How to Download Music From a CD to a Phone

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Add music from a CD to your audio playback-enabled cell phone by USB transfer.

Putting songs onto your audio-enabled cell phone allows you great music listening convenience. You can download music from your CD collection to the cell phone through a simple, two-part process. At the most intricate, you will need to use a memory card reader. However, you may also be able to load music extracted from your CDs directly onto the phone using a USB connection.

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Step 1

Insert the audio CD whose music you want to download to the phone into your personal computer's CD writer drive.

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Step 2

Extract the CD audio. Use iTunes' "Import" option to copy the music onto your personal computer's hard drive. Highlight the songs and select "Create MP3 version" from the "Advanced" tab on the iTunes menu bar to convert the files to MP3 format if necessary. You may also use Windows Media Player's ripping feature to extract the songs from the CD onto your computer hard drive.

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Step 3

Connect your cell phone to the personal computer. Insert the mini USB end of the mini USB-to-USB adapter into the mini USB port on your phone. Insert the USB end of the adapter into an available USB port on your computer. Wait for the computer to recognize your cell phone as a connected device. Skip this step if your phone does not support direct transfers and you must use a memory card reader.

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Step 4

Connect your memory card reader to the personal computer. Insert its USB connection into an available USB port on your personal computer. Remove your cell phone's memory card and insert it into the memory card reader. Wait for the computer to recognize your memory card reader as a connected device. Skip this step if your cell phone supports direct transfers as per the step above.

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Step 5

Double-click on your cell phone or memory card reader's device icon to open its file folder window.

Step 6

Open the file folder containing the music you want to download onto your phone in a separate file folder window.

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Step 7

Drag and drop the music files or folders from their file folder window into that of your cell phone or memory card in the reader. Eject the cell phone or memory card reader from your computer by right-clicking the device icon and selecting "Eject" or "Safely Remove Device."

Step 8

Remove the memory card from the reader and reinsert it into your cell phone if you performed a memory card reader transfer.

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