How can I transfer music files to my MP3 player?
Q
I have lots of music files on my laptop and would like to transfer them to an MP3 player. The list of tracks comes up as an Apple playlist, and the MP3 player doesn’t appear, so I can’t drag and drop the files. Is there some software I can download to help me? Ed Nicholls
A
It sounds like you’re using Apple’s itunes software, but you might have more luck with an alternative music manager. Our favourite is Musicbee (https:// getmusicbee.com), which you can download for free from www.snipca.com/41628 - click Get Musicbee Installer, then the green Download button. Extract the contents of the ZIP file and install the program.
When you first launch Musicbee, it will offer to import tracks from itunes, your Music folders and any other folders you have music stored in, so tick all the options that apply. Once it has imported the files, click the Configure Layout button in the top-right corner of the program window and choose Show Panel in the Left Sidebar menu. This will display a list of your music library folders and all the drives connected to your PC. When you plug your MP3 player into your laptop, it should appear under Devices at the bottom of the list (see screenshot below). If not, click the menu button in the top-left corner and choose Edit Preferences then Devices. If your MP3 player isn’t listed there either, click Add Virtual Device and select it that way.
You should now be able to drag and drop music files from your Musicbee library to your MP3 player. Click the arrow next to the name of your MP3 player in the Devices list to open its folder tree and drag tracks to the Music folder.