How to back up music on Nokia Lumia Icon

[Dj Shepeluk]

Hello everybody, newbie here. Just took the leap from IPhone to the Nokia Lumia Icon despite all the criticism from friends and family who are avid IPhone users. I was a little unsure at first and nervous but when I opened that thing up it was amazing. So about two hours into playing with it I wanted to try my hand at putting music on it. So I plugged it into my computer, nothing, I read everything online about how to do it, and so I kept trying the computer and still nothing. Ehhh I'll figure it out later. I go to charge it at night, nothing. So to make a longer story a little shorter, I took it back to Verizon to get a new one not even 24 hours after I got it. Now I'm super nervous about having an Icon, but so far this is day 3 and I'm loving it. I have all my music on it but I wanted to know if there was anyway to back up the music I have to my computer or is that just something I need to use SkyDrive for? Thank you guys for hearing my story and thanks for all your help!

 

[xandros9]

Let me get this straight, you are trying to copy music FROM the device?
I just plug it in, and copy it over since it should show up as a media device on the computer you plug it into.

I use One/SkyDrive to sync my Music to the cloud and across computers, but I just copy+paste it onto my Lumia the old-fashioned way.

 

[RichHowerton]

you can also use xbox music. any songs you download on your devices will sync up with other devices using xbox music.

 

[Dj Shepeluk]

See my main concern is having it through the cloud or whatever and using up my data streaming it. Now I'm not sure if that's how it works, but I have to give it up to Apple on how its ITunes works. I wish Windows could do something similar, if they haven't already. I'm new to Windows so I'm learning along the way. I did add all my music through the windows phone app on my PC and that was real easy, but what lets the app know what music has been added, because after I uploaded a bunch of music I plugged it back in to add more and there was the same music I have added already. I dunno, I will get there. But thanks for the help so far guys!

 

[Blkacesvf41]

See my main concern is having it through the cloud or whatever and using up my data streaming it. Now I'm not sure if that's how it works, but I have to give it up to Apple on how its ITunes works. I wish Windows could do something similar, if they haven't already. I'm new to Windows so I'm learning along the way. I did add all my music through the windows phone app on my PC and that was real easy, but what lets the app know what music has been added, because after I uploaded a bunch of music I plugged it back in to add more and there was the same music I have added already. I dunno, I will get there. But thanks for the help so far guys!

The Windows Phone app shows you what's on your phone already, yes it's easy to do it this way. Also, for music that you purchase through Xbox, you'll have the option to download it to your phone. That's what I do. That way I can still listen to it even if I'm in a no signal area.

 

[onlysublime]

If you listen to a ton of music, I'd check out Xbox Music. It seriously is great. I got a year of Xbox Music (on sale) for around $50. (I don't think I'll be able to get this deal again). With a subscription, you can download as many songs as you like (or as the phone can hold). Or do unlimited streaming (but yeah, it does suck up bandwidth so you could save it for WiFi). Any songs you download can be played offline. That's how I do it because I only get 2 GB a month. So I download it over WiFi and then play on the go.

Now, any song you like, you can also add it to your cloud collection. And this cloud collection works across your PC, phone, Xbox, etc. And any time you want to download, you just download it. The great part is I can play all kinds of music, commercial-free. And it's not random like Pandora. I can actually play any song I can think of or explore any artist. I never liked the idea of "play songs similar to...." without the ability to drill down into that newly discovered artist. If I hear a new artist on Xbox Music that I like, I just tap on the artist and browse that artist's albums or songs. And then tag songs for my collection or for download.

The iTunes way is kind of old-fashioned. If I wanted songs piecemeal, I'd just pirate it. Faster, easier, and cheaper. Xbox Music does let you buy it a la carte too and if you do so, it is DRM-free so you can play it on anything.

As for adding my MP3s, I just do it the old-fashioned way (through the file explorer and just dragging and dropping). I don't really like using apps to copy music.

And yes, you can use OneDrive to back up your music. But if you don't have a lot of OneDrive storage, it might not be worth it. I'm lucky because I have Office 365 so I have over 1 TB (25 GB + 3 GB + 1 TB). I don't actually use my OneDrive for music. Last I heard, it's not ideal for music playback.

 

[Tepid]

The is not an issue with the phone
This an issue with the Windows Phone App for Windows 8
The Windows Phone App for Desktop does work, although it has issues as well

You would think that they would have a solid Zune style software/app for the WP by now
This is one of my biggest issues with MS
There is no reason we should not have something like that for WP8.x.

So, My advice is to use the Windows Phone App for Windows 8 for some things (not much really)
and use the Desktop App for sync and backup.

Tips for the Desktop App:

1.) Under Phone, hit CTRL+A to select all
Hit Spacebar to check everything then click on save to PC.

 

[timppa_k]

Very simple to backup music in WP. Put the USB wire in, search for your phone and copy the whole music folder to PC or PC-USB drive. The copy procedure gos with PC's resurs manager / file manager. You don't need any other program. If you want to copy to OneDrive folder then files go automatically to OneDrive when PC is connected to internet. This works with Win 7/8.
Same works with full size pictures if not earlier moved over FiFi.


Sent from my SVS1312C5E using Tapatalk

 

[Tepid]

Very simple to backup music in WP. Put the USB wire in, search for your phone and copy the whole music folder to PC or PC-USB drive. The copy procedure gos with PC's resurs manager / file manager. You don't need any other program. If you want to copy to OneDrive folder then files go automatically to OneDrive when PC is connected to internet. This works with Win 7/8.
Same works with full size pictures if not earlier moved over FiFi.


Sent from my SVS1312C5E using Tapatalk

While that is true, some people find using an App easier
In some cases, when dealing with Music, Pod Casts, Audio Books, etc, the App is better an getting things done easier and proper.

 

[onlysublime]

I'm curious how the app is better than dragging and dropping.

 

[Tepid]

Again, the Win8 App is really not very good, or consistent, it needs a TON of work.
In my opinion, it shouldn't even be available in it's current state.

The Desktop App, while still needing a lot of work, does work.

This doesn't work for Audio Books from Audible
But if you have ones that you ripped from CD,
Adding it to your designated Music/Audio (whatever you call it on your PC) folder
then add that folder location to the Desktop App
once you have added audio to the folder on your PC
Plug your phone in, the app will generally open on it's own
If you have it automatically Import your Pictures and Videos, it will kick off and start that process for you
Wait till it's done then hit sync, to sync new audio
Some things work like Music area,, other areas are a bit iffy still

Again, the software is lacking finesse and usability in many areas.
But for Music, it works fairly decently.

You generally won't have to go searching for specific artists, albums or whatever
Just sync all, and you walk away, come back later and it should be done.
No wasting time sitting there doing it by hand.

I would also point out that Windows Media Player does work, among other Apps and Software
But, the thing that the Desktop App also does well, is Backup your Phones Music using Save to PC
The others do not.

In Phone / Music on the Desktop App Tip #2:
Click to select one file then hold shift and select a different file lower down
Hit Space Bar to select/deselect those in that range and hit Save to PC
They will be saved in the User Profile Music folder (this can not be changed easily, and I don't recommend it)
They will also be sorted based on the MP3 Tags

 

[Tepid]

People should vote on this

Improve Sync App for Windows Phone – Feature Suggestions for Windows Phone