iPod/iTunes Syncing question

jackdaw

Since my Itunes is different from my iPod library im afraid of syncing, doesn't it
make the library on your iPod EXACTLY as it is on your Itunes ? - so deletes any music thats on your iPod but not in iTunes?? if thats the case i'd lose a lot of music of my IPod .. as i straight copied a load of music from my
Zen bypassing Itunes .

J-blk

There are a few different ways that iTunes handles your iPod:

1) It can sync everything from your library to the iPod trying to make them identical (assuming it all fits on the iPod, otherwise it just stops copying things over when the iPod is full) - I think this is the default behavior.
2) It can sync only checked items from your library. So you can uncheck the entire music library, check what you want transferred over and then sync.
3) It can let you manage your music manually. This way, you just drag an album/song/playlist from the library and drop it to the iPod - AFAIK, this is the only option that simply adds to your iPod contents and does not delete anything already on it.

However, even option 3 needs to be enabled from the iTunes iPod properties page and as you've probably guessed, the first time you try to set the iPod up this way, iTunes will go ahead and delete all the music on it.

Your options are either to not use iTunes to manage the iPod or copy all the music you're missing from the iPod into the library and once you have it, set the iPod up for manual management. Once done, you can drop any music in as you like, without messing with what's on it - though there might still be issues if you need to sync with multiple iTunes libraries.

jackdaw

I mean its an INCREDIBLY STUPID AND IGNORANT thing for Apple to do,

how many people are going to accidentally wipe their iPods just because their poxy ITunes lib is different ??

what happens when they use a different machine with iTunes ?

It's like SONY releasing a CD player that wipes any CDs that aren't SONY MUSIC record co ...

pleasant Co.

J-blk wrote: »

However, even option 3 needs to be enabled from the iTunes iPod properties page and as you've probably guessed, the first time you try to set the iPod up this way, iTunes will go ahead and delete all the music on it..

No it wont...itunes will not delete your music if you change from auto sync to manual. However if you change from manual to auto on a different machine to the one where your music is stored the music on your ipod will be swapped for whatever music is on that machine.

J-blk

Mactard wrote: »

itunes will not delete your music if you change from auto sync to manual. However if you change from manual to auto on a different machine to the one where your music is stored the music on your ipod will be swapped for whatever music is on that machine.

You're right - I tried it with a gen.2 Nano I have lying around and it does not mess with the content when going from auto to manual sync. What I was originally thinking of was the iPhone - when I switch that from auto to manual, it still insists on bringing up the "Erase and sync" option.

Jackdaw, a lot of the iTunes synching weirdness is down to pressure from the music industry - I'm pretty sure you could even sync music back to your computer from your iPod with older iTunes versions, something which got completely thrown out the window in the new versions...

art

J-blk wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you could even sync music back to your computer from your iPod with older iTunes versions, something which got completely thrown out the window in the new versions...

Currently, it will "sync" music purchased from the iTunes store backwards onto a PC. I put sync in inverted commas as it asks you specifically as opposed to being part of a normal process. Don't remember it ever doing it for all music though?

jackdaw wrote: »

how many people are going to accidentally wipe their iPods just because their poxy ITunes lib is different ??

what happens when they use a different machine with iTunes ?

It's like SONY releasing a CD player that wipes any CDs that aren't SONY MUSIC record co ...

It isn't typical to have your iPod with music that is not also in your iTunes library (e.g. how did it get there then?), so I'd imagine very, very few will be affected the way you say. And on the last point, you get a clear warning message that you will blank the iPod if you sync to a new PC/new iTunes. It asks do you still want to proceed, it doesn't just blithely blank your iPod of music.

J-blk

art wrote: »

Currently, it will "sync" music purchased from the iTunes store backwards onto a PC. I put sync in inverted commas as it asks you specifically as opposed to being part of a normal process. Don't remember it ever doing it for all music though?.

Yep, that's standard for purchases - happens with applications and videos too. I do remember iTunes allowing synching your music back all of it but it's been awhile, perhaps I'm confused... - these days you're stuck having to use third party tools to grab all the music back off the iPod. You could also copy the iTunes Control hidden folder off it, which contains all the music but with the cryptic iTunes naming structure for the file names. However, you could always import all of them back into something like Media Monkey and have it fix all the filenames for you automatically, based on the ID3 tags.