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iPad mini Full fat music file import?

Reality4711

Reality4711

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 8, 2009
796
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scotland
Will the iPad mini 256gb import from a thumb drive all my music files into Tunes without compressing them.
My iPhone imports from my Mac 132gb of music and compresses it to 75gb (same number of tracks) but replay is affected (-ve quality).
 
I don't know if it can import it from a Thumb drive, but you could first input and organize it in Apple Music or iTunes app on a Mac or PC and then decide how much of it (including all of it) should get synched with iPad at either reduced quality or- presumably- lossless "as is."

I've never tried the direct route from a separate drive to iDevice but I know for certain it works with music stored on Mac or PC to iDevice. One bonus to this is that you can organize it, such as creating playlists or smart playlists of favorites or genres, etc and synching those too. Then on the iDevice, you can select a playlist subset of "all" to enjoy a kind of music, or music by time span, or style, etc.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
I don't know if it can import it from a Thumb drive, but you could first input and organize it in Apple Music or iTunes app on a Mac or PC and then decide how much of it (including all of it) should get synched with iPad at either reduced quality or- presumably- lossless "as is."

I've never tried the direct route from a separate drive to iDevice but I know for certain it works with music stored on Mac or PC to iDevice. One bonus to this is that you can organize it, such as creating playlists or smart playlists of favorites or genres, etc and synching those too. Then on the iDevice, you can select a playlist subset of "all" to enjoy a kind of music, or music by time span, or style, etc.
Click to expand...
How do you choose the quality?
I have not found anything giving me that option.
 
Reality4711 said:
Will the iPad mini 256gb import from a thumb drive all my music files into Tunes without compressing them.
My iPhone imports from my Mac 132gb of music and compresses it to 75gb (same number of tracks) but replay is affected (-ve quality).
Click to expand...
I’m fairly certain you can’t import directly from a thumbdrive into the Music app. You could copy the files into the Files app, but that doesn’t get them into the Music app. I wonder if there is an option once the music files are in the Files app to share with the Music app. I’ve never tried that.
Otherwise, syncing from a Mac or PC is your way forward. I’v never had my files shrink when syncing, so there must be a setting, as HobeSoundDarryl said.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
In Mac, you sync through Finder. And one of the options on the main page is to synch music as is or compress down to 320 or lower kbps AAC. I believe the same kind of option appeared in iTunes too and probably still does if you are using iTunes on a PC.
Click to expand...
Screenshot 2024-12-19 at 19.16.36.png


This is all I can find in Tunes.

Whatever settings I have tried 132gb of music's 75gb on my iPhone.
My phone has 256gb storage and Apple say that is all normal.
Perhaps iOS does it but I cannot see that being right when some iPads have over the 500gb of my MBP.
Confused as usual.
 
Uncheck “convert” to leave music files as is (assuming they are in a format that CAN play on iDevices).

And since you are quality of file focused, you might do the same for “prefer standard-definition videos” so you have highest quality video too. Uncheck it too if you feel the same about any synched video.

Then "sync."

It's possible the end result might be a different total file size allocation than the original. If so, this is most likely because some music files are in a format not compatible with the iDevice. This can easily happen when we pile up big music collections. I think I recall iTunes will give you an error message at the end(?) telling you which files did not sync. If I'm recalling that correctly, you can check each file it references to try to figure out what is different in them vs. other files that did sync. Usually it is format but sometimes it's other things.

I've seen images actually mixed into music folders, sometimes there some music videos accidentally stored with music files, etc. If you do get a list at the end, take note of the files and then dig in and check them if you want any of them on your iDevice. If it's just a bad file, re-rip from CD or re-download from original source, etc. Then sync again with the fixed version of the file.
 
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HobeSoundDarryl said:
Uncheck “convert” to leave music files as is (assuming they are in a format that CAN play on iDevices).

And since you are quality of file focused, you might do the same for “prefer standard-definition videos” so you have highest quality video too. Uncheck it too if you feel the same about any synched video.

Then "sync."

It's possible the end result might be a different total file size allocation than the original. If so, this is most likely because some music files are in a format not compatible with the iDevice. This can easily happen when we pile up big music collections. I think I recall iTunes will give you an error message at the end(?) telling you which files did not sync. If I'm recalling that correctly, you can check each file it references to try to figure out what is different in them vs. other files that did sync. Usually it is format but sometimes it's other things.

I've seen images actually mixed into music folders, sometimes there some music videos accidentally stored with music files, etc. If you do get a list at the end, take note of the files and then dig in and check them if you want any of them on your iDevice. If it's just a bad file, re-rip from CD or re-download from original source, etc. Then sync again with the fixed version of the file.
Click to expand...
Trying a sync with the changes you suggest now.
 
Assuming the files are compatible, it should work fine. It may take a pretty good while to transfer... especially if you are favoring wifi to wired. But be patient either way and let it complete. I think I recall iTunes will show a progress bar while it syncs them but with so much, you might just walk away and do other things and check in from time to time.

While you wait, you might want to make some regular or smart playlists of this music so you have easy access to subsets of it. There are MANY options for such playlists from a simple Favorites to periods of times like 1950s to things like Classic Rock, British Invasion, etc or rock vs classical vs jazz, etc. Then you can sync again and those playlists can be another way to enjoy your music in subset groups. For many people, this is preferred to just one big "all" list of "songs." I probably have about 30-40 playlists on my iDevice right now. I hardly ever opt to just play or shuffle all synched songs as one big group.
 
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RLRabb said:
I’m fairly certain you can’t import directly from a thumbdrive into the Music app. You could copy the files into the Files app, but that doesn’t get them into the Music app. I wonder if there is an option once the music files are in the Files app to share with the Music app. I’ve never tried that.
Otherwise, syncing from a Mac or PC is your way forward. I’v never had my files shrink when syncing, so there must be a setting, as HobeSoundDarryl said.
Click to expand...

No, you can't import from a drive into the Music app nor can you share to it from Files. You need iTunes or iMazing to get your own music files into the Music library.
 
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