# My iTunes library is too big for my iPhone. Can I still autosync? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965 "2013-04-17T19:09:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/1 "2013-04-17T19:09:05Z")
This has been driving me absolutely batty for the last couple of days. I’m largely a podcast listener, but I like having music on my iPhone for when I run out of podcasts, or I’m just in the mood for music instead of talk. Unfortunately, my music library is about four gigs bigger than the free space on my phone (after apps and such). Now, what I want is, it seems to me, pretty simple. I want podcasts to take priority–they should get synced before anything else, and if music needs to be deleted to make room for them, then music comes off. After that, I want the free space to be filled with music. Easy enough, right? And I swear, I’ve had this setup before (more or less–I’ve never figured out how to make iTunes prioritize podcasts over music, so would occasionally have trouble getting podcasts synced). Unfortunately, a few days ago, either iTunes or my phone decided, “You know what? You like Hank Williams III so much, he should be the only thing on your phone.” All of my other music was dropped from my phone. And since then, I have not, despite much searching of the internets and trying various things in iTunes, been able to get the damn thing right again. Every time I try, I get an error message that there’s not enough space. Which makes me want to cry, crush my iPhone, and strangle my computer all at once. There has GOT to be an answer to this, right? Right? Tell me there’s an answer to this, PLEASE… I’m begging you, Dopers, help me out… ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/2 "2013-04-17T19:29:54Z")
Use playlists, and just sync the ones you want to have on the iPhone. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/3 "2013-04-17T19:35:02Z")
I’ve got a 160 GB iPod and almost 3TB in music. I’ve never had luck with autosync and don’t trust it after it did what you’re describing by taking a lot of the time I put in to just have my favorite songs on the iPod (for some reason, it never deletes podcasts). I’ve enjoyed the option to manually moving podcasts then music. The bad part is, if I try and move too much music over, iTunes gives me the error stating that there’s not enough room but iTunes will put as much over as it can. What really sucks is there’s no going back from that except pulling the iPod out of the computer. Maybe I’m a bit controlling, but I want to know which ones can and can’t go over there. What I’m rambling to say is “Is there a reason you don’t want to manually manage these?” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/4 "2013-04-17T19:48:58Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Use playlists, and just sync the ones you want to have on the iPhone. This. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/5 "2013-04-17T19:55:53Z")
Mostly, **stpauler** , it’s because what I really want is a randomish selection of almost all of my music on the phone, minus the few gigs that won’t fit. (I say randomish, because I want it to respect albums. I discovered the annoyance of seeing an album and then finding out your favorite song wasn’t synced last night, when the phone/computer decided I had too much Hank Williams III, too.) Most of the time, I don’t have any particular music in mind that I’ll be wanting to listen to; when I get an itch for something and discover its not on the phone, I’ll force it on the next sync. Also because I can’t be arsed. I’m not interested in spending the time to set up playlists, either. Though it has just occurred to me–can you set up a smart playlist to be a certain size? That’d work. ---
**Author:** ![Archaic\_Entity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@Archaic\_Entity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archaic_Entity)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/6 "2013-04-17T20:08:27Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Mostly, **stpauler** , it’s because what I really want is a randomish selection of almost all of my music on the phone, minus the few gigs that won’t fit. (I say randomish, because I want it to respect albums. I discovered the annoyance of seeing an album and then finding out your favorite song wasn’t synced last night, when the phone/computer decided I had too much Hank Williams III, too.) Most of the time, I don’t have any particular music in mind that I’ll be wanting to listen to; when I get an itch for something and discover its not on the phone, I’ll force it on the next sync. Also because I can’t be arsed. > > I’m not interested in spending the time to set up playlists, either. Though it has just occurred to me–can you set up a smart playlist to be a certain size? That’d work. When you’ve got the phone plugged in, you can choose what audio to sync via selecting it in the music tab under the phone. I’m at school right now, so I can’t do a proper walkthrough… but here’s Apple’s support link on it (select Sync Manually) [http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1351](http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1351) . ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/7 "2013-04-17T20:30:48Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > I’m not interested in spending the time to set up playlists, either. Though it has just occurred to me–can you set up a smart playlist to be a certain size? That’d work. You can set up a smart playlist to add albums, limit it by X GB (however much room you have), and select them by random. I discovered this by creating a new smart playlist and looking at the screen that popped up with about 5 different options to choose from. I assume you’ll be up to the task. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/8 "2013-04-17T20:44:05Z")
Can’t you just upload your entire iTunes to the Cloud, and listen from that? ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/9 "2013-04-18T02:18:38Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Can’t you just upload your entire iTunes to the Cloud, and listen from that? I… don’t really know. Can I? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/10 "2013-04-18T04:23:45Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > I… don’t really know. Can I? Yes, using “iTunes Match.” It really works quite well, and I find it worth the $25/year. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/11 "2013-04-18T04:27:27Z")
If you don’t want to pay for iCloud (I don’t, at this point) - Just set your “sync podcast” settings to automatically sync the 5 or 10 most recent episodes for every podcast you want. The old podcasts remain on your computer; but you always have the most recent ones on your device. That’s how I work it. If you listen regularly this should work fine. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/12 "2013-04-18T18:42:52Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Can’t you just upload your entire iTunes to the Cloud, and listen from that? > [@LawMonkey](#): > > I… don’t really know. Can I? Beats the hell out of me. The only wireless device I have is the wireless adapter on my desktop computer. I’d HEARD about the Cloud, and supposed that that was the kind of thing it was for (for the kind of people who have smartphones). > [@beowulff](#): > > Yes, using “iTunes Match.” > It really works quite well, and I find it worth the $25/year. Oh, okay. Yeah, **beowulff** says you can. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/13 "2013-04-18T20:17:10Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Can’t you just upload your entire iTunes to the Cloud, and listen from that? Wouldn’t that chew up your data allowance? The OP might not have an unlimited-data plan, which would mean that using that for music to listen to would potentially get costly. I vote for the smart playlist - and you can indeed set it up to sync up to x gig or whatever. You can also include logic like “include x artist”, “exclude x genre” or whatever. Another option: on the sync panel in iTunes, there is a checkbox that says something like “fill the rest of the device with random music”. That might do what you want also. A sidegrumble: I have a Nano that I keep in my car for podcast purposes. No music, just podcasts. Annoyingly, iTunes just lets you select “all”, or a specific number, of podcast episodes that meet the other criteria. The max is 10. Why on earth don’t they let you specify a different number of episodes? ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/14 "2013-04-18T21:26:43Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Another option: on the sync panel in iTunes, there is a checkbox that says something like “fill the rest of the device with random music”. That might do what you want also. There used to be that option there, yes. Now it only shows up if you first choose to sync only selected artists/playlists. And if I do that and select everything, we’re back to getting the no room error. I’m now futzing around w/ the smart playlist thing. I set it for 25 gigs and repopulated it several times, each time winding up with a significantly different amount of songs/time in it. :smack: Also, since iTunes seems to have taken away the readout of your library that tells you how many songs/hours you have in your library, now I can’t figure out what a rough “most” of my library would even be. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/15 "2013-04-18T21:40:10Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > There used to be that option there, yes. Now it only shows up if you first choose to sync only selected artists/playlists. And if I do that and select everything, we’re back to getting the no room error. > > I’m now futzing around w/ the smart playlist thing. I set it for 25 gigs and repopulated it several times, each time winding up with a significantly different amount of songs/time in it. :smack: Also, since iTunes seems to have taken away the readout of your library that tells you how many songs/hours you have in your library, now I can’t figure out what a rough “most” of my library would even be. Huh. That’s pretty annoying!! I only sync specific playlists to my iPod so I guess I’m used to seeing it because of that. The lack of readout: I hadn’t noticed that, but I really really despise some of the changes in later versions of iTunes. For example if I type in, say, “Springsteen” in the search box, it used to filter the list of all music to just show what matched that. Much easier to navigate. It doesn’t do that any more. And the sidebar that showed things like Music, Podcasts etc. is now hidden by default, and I had a hell of a time finding how to redisplay that. I actually refuse to “upgrade” the iTunes version on my laptop as a result - ruined my desktop’s installation by “upgrading”. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/16 "2013-04-19T01:40:51Z")
I only want a certain amount of music on my iPad because I use it primarily for video (TV shows, Movies), so I set up an “iPad” playlist. The beauty of it is that I got an iPod nano for christmas and the playlist fit with only about 50mb to spare. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/17 "2013-04-19T04:17:12Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Huh. That’s pretty annoying!! I only sync specific playlists to my iPod so I guess I’m used to seeing it because of that. > > For example if I type in, say, “Springsteen” in the search box, it used to filter the list of all music to just show what matched that. Much easier to navigate. It doesn’t do that any more. Sure it does. I just tried it with the latest version of iTunes. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/18 "2013-04-19T19:51:20Z")
This is not a good week for me and my phone. It woke me up with the alarm this morning, same as every morning. Except that the screen wouldn’t come on. I tried turning it off; I tried restoring it. No dice. So now I’ve got a genius bar appointment after work. And I need to pack, and I wanted to mop the floor… ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-itunes-library-is-too-big-for-my-iphone-can-i-still-autosync/655965/19 "2013-04-19T20:57:22Z")
The way I deal with it is I manually sync, and I check the songs I want to sync. They are all checked by default, so I uncheck the ones I don’t want.