iPhone as old-school audio player

Software
1

I’m about to buy my first iPhone, could someone answer the following questions?

  • Can I simply copy a folder with music files from Mac to iPhone using AirDrop, and iPhone will be ready to play them without any additional steps?

  • Can I play these tracks in random order? (Without any additional steps, e.g. without creating a playlist first.)

2

No, not as far as I know. However, music purchased and downloaded from the Apple iTunes Store will automatically sync to all your devices. But songs and albums from other sources require additional steps.

I open songs or albums of music obtained from my own sources in the Music app on my Mac. Tracks may be missing info or artwork. You can find artwork on the internet and “Add Artwork” in the Music app. There is also a command to look up track names, if necessary.

Once music looks good and plays fine on your Mac, connect your iPhone to your Mac with a USB-C to USB-C or USB-C to Lightning cable. Select the iPhone when it appears in the sidebar of a Finder window. Select the Music tab and turn on sync settings, scroll down, and checkmark the Artists, Albums, Genres, or Playlists that you want to sync to iPhone. It is easier if you just select “Entire Music Library.” (You can also back up your iPhone to your Mac at this time, which is a good idea.)

The Music apps on the Mac and iPhone have a Shuffle button for playing in random order the music that you have selected from the Library.

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3

It’s worth noting that if you have Dropbox, or enough storage in iCloud, there are iPhone apps that can basically use a cloud folder as your music library. That bypasses the iTunes hassle.

If that’s of value to you, look in the App Store for those sorts of apps and give them a spin.

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4

Depending on which compromise solution is easiest or best, also look for “alternative music player apps for ios”.

Many to choose from and some work locally with files store on the iPhone and include features to import music files to the iPhone from other locations.

I don’t use any of these so can’t make a specific product recommendation, but if you are willing to use a music player app other than Apple’s built-in app, you might get to a solution that is otherwise streamlined and does everything you want.

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