How to sync iTunes playlists on multiple devices

Hi - just a quick one & I am sure that many of you guru's already understand how to do this but.. From time to time, while traveling - etc, I will make playlists on whatever device that I happen to be using & wish that they would show up on my other devices. For instance, last week I created a quick playlist on my iPad and it doesnt show up on my iPhone nor any of the other 4 Apple devices (including computers) that I use frequently. Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks.

I have a friend who uses iTunes Match, and that will automatically sync the playlists between his devices. One thing to know though is that when you setup iTunes Match on your iOS device for the first time, it will erase what you have on the device and replace it with what is on iTunes Match. So...you might want to export those playlists first.

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How to sync iTunes libraries on multiple machines without copying music

Background:
I have 4 machines running iTunes 9, all authorized with the same account. All music is on a networked storage device (NSA). Each iTunes points to the NSA for music files. Each user on each machine has their own local iTunes library for individualized playlists, etc. When music is purchased, regardless of machine, it is automatically downloaded onto the NSA. We have deselected the Advanced preference "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library". Our goal is to have one live copy of our music rather than multiple copies sprinkled about all 4 machines. We do periodic backups of the NSA.
Question:
How do I get all the iTunes user libraries on all 4 machines to automatically reflect new music purchases? The library of the purchaser is updated just fine, but no one else's is. The Home Sharing Settings option updates the library, but it also copies over the music, defeating the purpose of one copy.
Thanks in advance!

When I first moved to OS X I decided that all of my/our music should be in one library, with one Apple ID for purchasing/playback and iPod syncing, located someplace other than each user's home folder. Using an alias of the destination folder worked as long as we were all on one machine.
Later when we acquired a second machine the setup was similar, except that the library was on an external HD attached to the newer/faster machine and accessed over our home network. The drawback of this method is that the machine with the library on it has to be up and running (of course).
We've finally moved further into the digital world by purchasing a network drive (NAS to be precise - a My Book World II for those who wish to know), upgraded our router and network switch to GB, and have a third iMac on its way (thank you eBay).
All of our music (the library we started years ago), all of our pictures, and other miscellaneous things reside on the NAS, which is also used for TimeMachine backups (on the non public volume). The idea being that any of us can access any of the media or documents as we need or want to.
Apparently (or I've missed something simple) Apple, in their wisdom, doesn't believe that a setup like ours (and apparently others as well) should exist. That each user and/or each machine, should have their/its very own music library that no one else can have FULL access to.
Home Sharing doesn't allow what I/we've been setting up from the first day we added music to our library. Sure it lets everyone with their own library to listen to other's library's that are up and running (i.e. the machine is on, and iTunes is running).
What we want to do is have all of our machines (the two, soon to be three, iMac's and one PC running XP) access the *same library* with full read/write/burn access AT THE SAME TIME! Hence the logic in purchasing a NAS. What we can't do is have iTunes running on more than ONE machine at a time since the other network users/machines receive this message:
The iTunes Library file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file.
Which is certainly not the case since each user/machine can access, read, write, and burn from the above library at will as long as they are the only person doing so.
Changing the permissions on the library file doesn't stick (probably because its on the NAS), otherwise I would have done that and you wouldn't be reading this.
Thanks for any help anyone can give.

HT204406 I enabled iTunes Match on multiple devices. When I change certain playlists they update fine on the other devices, but i have a playlist on my macbook pro that cannot be seen on my other devices. How do I correct this?

I just enabled iTunes Match on multiple devices in my house. At first, almost all the playlists were duplicated. I manually deleted the playlists back to one entry per playlist...a real pain. I could see changes made on one device updating on the other devices for almost all my playlists...which told me things were working correctly. But....There are a couple of playlists on my Macbook Pro that won't update to my other devices, like my desktop. What gives?

You can sign in on multiple devices to use iTunes Match but it must be with the exact same Apple ID you used to purchase the service. You will need to sign out of the existing ID on the devcies and sign in with the new one.

How to sync existing playlist to itunes

how to sync existing playlist to itunes

Hey HalSF,
iTunes allows you to sync music with your devices in several different ways, including by playlist. See the iPhone user manual for how to -
manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1565/en_US/iphone_user_guide.pdf
Specifically page 19.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Be well,
Brett L

I subscribed to iTunes Match and would like to sync my music on multiples devices that have different Apple IDs within the same iCloud family.

I subscribed to iTunes Match and would like to sync my music on multiples devices that have different Apple IDs within the same iCloud family.
Can someone indicate the way to proceed?
Thanks.

Hi,
You can't use family sharing or multiple Apple IDs with iTunes match.
ITunes match is only attached to Apple id that you used to subscribe.
Jim

ITunes match across multiple devices?

Is it possible to use iTunes match across multiple devices? My wife and I use the same computer when at home and we have music stored on that computer. She had her own Apple id to use with her own iPhone, as do I. We don't want to have multiple music libraries since we liste to most of the same music. Is it possible to have iTunes match between 2 iPhones that are using different Apple id's but the same iTunes account?
Thanks

When I try to go to iTunes music match on her phone it asks me to sign into match, which I am assuming is the same as her Apple ID name and password. This is a different name and password than my account. So, it seems that she cannot access my "cloud" from her phone in order to download music that I have purchased. I guess since she has her own iClud account, she needs to sign up for iTunes match through that account and pay the fee. I was hoping we could access the same 'Cloud" to have the same library of music? Hope that made sense.
Thanks for the help.

How do I sync iTunes playlists on my iPhone with iTunes Match?

My experience with iTunes Match so far has been mixed. On one hand, the face of iTunes on one computer to the next is virtually identical, and the streming over the wi-fi from the laptop at work to my home computer is perfect. At the same time, iTunes Match on my iPhone seems terrible. Playlists don't sync and are deleted from my iPhone. Songs that are already on my phone, for some reason, still make my phone spin and drain my battery life. Even after disabling the "allow cellular data over 3G" message, or whatever it is, is turned off, still the phone keeps spinning and draining battery life. So, in one sense, iTunes Match is nice because I can access my music from multiple computers, but in another, the mobile connection - which should be awesome and seemless - is terrible. Is there a way, aside from turning iTunes Match off, syncing manually to iTunes, and loading my playlists like the old way (which isn't a perfect science now, either)...Basically, how can I sync my playlists from iTunes on my computer to iTunes on my iPhone using iTunes Match?

With iTunes Match enabled on an iOS device direct syncing with iTunes via USB or Wi Fi is disabled. To sync in the traditional way iTM must be disabled on the iOS device. At this time is it either/or.

My husband and I have separate iTunes accounts and multiple devices (iPads, iPhones, iPods etc) how do we share our music and apps between our devices if we have different iTunes accounts.

Help! My husband and I have multiple devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod ) that we we have linked to individual iTunes accounts ie he has his account with iPad, iPhone, PC and iPod linked/sync and I have my account with iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, PC etc.. How do we share our music and apps across/between our accounts?

It probably means that only one of you can use iCloud or at least sync calender/contacts with it. I would guess that you could manually manage the other phone as you have before.

How to manage playlists with multiple devices?

We have multiple devices in our household that use the same Macbook Pro. We all like different kinds of music and we are now having a difficult time trying to manage the playlists on the different devices. How do we manually manage playlists for each separate device? We have iPhones, iPads and iPods.

How to use multiple iPods, iPads, or iPhones with one computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495
How to Share a Family iPad
http://www.macworld.com/article/1163347/how_to_share_a_family_ipad.html
Using iPhone, iPad, or iPod with multiple computers
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1202
iOS & iCloud Tips: Sharing an Apple ID With Your Family
http://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-5-icloud-tips-sharing-an-apple-id-with-you r-family/
How To Best Use and Share Apple IDs across iPhones, iPads and iPods
http://www.nerdsonsite.com/blog/2012/06/07/help-im-appleid-confused/
 Cheers, Tom

We have three Ipads in our house. We have one itunes account with multiple devices like two Iphones and Apple TV. My question is about our three Ipads. How can I set up the imessaging and facetime on all three devices while only using one Itunes acct

Okay. We have three Ipads in our house with only one Itunes account. When I go into imessaging and facetime on each of the devices, it wants to start switching my wife's cell phone and then the three emails associated with each Ipad to the contact information for all of the Ipads. As of this morning, only the imessaging and facetime are turned on my wife's iphone and ipad. My kids imessaging and facetime is turned off. Do you really have to have an itunes account for each device to make then work??? Any help would be very much appreciated.
Ryan

There is only one solution. Each user must have their own separate user account. All of their respective data would be contained in their separate user accounts. This also means each will have a separate iTunes Library. If you all use the same third-party apps, then each will have to purchase their own copies under their own Apple IDs. Some data sharing is possible. See:
iTunes- How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
iTunes- How to share music and video
iTunes- How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
iTunes- Setting up Home Sharing on your computer

How do I turn on iTunes match on multiple devices with different apple id

I purshased iTunes match but how do I activate it on other devices that use different apple iD

settings > itunes and app stores > turn it on.

Can I share an iTunes account with multiple devices?

I had an iPhone 3GS. Just upgraded to an iPhone 5C. I'd like to save the 3GS for our daughter to use as an iPad Touch. I realize that I'll need to wipe the 3GS clean and start over with new apps for her. I have a few questions:
Can I use my same iTunes account for both devices, or must I create a new iTunes account for my daughter's app and music purchases?
How do I change the device name in iTunes, so that her iPhone no longer bears my name?
Also, can I sync both devices on the same computer, or is it better to use different computers for the two devices?
Thank you!

Agile,
Any of the above will work, depending how you would like to set it up.
Given that kids tend to eventually grow up and be independent, the best long term answer for most people is to let her have her own account and her own library as soon as she can handle it. Keep in mind that content purchased from the iTunes Store is permanently tied to the account from which it was originally purchased, so separating later is a challenge.
If you want to sync multiple devices to the same library, that will work. Or if you want separate libraries (as I would recommend), they can be either on separate computers or on separate Windows user accounts on the same PC.
For the name change: Connect the device. When the name appears in the left sidebar of iTunes, highlight it and change it.

How do I share playlists between my devices (Ipad, Ipod)?

After making a great playlist, I really don't want to go through my huge music library, and make the same playlist on another device. Is there a way to duplicate the same playlist on another device? For example, I have multiple ipods, and an iPad. I want to put a playlist that I have on my iPad to my iTouch.

Per the users guide, a playlist you make on the iPod will sync back to your iTunes library on your computer. One the playlist is in your iTunes library just sync the playlist to your other iDevices.
From Users Guide:
Create a playlist:
1 Tap Playlists (tap More first, if Playlists isn’t visible), then tap “Add Playlist…”
2 Type a name for your playlist, then tap Save.
3 Browse for songs using the buttons at the bottom of the screen. Tap any song or video
to add it to the playlist. Tap Add All Songs at the top of any list of songs to add all the
songs in the list.
4 When you finish, tap Done.
When you make a playlist and then sync iPod touch to your computer, the playlist is
synced to your iTunes library.

How do I share playlists between my devices

I can't believe how much time I've spent on this problem. I just want to copy a playlist from my iMac to my iPhone. Seems so simple, and yet so freakin difficult. Please let me know this secret! Thanks in advance!

Per the users guide, a playlist you make on the iPod will sync back to your iTunes library on your computer. One the playlist is in your iTunes library just sync the playlist to your other iDevices.
From Users Guide:
Create a playlist:
1 Tap Playlists (tap More first, if Playlists isn’t visible), then tap “Add Playlist…”
2 Type a name for your playlist, then tap Save.
3 Browse for songs using the buttons at the bottom of the screen. Tap any song or video
to add it to the playlist. Tap Add All Songs at the top of any list of songs to add all the
songs in the list.
4 When you finish, tap Done.
When you make a playlist and then sync iPod touch to your computer, the playlist is
synced to your iTunes library.

HT4235 Having trouble syncing itunes playlist to ipod

I am having trouble syncing my itunes playlist to the ipod touch. When I connect the ipod to the computer and open itunes, the ipod shows that it is in the sync process. However, the playlist does not show up. The Diagnostic Test shows "no ipod found". I installed the newest version of itunes and have reset the sync history.

Hi windylina,
iOS: Syncing with iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386
After connecting your iPod touch to the computer, choose the Music tab at the top. Let's make sure "Sync Music" is checked:
Afterwards, you'll have see the options to sync "Entire music library" and sync "Selected playlists, artists, albums, and genres". If the latter is selected, four larger option boxes will appear allowing you to pick and choose what content will be synced. It may be that the specific playlist you are referring to is not checked.
For a visual instruction on how to do this, see the following:
iTunes 10: Sync to your iPod
http://support.apple.com/kb/VI72
Thanks,
Matt M.

How to sync iTunes playlists on multiple devices

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