How to Completely Copy iTunes Playlist to USB Storage in 2023

Have you ever wished to copy iTunes playlists to USB storage? Since, when it is done, you can play iTunes playlists on many audio players such as your car player and an old MP3 player, etc.

Or maybe you encounter the grey-out-songs on your iTunes playlist, then you are searching for a way to backup your iTunes playlists to a flash drive.

If you have tried it before, you probably feel confused about whether all the songs in the playlist are copied, since your devices couldn’t play some of them? In this article, we will solve all your puzzles.

Here are two things you should know:

First, an iTunes playlist will include offline songs from Apple Music and the purchased songs from iTunes Store. Or it will contain all the imported songs from your PC.

And, you can only copy or play purchased/imported songs on devices, since the music files of Apple Music are protected by DRM(Digital Right Management).

Second, most music files of iTunes are the M4A/M4P version, which is not the common version. Then, it will be wise to convert to another format — MP3, which most players support. So, the devices couldn’t play those songs may result from the format problem or DRM issues.

Based on this situation, we will suggest two methods to you: one is how to copy the MP3 version of purchased songs from iTunes to USB flash drive, the other is how to copy the MP3 version of Apple Music to USB flash drive.

For the songs that are purchased from the iTunes store or imported from PC, you can copy them to USB storage then convert those songs at a time.

If you find this method doesn’t work on some songs in a playlist, it implies that the songs may be downloaded from Apple Music, you can try another method that will help you fix the problem.

Copy the Purchased Songs to USB Storage

To copy songs from iTunes to a flash drive, you can drag the songs from the playlist or copy the files of iTunes Media folder to your USB stick’s folder. It‘s not complex but takes you some time.

If you would not like to spend so much time on it, you can also try a simpler way by using TunesGo (a professional phone manager) to transfer the music to a USB disk.

Here are three steps of copying the songs with TunesGo (we will use iPhone to illustrate):

Step 1: Transfer Songs from iTunes to iPhone

Launch TunesGo, connect your iPhone to your PC with a lightning cable. Select Transfer iTunes Media to Device on the middle right of the interface.

You will find all the music in the pop-up window. Choose the playlists you want to copy. Press the Transfer button, then the process of copying will begin.

Step 2: Export Music Files from iPhone to USB Disk

Click the Music on the top of the interface, and select some songs, then press Export.

Choose Export to PC on the dropdown menu. A folder browser will show, navigate it into the folder of the USB flash drive and click the OK button.

You will see “Export Successfully!” when it is finished.

Now, you have got the music files, if you want it playable on many devices, you had better convert it to MP3.

Convert the Format of the Songs into MP3

iTunes also offers converting MP3 versions for the purchased songs, however, copying the songs one by one will take you a lot of time since the songs are not stored in the same folder.

If you copy the whole library folder, it will take up much more storage, since there are many extra files in the folder. Hence we advise you to use Musify Music Downloader that can convert the songs at a time, which will save you 80% time.

Musify Music Downloader is not only a downloader of online music, but also a music files converter. It supports converting songs into 3 formats (MP3, M4A, WAV) and 4 kinds of quality (64kb/s, 128kb/s, 320kb/s, same as source). With a click, you can convert all the M4A files into MP3.

Steps of Converting Music Files with Musify:

Step 1: Download and Install Musify

Step 2: Add Songs to Musify Converter and Change Convert Files

Launch Musify, select the Convert button on the left of the interface.

Click the plus icon and a folder browser will show. Navigate it to your USB disk and select some songs. Then, press the Open button.

Press the settings icon on the top of the interface. And you will see a preferences window, click Convert, then change the location of converted files to your USB disk. Press the Apply button to settle the change.

Step 3: Start to Convert

Click the Convert All button, and there will be a window asking you to select the converting format.

Choose MP3 then click the OK button, the converting process will begin. If it ends, you will see all the converted songs in your USB disk.

After that, remove your USB stick and you can play songs by connecting it with any device.

As we mentioned, unauthorized devices are not able to play DRM-protected songs.

In order to fix this limitation, the first thing we need to do is eliminate DRM before copying the songs from iTunes to USB disk.

When I think about deleting DRM, Leawo Prof.DRM comes to my mind. Because its interface is as easy to use as it gets. Besides, it offers batch deleting DRM from music files and converting M4P/M4A music files into MP3 at the same time.

With 3 steps, you can copy the DRM-protected files from iTunes to USB Disk:

Step 1: Download and Install Leawo Prof.DRM

Step 2: Set Output Folder Location as the Folder of USB Disk

Double-click Prof.DRM icon on your desktop, go to the iTunes Converter by selecting Video & Music Converter.

Click the three-dot button on the bottom of the interface. There will be a folder browser pop up. Select the output folder as the folder of your USB flash drive.

Step 3: Start to Convert

Click Add Files under the Converted tab. If the music hasn’t shown, press the refresh icon at the rear of the library.

Select the Add button. Then, click the Convert button to start the conversion.

All the DRM-free songs will be on the USB disk when the process ends.

Now, you know how to copy an iTunes playlist to USB storage.

There are two methods in this article, determine one that fits your situation. Follow the steps above, you can softly transfer iTunes playlist to USB storage.

When you have copied the iTunes playlist to USB storage, connect the USB storage to another device, then you can play the music in many places.

What is more, when you grab those music files, you can also set them as your alarm music or add them in your Google Slides as background music.

Have a good time!