How to Take Music From Your Computer and Put It on Your Xbox 360

Last Updated: June 18, 2021

Do you wish you could listen to your own music while playing your favorite video games? Do you want to turn your Xbox 360 into an all-purpose entertainment center? Adding music to your Xbox 360 allows you to listen to it in many games or any time you want. Beyond adding music to your Xbox's hard drive, you can also play music from flash drives and portable media players, as well as stream music from your computer. See Step 1 below to learn how.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Ripping a CD to Your 360's Hard Drive

1
Insert an audio CD into your Xbox 360. The only way to transfer music to your Xbox 360's hard drive is to rip it directly from an audio CD. There are other ways to stream music (see below sections), but this is the only way to actually copy the files.
- It must be an audio CD. Data CDs/DVDs or audio DVDs will not work.
- You can burn your own music to a blank CD to create a custom audio CD, and then use that CD to copy the music to your Xbox 360. See this guide for details on burning your own audio CD.
2
Open the Music Player. The Music Player should open automatically, but if it doesn't, press the Xbox button to open the Dashboard. Scroll to the Music tab, select "My Music Apps", and then select Music Player.

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3
Start the ripping process. Select "Current Disc" from the menu and then press Down on your controller's D-Pad to highlight the "Rip CD" option.
4
Select the songs you want to rip. Press Right on the D-Pad to select which songs on the CD you want to rip. By default, all songs on the CD are selected.
5
Rip the CD. Press Left on the D-Pad and select Rip CD with the A button. The songs will begin to be copied to your Xbox 360's hard drive. This process may take a few minutes, and CDs with more music will take longer.
6
Play the music. In the Music Player, select your Xbox's hard drive as the location and then select the tracks you want to listen to. You can use the music on your hard drive to replace the soundtracks of games that support it by opening the Music Player while in a game.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Playing Music From a Flash Drive

1
Copy your music files to your USB drive. The Xbox can play the music files from your USB thumb drive or portable media player (iPod, etc.), but it cannot copy the files from that drive or device. It can only play the music while the drive or device is connected to the Xbox 360 via USB.
- Place your music in a folder on your flash drive. The folder can be labeled anything you'd like, but naming it "Music" will make it much easier to find.
- You can play as many songs as you can fit on the drive.
2
Ensure that the files are the correct format. Xbox 360 supports most of the major audio formats, but protected iTunes files will not work unless they are converted. You will need to download the Optional Media Update by searching for it using Xbox Bing. Confirm the download and then click "Continue" once the download has finished to install it.
- To convert protected iTunes songs, open iTunes and select the songs you want to convert. Right-click on the selection and click "Create AAC Version". After a few moments, a copy of the songs will appear in AAC format. Move these copies to the USB drive.
- Xbox 360 supports WMA and MP3 music files, and AAC music files with the Optional Media Update.
3
Insert the flash drive into one of the 360's USB ports. There are three USB ports on the front, and one on the back of the 360. If you are connecting a portable media player, connect it using its USB sync/charging cable.
4
Play the music. You can play the music on the flash drive from the Xbox 360's Music Player app. You can do this in a game if the the game supports custom soundtracks. Open the Music Player app by pressing the Xbox button and scrolling to the music tab.
- Select the flash drive as the location of the songs.
5
Use the Music Player to control playback. The Xbox Music player functions much like other media players. You can Play, pause, stop, and skip tracks, or load playlists of your favorite songs. Most games allow you to play your music instead of the game's soundtrack.
- You can create playlists using the music on your hard drive. Open the Music Player program and find a song. When you select it, you will have the option to add it to a playlist. Continue adding music until the playlist contains all of the music you want. Select "Edit or Save Playlist" and then click "Save Playlist". You can name your playlist and then select it anytime to begin playing it.
- If you are subscribed to the Xbox Music subscription service, you can add music from the Xbox Music library to your playlist as well. Select the music from the store and click "Add to Playlist". Then select the playlist you want to add it to.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Streaming Your Music From Your Computer

1
Connect your Xbox 360 to the same network as your Windows PC. In order to stream music from your PC to your Xbox, they will need to be connected to the same network. They can be wirelessly connected as long as they connect through the same router.
- See this guide for detailed information on setting up your home network, and this guide for instructions on connecting your Xbox 360.
2
Configure Windows Media Player. You will need to be running the latest version of Windows Media Player available for your version of Windows.
- Windows 7 & 8 - Click the Stream button at the top of the window and click "Turn on media streaming". Click the Allow All button. Set the name of your library in the field at the top of the window.
- Windows Vista & XP - Right-click the Library button and select Media Sharing. Check the "Share my media" box, and then ensure that your Xbox 360 is turned on. After a few moments, your Xbox should appear in the frame below. Select it and click the Allow button.
3
Open the Music Player app on your Xbox 360. Once your library is shared, you can access it from your Music Player. Select your computer as the location and then select the track that you want to play. You can replace the soundtracks for games that support it using this method.^{[1]
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- Your computer will be listed by the name you set for your library.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I play music from the Xbox dashboard?

Community Answer

Apps -> My Apps -> System Music Player -> (device/music pathway). Alternately, you could go to Xbox Guide -> Media (from here, you can see current music playing) -> System Music Player ->(device/music pathway).
Question

Why did it let me copy music onto original Xbox 360, but not on my new gen XBox?

Community Answer

You can with a flash drive. Copy the music on the flash drive, download media player on your Xbox, plug your flash drive into the Xbox, and your music should play.