This is for a Mac. I want to transfer a copy of the music I have in iTunes (now it’s called Music) to a flash drive, to play in my truck. There must be a relatively easy way to do this. Most of the online advice pages want you install their free program. That’s not happening.

I need step by step instructions. Thanks very much.

Drag and drop the files with a “command” key?

I don’t know how to find the files. I am looking for step by step instructions please. I am not a Mac geek.

I’m no expert, but I don’t think this can be done as you described. Could be something to do with Apple’s implementation of DMCA protections.

steps:
1. make sure the thumb drive is formatted in exfat and has enough space for the music files.
2. insert thumb drive into Mac and open it on the desktop.
3. open music on the desktop and set the view to songs.
4. from the menu choose select all and ensure all songs are selected.
5. left click on the songs and drag to the open thumb drive window, then release.
6. wait for the process to complete then eject the thumb drive and test in the truck. it may take the truck awhile to index the files and play.
if you have any trouble let me know and I can talk you through it. I have done this same thing for multiple vehicles.

This might help. From there it's just drag and drop.

quote:

Originally posted by ltz400:
steps:
1. make sure the thumb drive is formatted in exfat and has enough space for the music files.
2. insert thumb drive into Mac and open it on the desktop.
3. open music on the desktop and set the view to songs.
4. from the menu choose select all and ensure all songs are selected.
5. left click on the songs and drag to the open thumb drive window, then release.
6. wait for the process to complete then eject the thumb drive and test in the truck. it may take the truck awhile to index the files and play.
if you have any trouble let me know and I can talk you through it. I have done this same thing for multiple vehicles.

Thanks! How do I make sure the thumb drive is formatted in exfat?

quote:

Originally posted by mark60:
This might help. From there it's just drag and drop.

Thank you sir!

In Music, select the Songs view, click and select the songs you want to copy, when the selection is complete right click and select Copy, then go into Finder and find the disk drive that corresponds to your thumb drive under Locations in the left pane, Select this and Paste (or Cmd-v) the selection. Warning, the file system on the thumb drive must be able to accept the file names that you are pasting, this means there will probably be a limit on the length of the name and/or "special" characters in the name. Note that this may not get you completely there, Music maintains audio files in several formats (MP3, AAC, FLAC, etc.) the device to which you want to copy the files (and/or the audio program/app you are using on it) must be able to recognize and play these types of files, or they must be converted to an appropriate encoding. Also, don't expect metatdata (Artist, Album, etc.) to be copied with the audio data. There are standard formats for naming songs to include some metadata which may be accepted by the target, but this cannot be relied upon.

I usually find it easier to go back to the original songs ripped from CD or downloaded to import into a new media player than try to pry them out of Music.

Note also, that if the songs were acquired/purchased from a source that imposes DMCA protections, you will probably have to pay for them again on the target device.

Thanks! How do I make sure the thumb drive is formatted in exfat?[/QUOTE]

When you insert the drive into the Mac it will show as an icon on the screen. right click on the icon and select get info from the menu. the info displayed will show the format being used. if it is not exfat you can change it with the disk utility icon in your dock.

quote:

Originally posted by ltz400:
Thanks! How do I make sure the thumb drive is formatted in exfat?

When you insert the drive into the Mac it will show as an icon on the screen. right click on the icon and select get info from the menu. the info displayed will show the format being used. if it is not exfat you can change it with the disk utility icon in your dock.[/QUOTE]Disk Utility (DU) will reformat the thumbie into whatever format you need. Of course, all existing data on the drive will be erased by this procedure.

If you don't know, Cmd-Spacebar will open a dialog box you can type "Disk Utility" into to open the application. Inside DU, select the thumb drive and "Erase," a pop-up window will allow selection of the desired formatting.

May I ask what make, model and year of vehicle we are talking about? the reason is that some older Japanese cars use older formats (ie... fat32). we also need to ensure the usb port on the vehicle is , in fact, a data port and not just a charge port.

A new ‘23 Tacoma pickup. It’s got a data port separate from the charging port. Appreciate all the help.

Apple removed DRM from its music files more than ten years ago, so that will not be an issue.

 
With the music app open, select Preferences (either from the top menu Music/Preferences, or press Command,comma together). With Preferences open, select the Files tab, and you will see the exact on disk path to your files.
 
Once you bring up your music files folder in Finder, just drag and drop them onto the flash drive.
 
The Command,comma shortcut will bring up Preferences in any app.