Manual managing music on 2 computers?

with my ipod I can manually manage music on multiple PC's
on my wife's Iphone it goes to auto sync on the 2nd PC
am I doing something wrong?

Since disk mode is required for this, probably for security reasons which is not a concern with an iPod only without internet access.
what would be the purpose of manually managing then?
Good question, since the primary benefit when doing so with an iPod is transferring iTunes content from an iTunes library on more than one computer. Some habits are harder to break than others and for those who prefer manually dragging songs to their iPod, the option to do the same with an iPhone is available event though this can be done with an iTunes library on a single computer only. If you are manually managing music and video with an iPhone and the iPhone is restored with iTunes if wanted or needed, you must remember which music and video was available on your iPhone and manually drag it back to the iPhone. With syncing, when restoring your iPhone from your iPhone's backup, your selections under the various tabs for your iPhone sync preferences with iTunes are pre-selected since this is included with your iPhone's backup When purchasing music direct with the iPhone, the music will be copied to your iTunes library automatically the next time you sync your iPhone with iTunes after doing so. No so with manually managing music videos. Manual means manual all the way.

Similar Messages

  • Manually manage music on two computers with iPhone 4s

    For the past few months I have had not issues manually managing my ipod touch on two computers. This is a necessesity as I own a mac laptop but like to listen to audiobooks from my local library which will only download to a PC. With my iPod touch all I had to do was make sure that the manually manage music was turned on and I could put the music from my computer on the device than go and use my friend's pc to put on the audiobooks (WMA Overdrive format). Since getting the iPhone 4S it has been a nightmare to get the same result. I even went so far as to plug it into each computer completely when nothing was on the iphone and turn on manually manage music in each, than put all my music from the mac on it. Only to find that when I opened up itunes in the PC manually manage music was unchecked again. The only way to turn it back on is to sync and erase all my music, thus forcing me to carry around both an ipod and an Iphone, which is more than a little annoying.
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    Unlike the iPods, including the iPod Touch, iPhones will synch with ONLY ONE iTunes library at a time.  You will NOT be able to manually manage music from 2 computers with your iPhone.

  • HT1202 My iPod is set to manually manage music. I have tons of different music from different computers on my iPod. Unfortunately my iPod is getting old and I'd like to purchase a new one. Is there any way I can transfer all the music to a new iPod?

    My Ipod touch is set to manually manage music. I have put music from my computer and iTunes account onto it, and music from other people's computer and iTunes accounts on it. Unfortunately I dropped my iPod and the screen cracked. It still plays music and everything just fine, but it has problems with it's battery life so I'd like to just get a completely new iPod nano. Is there any way I can transfer all the music from my iPod touch onto a new iPod nano? From what I can tell it won't let me sync any of the music on my iPod touch that is from other people's computers onto my laptop, and so I wouldn't be able to put it on a new iPod nano. Hopefully that makes sense. I'd just really really like to be able to keep all that music and not lose 2/3 of my iPod touch music library because I want to put it on a newer Ipod.

    Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device: Apple Support Communities

  • HT1535 my iphone is set to "manually manage music and videos" and it still does not allow me to add music from my other computers.

    I have followed the steps in order to manually manage the music on my 3GS iphone. (used the latest version of itunes and my iphone is up to date with iOS5) and it still is not allowing me to add music from another computer.
    when i plug it into the second computer, it is asking me to click "manually manage music and videos" again. when i do that, it says it is going to sync with this new library and erase all music that is already there. i dont want this to happen! i only want to add a few select songs from each library. I have waaayy to much to add and erase every time.
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    Refer to this article
    Using iPhone, iPad, or iPod with multiple computers
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1202
    Notes:
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  • HT1202 Manually Manage Music/ Videos with multiple computers

    I recently got a new iphone 4s and when it was set up I made sure the manually manage music part was on, I added my music and everything worked fine.
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    Please Help!

    Lukek07 wrote:
    "Your phone is Synced with another iTunes Library do you want to erase this iphone and sync with this itunes libary".
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    Each computer will have a different backup file depending on
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    The other problem will be if you manage Address Book, Calendars,
    etc. different on different computers.  Things can get jumbled, lost,
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  • Manually managing music on iPhone from multiple computers

    Everything I've read 'claims' this can be but I don't think the people who tell you how to do it even bother to see what happens.  This is one of the things that really frustrate me about forums.  It's the complete lack of thoroughness of the people who reply to a question without knowing the outcome.
    It's a simple task.  I want to be able to move music from multitple computers to my iPhone.  When I go into iTunes and select the device, in my case it's the iPhone, and check the box to manually manage music and videos then click 'apply' I get a warning that everything is going to be erased from the phone.  WTH!?!  And no one on ANY forum who suggests this is the proper way manually managing music even has a solution to be able to do this WITHOUT erasing the phone.
    C'mon Apple.  It's a SIMPLE drag-n-drop implementation.  How hard can it be?  I'm not the least interested in syncing with some music library on the computer.  In fact I don't even sync my phone with the iTunes Library.  It's a waste of time because I can't even selectively sync music.  It's either all or nothing.  STUPID.  I simply want to move music on and off the phone.  You know, drag into the window to add and drag off to remove.  And I want to be able to do it from any computer I want that's running iTunes.  I shouldn't have to copy music from a different computer, carry it home and add it from the home system.  That completely defeats the concept of portability.  And if my home computer happens to go south for some reason then what?  Even if I have all my music backed up, I have to wipe out all my music on the phone and start all over because I'm now using a different computer.  Who was the genius that came up with that ludicrous idea?
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    Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
    Although it isn't possible to sync an Apple device with two different libraries it is possible to sync with the same logical library from multiple computers. Each library has an internal ID and when iTunes connects to your iPod/iPad/iPhone it compares the local ID with the one the device normally syncs with. If they are the same you can go ahead and sync...
    I have my library cloned to a small 1Tb USB drive which I can take between home & work. At either location I use SyncToy 2.1 to update the local copy with the external drive. Mac users should be able to find similar tools. I can open either of the local libraries or the one on the external drive and update the media content of my iPhone. The slight exception is Photos which normally connects to a specific folder on a specific machine, although that can easily be remapped to the current library if you create a "Photos" folder inside the iTunes Media folder so that syncing the iTunes folders keeps this up to date as well. I periodically sweep my library for new files & orphans with iTunes Folder Watch just in case I make changes at one location but then overwrite the library with a newer copy from the other. Again Mac users should be able to find similar tools.
    As long as your media is organised within an iTunes Music or Tunes Media folder, in turn held inside the main iTunes folder that has your library files (whether or not you let iTunes keep the media folder organised) each library can access items at the same relative path from the library folder so the library can be at different drives/paths on different machines. This solution ensures I always have adequate backups of my library and I can update my devices whenever I can connect to the same build of iTunes.
    When working with an iPhone earlier builds of iTunes would remove any file not physically present in the local library, even if there was an entry for it, making manual management practically redundant on the iPhone. This behaviour has been changed but it will still only permit manual management with a library that has the correct internal ID. If you don't want to sync your library between machines on a regular basis just copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the current "home" machine to any other you want to use, then clean out the library entires and import the local content you have on that box.
    tt2

  • Manually manage music on 2 different computers

    I have different music libraries on my home iMac and work Mac Pro.  Before, when I have the "manually manage music" check off, I am able to dump music from my home computer... and then when I get to work, I am able to delete music and dump music from my work computer to my iPhone.
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    Whats up with that?

    Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
    Although it isn't possible to sync an Apple device with two different libraries it is possible to sync with the same logical library from multiple computers. Each library has an internal ID and when iTunes connects to your iPod/iPad/iPhone it compares the local ID with the one the device normally syncs with. If they are the same you can go ahead and sync...
    I have my library cloned to a small 1Tb USB drive which I can take between home & work. At either location I use SyncToy 2.1 to update the local copy with the external drive. Mac users should be able to find similar tools, e.g. Carbon Copy Cloner. I can open either of the local libraries or the one on the external drive and update the media content of my iPhone. The slight exception is Photos which normally connects to a specific folder on a specific machine, although that can easily be remapped to the current library if you create a "Photos" folder inside the iTunes Media folder so that syncing the iTunes folders keeps this up to date as well. I periodically sweep my library for new files & orphans with iTunes Folder Watch just in case I make changes at one location but then overwrite the library with a newer copy from the other. Again Mac users should be able to find similar tools, e.g. MusicFolder Files Not Added and Super Remove Dead Tracks.
    As long as your media is organised within an iTunes Music or Tunes Media folder, in turn held inside the main iTunes folder that has your library files (whether or not you let iTunes keep the media folder organised) each library can access items at the same relative path from the library folder so the library can be at different drives/paths on different machines. This solution ensures I always have adequate backups of my library and I can update my devices whenever I can connect to the same build of iTunes.
    When working with an iPhone earlier builds of iTunes would remove any file not physically present in the local library, even if there was an entry for it, making manual management practically redundant on the iPhone. This behaviour has been changed but it will still only permit manual management with a library that has the correct internal ID. If you don't want to sync your library between machines on a regular basis just copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the current "home" machine to any other you want to use, then clean out the library entires and import the local content you have on that box.
    tt2

  • ITunes - manually manage music no longer works

    So I'm quite startled to find only a few topics about this without any resolution. Up until today after I upgraded to iTunes 11, I was always able to set my main itunes to manually manage music with my iphone and then go to ANY computer and add music to my iphone. NOW it wants to wipe my whole iphone library every time I try to apply the "manually manage music" option which would allow me to add music from any computer. I ask the community here - WHEN did this happen? Are we no longer allowed to do add music manually from any computer? WHATS the point of manually manage music (the whole point was that you didn't need to sync always with one comp)? I've tried wiping my iphone at two locations I often add music at with checking the manually manage music and everytime I wipe at one place then go to the other it wants to wipe again when I check the box to add music. I would really like to know if this is how it works now - meaning YOU NOW CAN ONLY ADD MUSIC TO YOUR IPHONE THROUGH ONE ITUNES LIBRARY. If so, I will be immediately uninstalling iTunes and finding alternatives. I appreciate any info or help. Thanks.

    iPhone has traditionally only allowed manual management from a single library. Also once set up to sync, iDevices can only be switched to manual mode from the "home" library without iTunes wanting to erase the content. On any other library it will want to erase. Has your main library been rebuilt following a crash? This could lead to the symptoms you describe.
    Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
    Although it isn't possible to sync an Apple device with two different libraries it is possible to sync with the same logical library from multiple computers. Each library has an internal ID and when iTunes connects to your iPod/iPad/iPhone it compares the local ID with the one the device normally syncs with. If they are the same you can go ahead and sync...
    I have my library cloned to a small 1Tb USB drive which I can take between home & work. At either location I use SyncToy 2.1 to update the local copy with the external drive. Mac users should be able to find similar tools. I can open either of the local libraries or the one on the external drive and update the media content of my iPhone. The slight exception is Photos which normally connects to a specific folder on a specific machine, although that can easily be remapped to the current library if you create a "Photos" folder inside the iTunes Media folder so that syncing the iTunes folders keeps this up to date as well. I periodically sweep my library for new files & orphans with iTunes Folder Watch just in case I make changes at one location but then overwrite the library with a newer copy from the other. Again Mac users should be able to find similar tools.
    As long as your media is organised within an iTunes Music or Tunes Media folder, in turn held inside the main iTunes folder that has your library files (whether or not you let iTunes keep the media folder organised) each library can access items at the same relative path from the library folder so the library can be at different drives/paths on different machines. This solution ensures I always have adequate backups of my library and I can update my devices whenever I can connect to the same build of iTunes.
    When working with an iPhone earlier builds of iTunes would remove any file not physically present in the local library, even if there was an entry for it, making manual management practically redundant on the iPhone. This behaviour has been changed but it will still only permit manual management with a library that has the correct internal ID. If you don't want to sync your library between machines on a regular basis just copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the current "home" machine to any other you want to use, then clean out the library entires and import the local content you have on that box.
    Perhaps the reason you were able to add music from more than one computer in the past is that you had done something similar by accident rather than design...
    tt2

  • Cannot manually manage music and videos without erasing and syncing first

    I have an iPhone 3G bought new from the Apple store using 2.1. Using iTunes 8.0 and checking the "Manually manage music and video" checkbox, iTunes prompts me to "Erase and Sync", no other option is available to me. It was the same when using version 7.7 as well.
    I'm not syncing to another computer, it's the same MacBook I've had for almost a year. How do I get the Library Persistent ID in iTunes to match the iPhone. I have the ID from the iTunes Music Library.xml file. I just need to know where the matching file for the iPhone is so I can make them match.
    The ID doesn't match because I had to rebuild my drive a month ago and my question to Apple (actually Steve) is why can't I sync the other way from the phone to the computer.
    Why does my library on the phone have to be wiped out. Who had the warped thought to come up with this genius idea.
    Message was edited by: ep1curus

    I cannot express how disappointing this was for me to find out.
    I want my music to be mobile, I don't want to have to copy it to every computer I want to listen to it on. I want to listen to it from the device, and be able to buy a new album at work or at home. This is a major disappointment for me, as every other device I have owned including my iPod Touch had this capability. I could authorize 5 machines and manually sync, and the music on that device could be played and managed on those authorized machines. For example, my wife has her own music collection, and I have mine, but we have a media center connected to our flat-screen in the living room, that we use for playing music when we are entertaining guests, and with our old iPods and iPod Touch devices, we could unplug one of our devices and plug the other persons in and listen to music from both our libraries without copying the music to that computer, as long as we authorized that machine for the both of us. Now with our iPhones there is no way to keep our seperate librarys and be able to play music on multiple computers in our house and at work, which we have always been able to do until our iPhones. The whole point of the iPhone for me was to be able to combine two devices and now because of the lack of this feature I still have to keep all our iPods around too... Dumb. I almost took our phones back because of this, and if apple doesn't fix it, I probably won't buy another. They should have at least mentioned this little fact before selling the devices to us. I know it's a different device, but it's similar enough that you expect it to work the same as the iPod and iPod Touch. It's not like I am wanting to be able to copy music from the device to multiple machines, it's exactly the opposite... I just want to be able to copy music to the device and listen to it at home and at work... why all apples other devices do this, and the iPhone doesn't is completely perplexing to me, and a serious oversight on there part. This pill would not be so hard to swallow if I had been warned about this prior to dropping almost a grand for iPhones for myself and my wife, expecting what I saw as a more advanced device to work at least as good as the other similar devices I own did.

  • ITunes Unchecks Manually Manage Music and Videos.

    Everytime I connect my iPhone 4 to my computer and open up iTunes, the "manually manage music and videos" option becomes unchecked so that I cannot add or delete any music from my iPhone.  When I check "manually manage music and videos" again, of course it wants to delete everything because it says I have my device synced to another library.  I have never synced my iPhone or plugged my iPhone in any other computer before.  I do not even use my iTunes library on my computer -- it is blank because I don't like iTunes and prefer to drag and drop files into my phone, which is what manually manage music and videos means, right? 
    It has become so annoying to have to delete all my files and reload them all again just to add one mp3 to the phone.  Then when I reconnect, it doesn't allow me to manually manage again.
    I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes numerous times and it has not fixed the problem.  I have my iPhone set to not automatically open iTunes when it is connected to my computer.  I also have it set to not sync anything.  I am using Windows Vista.  Does anyone know what could be wrong?  Please help!

    This post I found & pasted below seems to explain it best - this is only for Ipod (& Ipad?) the iPhone 4 will only let you add from 1 computer supposedly.  Basically IF YOU CHECK THE MANUALLY MANAGE BOX YOU CAN NOT SYNC WITHOUT ERASING AND ADDING, BUT YOU CAN DRAG & DROP FILES TO THE DEVICE INSTEAD
    What is the "Manually Manage Music and Vidios" option on itunes + ipod?
    When I connect my ipod on my computer theres this ipod page + 1 of the options is "Manually Manage Music and Videos". What does that do if i select it? The reason I'm asking is that I don't want to mess up my ipod if I do select it. + later I can't change it back. THANKS! 
    Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
    It is the best and easiest way to use your ipod.
    When you manually manage your music you choose what to add and delete from the ipod.  You dont have to sync your ipod. 
    When it is on manual you can use your ipod on as many computers and itunes libraries as you want without losing any music off your ipod.
    You just drag and drop the songs, videos and playlists you want from the itunes library to the ipods name.
    Right click and delete what you dont want from the main playlists under the ipods name.
    Nothing will ever be deleted or added until you direct it and you can safely use it on any computer.
    If you click manually manage music nothing will change on your ipod as it is now until you physically add or delete things.
    If you resync with an itunes library later, though, you have to be careful because anything not in that itunes library will be deleted off the ipod.  I always keep my ipod manually managed because I use it on several diff computers.
    or you just highlight the 20 songs together and drag them in one action
    some people are so lazy, lol
    Think if it this way
    If it is manually managed and you go to your friends house you can use her itunes library which means basically getting music from any other itunes library you want.  Not just your own.

  • What does manually manage music and videos mean

    What does this do or not do?

    I didn't find this very helpful.  While the manual technically states what it means, these types of questions are typically looking for context, helpful hints about WHY you would use it and potential issues you might have if you used it or didn't use it.  Your snarkiness doesn't help either.  Some of us are looking for actual help with the entire feature.  So I've pasted what I found in the manual link you posted showed (for iPad 8.1) as well as a better answer I found on Yahoo.
    You can also choose to manually manage content from iTunes by selecting that option in the iPad Summary pane. Then you can drag songs or videos from your iTunes library to iPad in iTunes. This is useful if your iTunes library contains more items than can fit on your iPad. Note: If you use iTunes Match, you can manually manage only video.
    https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080210005100AA4pJ6G
    It is the best and easiest way to use your ipod. When you manually manage your music you choose what to add and delete from the ipod. You dont have to sync your ipod. When it is on manual you can use your ipod on as many computers and itunes libraries as you want without losing any music off your ipod. You just drag and drop the songs, videos and playlists you want from the itunes library to the ipods name. Right click and delete what you dont want from the main playlists under the ipods name.
    Nothing will ever be deleted or added until you direct it and you can safely use it on any computer. If you click manually manage music nothing will change on your ipod as it is now until you physically add or delete things. If you resync with an itunes library later, though, you have to be careful because anything not in that itunes library will be deleted off the ipod. I always keep my ipod manually managed because I use it on several diff computers.
    or you just highlight the 20 songs together and drag them in one action...some people are so lazy, lol.  Think if it this way If it is manually managed and you go to your friends house you can use her itunes library which means basically getting music from any other itunes library you want. Not just your own.

  • Manually managing music creates duplicate songs on device

    The following problem has repeatedly occurred with 2 different (windows) computers and 2 iPod Nanos and my iPhone. I must be doing something wrong, although I can't understand what.
    I prefer to manually manage the music that is on my device. I don't want my whole library on my device and I don't want to sync a selection of albums. I simply want to copy music to my device as I see fit.
    On the device info page (iPod or iPhone) I deselect all check boxes except for "Manually manage music and videos". Then I open my music library in an explorer window, ctrl select the folders (albums) that I want to put on my device, and drag them over to the device icon in iTunes.
    This always results in some duplicate songs. Not every album, but sometimes as many as %50 of the albums that I put on the device have every song on the album duplicated, some albums in triple. I always have to go through everything that I just put on the device and manually select the duplicates and remove them.
    I thought it could be duplicating songs which have album cue files in their folders, but cannot reproduce the problem. It seems to only happen when I copy more than a few albums.
    What am I doing wrong?

    turingtest2 wrote:
    Just a thought, but surely iTunes will see dragging from Explorer directly to iPod as shorthand for add to library and then add to iPod. If iTunes preferences are also set to "copy files when adding to library" then if you drag in anything that's not already inside the iTunes Media folder this will result in the production of duplicate copies.
    Up until now I have explicitly been trying to avoid letting iTunes know anything about my library, and thus have "copy files when adding to library" turned off. Basically I don't like what iTunes does to try to organize and move and rename things and don't trust it with my music library
    Katrina S. wrote:
    Js there any pattern to it? that might be difficult to figure out, and maybe take quite a few syncs.... and require writing down which ones it happens to. I don't think you're doing anything wrong, but I will say, that's never happened to me. Somethingmust be different between our 2 systems.
    That is a good idea, but will take some time as this is definitely not on top of my priority list. Anybody else? For now it seems to happen randomly. I just moved 4 albums over last night and it only happened to the one album with the most tracks on it this time. Luckily I'm getting better at removing them by hand in iTunes ... although it's definitely not fun.
    What is an album cue file? i don't have any of those.
    A cue sheet is a text file that lists the album information and song length, filenames, and time stamp location for burning onto a cd. Some of my albums have cue sheets, but I don't think this is affecting the problem I'm having.
    Thanks for your responses!

  • Unable to manually manage music on more than one computer

    Recently i had some problems with my iphone so i decided to delete all the music and start over again, i enabled the manually manage music in my work pc and then drag and drop my songs into the iphone library, all happened fine, then when i got home i connected my iphone to my laptop and i noticed that the manually manage music are unchecked and my iphone´s library dont allow me to add or delete songs! do anyone knows what´s the problem? i have the same itunes version wich is the latest on both computers, this is the 11.1.3.8
    I will appreciate any help!

    If you have iTunes on your work computer, it IS possible, I'm just not sure if it's possible with a shuffle. :/ I don't have one.
    What you'd do with a 'regular' iPod is turn it to manual, then you can access/play the music from iTunes.
    You may want to check the shuffle forum to see if it's possible with that particular iPod.
    Good luck!

  • Manually manage music option - keep what's on my iPhone already

    Sorry if this has been asked and answered before but some of the reposonses here seem to contradict each other.  I have tried reading the supporting documentation (other posts and links to the Apple knowledgebase) but can't see a clear response.
    I have an iPhone 4S (runing O/S 5.1.1) and am using iTunes (v10.6.3.25) on a PC.  When I first got my iPhone (a couple of months ago), I set it to "Manually manage music and video" before putting any content on it.  All was fine until my laptop died and was replaced - now when I attach my iPhone to my new laptop (or any other device running iTunes), I see that this option is not ticked.  If I try to select this option, a dialogue box is presented informing me that if I apply, all the content currently on my iPhone will be erased - obviously this is not the effect I'm trying to acheive.  So I guess my questions are:
    Is there any way of setting my iPhone to be able to manually manage music and video WITHOUT first erasing all the current content?
    Is it possible to have another device (like my PC at work, for example) recognise that the iPhone has this setting checked when I attach it?
    If anyone has the time, patience and inclination to let me know, I'd be very grateful!  Thank you in advance!

    millou_ wrote:
    Oh - I can get the data back, that's not the real problem.  It's the several hours of my life required to do it!
    That's a relief...
    All I really want is to be able to attach my iPhone to my laptop at home AND my PC at work where in both cases my iPhone can be manually managed so that I can add content MANUALLY from either location onto my one, lovely iPhone.
    Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
    Although it isn't possible to sync an Apple device with two different libraries it is possible to sync with the same logical library from multiple computers. Each library has an internal ID and when iTunes connects to your iPod/iPad/iPhone it compares the local ID with the one the device normally syncs with. If they are the same you can go ahead and sync...
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    tt2

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