacOS Catalina. With just a few clicks, you’ll be able to sync all your music, movies, audiobooks and more.

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Step 1: Connect your device

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First of all, open Finder. It’s the far-left icon in the Dock that looks like a blue and white smiling face. Next, connect your device to your Mac using a USB cable. Your device should start charging automatically.

Step 2: Choose your device in Finder

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Your device should now be listed in the Finder sidebar on the left-hand side; click it to open its Finder page. At this point you may be prompted to trust it, so click Trust to proceed.

Now, you should be presented with a page of details for your device, including its name, how much space it has available and its battery charge level. Below this is a list of tabs, such as General, Music, Movies and more. Click Music.

Step 3: Decide what to sync

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Just below the row of tabs is a checkbox next to the phrase Sync music onto [device name]. Tick the checkbox, then choose whether you want to sync your entire music library onto the device or just selected artists, albums, genres and playlists.

You can also choose whether to sync videos, and whether to automatically fill free space with songs.

Step 4: Only sync selected content

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If you choose to only sync selected artists, albums, genres and playlists, you can choose which ones to include using the tabs and search box at the bottom of the window. Tick or untick the content you want to sync, or use the search box to find a specific entry.

Step 5: Click Sync

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Now all that remains is for you to click Sync or Apply, depending on whether you’ve made any changes. If you have a lot of content to sync or update, this may take a while.

Computing Writer

Alex Blake has been working with Digital Trends since 2019, where he spends most of his time writing about Mac computers…

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