Computers, Laptops & Tablets Apple How to Download Music to Your iPad Saving music on iPad is simple by Sam Costello Writer Sam Costello has been writing about tech since 2000. His writing has appeared in publications such as CNN.com, PC World, InfoWord, and many others. our editorial process Facebook Twitter Sam Costello Updated on April 14, 2020 Apple iPad Macs Tweet Share Email Syncing music, movies, apps, and other content to the iPad can be as simple as plugging a cable into the dock connector at the bottom of the iPad and the other end into a USB port on your computer and letting the data download. But to have more control over downloading music to your iPad, familiarize yourself with the options for syncing music. These instructions apply to iTunes 12.6.5.3 and later. Options For Syncing Music on Your iPad First, follow these steps to connect your iPad to your computer and get to the options in iTunes: Connect your devices with the cable that came with the iPad and open iTunes. iTunes may open as soon as you connect the iPad if that setting is selected. Tap the iPad icon near the top of the screen. Tap Music (located under Settings). Select the Sync Music check box. Checking this box displays more options. You can now decide which songs, albums, artists, and playlists to move from iTunes to your iPad. Entire Music Library: This option moves everything in your iTunes Library to your iPad if you have enough space.Selected playlists, artists, and genres: Use this option to be more specific about which tunes you take with you. Check the boxes under the Playlists heading to include certain groups of songs that you made. Check the boxes under Artists to select specific bands and performers. You can also make choices under Genres and Albums.Include videos: Check this to sync videos in your iTunes Library to your iPad.Include voice memos: This box moves any non-music audio fills in your Library to your iPad.Automatically fill free space with songs: This box fills available storage on your iPad with music that you haven't told iTunes to sync. Click the Apply button in the lower-right corner of the iTunes window to save your changes and start the download based on your choices. How to Save Individual Songs to Your iPad In iTunes, you can take full control and only select specific songs to download to your iPad. Here's how: Click Summary on the left side of the iTunes screen. It's above Music. Scroll down to the Options section and select the Sync only checked songs and videos check box. This option is only available if you selected the Sync Music check box on the Music screen. Click the Back arrow in the upper-left corner. Click Library on the main screen of iTunes. Select the check boxes next to the songs you want to sync to your iPad. Click the iPad icon, and then click Sync on the Summary page. iTunes moves only the songs you checked to your iPad.