Manually Manage Content?

I have a massive iTunes amount of music and video, and have recently started storing most of my video on an external drive and my iPod Classic and not in my iTunes library. (There's a fair bit of content I do want with me at all times, and I'm on the go so often that keeping my iTunes library entirely on an external drive doesn't work for me, as that means carrying an piece of hardware, power cord, and firewire cord with me everywhere, which kind of defeats the purpose of a portable computer.)
I'm considering an Apple TV, but had a question before I shell out a few hundred bucks.
Obviously, to get content onto the Apple TV, I have to load it back into my iTunes library, which I don't have a problem doing. Once it's there, do I have the option with the Apple TV to manually manage content the way I can on an iPod, or may I only sync it? That is, can I load content into iTunes, put it on the Apple TV, then delete it from my iTunes library the way I've been doing with my 160 gig iPod?
Thanks:)

No, you cannot, in theory or otherwise. Being able to select, even very specifically, what items to sync to the AppleTV is still far different than manually managing content the way you can with an iPod. With an iPod you can turn off syncing and manually drag and drop content from iTunes to the iPod. After manually moving content to the iPod you can delete it from iTunes and the content will not be deleted from the iPod unless you yourself delete it.
Specifying what items to sync to the AppleTV does not allow you to delete those items from iTunes as the original poster was hoping to do. Doing so would cause those items to be deleted from the AppleTV at the next sync. The closest "in theory" solution would be to choose what items to sync and then delete the files from your HD but not remove the items from your iTunes library. This would probably work but would be very, very risky as choosing to consolidate or refresh your iTunes library would result in the deleted files being remove from the iTunes library and ultimately from the AppleTV on the next sync. So the simple answer is no, the AppleTV is not able to work the way the original poster and many other people had hoped.
Message was edited by: vcolombo

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Manually managing content

how do i manually manage apple tv like i would my ipod? i have lots of episodes that i keep on an external hard drive and delete from my computer. once i do that, apple tv automatically syncs with itunes and deletes the content from my apple tv.
powerbook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

You can keep videos on an external disk and still have them in iTunes. Move them to the external disk, turn the automatic import off in iTunes and re-import them. Then you can sync them to the ATV and they don't clog your local disk.
With tv series, the unfortunate thing is that you cannot manually select which episodes will be synced - it's either all or the most recent ones ("recent" meaning the last to be imported. A way around that would be changing the tv series name of the ones you want to "Simpsons (ATV)" etc.

I want to manually manage and add songs to my iPhone 4 from multiple computers, but it will not allow me to without erasing the music I currently have...any suggestions?

I can manually manage content from my personal computer, but I cannot do that on other computers. why is that?

Daryl J. wrote:
I can manually manage content from my personal computer, but I cannot do that on other computers. why is that?
Because this is not and has never been a feature of any iphone.
You can sync or manually mange with one and ONLY ONE itunes library/computer at a time. Syncing/managing to another will indeed erase the current content.

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.

HT201593 Itunes 12 does not have the "Manually manage music" option

I have itunes 12 and the "manually manage music and videos" is not there. "Manually manage videos" is the only option. I use itunes for work and I NEED a fix. I am unable to drag and drop as well.

Hello there, Jenks855.
When wanting to manually manage content on your iOS device, the Knowledge Base article you were referred from provides some great information and practical steps for troubleshooting:
Manage content manually on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod - Apple Support
Manually add items to your device
Connect your device to your computer.
Open iTunes. Make sure that you have the latest version.
Choose the content that you want to add to your device from your iTunes library.
Drag the content to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod. A panel should appear. Locate your device.
What if I can't manually add content to or remove content from my device?
To manually manage your content, check to make sure that the "Manually manage music and videos" option is turned on. Then:
Connect your device to your computer.
Open iTunes. Make sure that you have the latest version.
Locate and click on your device.
Click the Summary tab.
Click the box next to "Manually manage music and videos."
Click Apply. If you see a message that your device is synced with another library:
iPhone can only add music or video from a single iTunes Library.
iPad and iPod can add music from multiple iTunes Libraries, but video from only one iTunes Library.
If you choose to manually manage your movies and music with the new iTunes Library, the iTunes content currently on your device will be erased and replaced.
You can’t manually manage music while using iTunes Match on your device.
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

Please help! I'm unable to access content on my iPod Classic while it is connected to iTunes. The iPod itself shows up and is set to manual management, but I am unable to view or play any of the content on it (music, movies, podcasts etc.).

I'm unable to access content on my iPod Classic while it is connected to iTunes.
The iPod itself shows up and is set to manual management, but I am unable to view or play any of the content on it (music, movies, podcasts etc.).
I can click the tabs Music, Movies etc. but I can't see anywhere to access the files themselves, no music or movies are listed, I only have the option to 'Sync' with the iTunes, which I don't want to do as there is no content on the iTunes!!!
I just downloaded the iTunes program.
Very confused, pleaseee help ...

Here is what worked for me:
My usb hub, being usb2, was too fast. I moved the wire to a usb port directory on my pc. That is a usb1 port which is slow enough to run your snyc.

Duplicates and Manually Manage iPod content

Sometimes iTunes really ****** me off in some of the poor design choices that apple code designers have made. Case in point is the lack of Show Duplicates functionality on an iPod. Why is this function disabled???
Here is my problem - maybe someone has a suggestion that will make this omission less aggravating.
My music library is bigger than my iPod. Therefore, I have to manually manage the content on my iPod. I would LIKE to synchronize some of the playlists between my music library and iPod, but I CAN'T DO THAT because iTunes will delete everything off the iPod that is NOT in a playlist (another poor design decision!) - and I want to keep other things on my iPod that are not in my playlist.
So: in order to refresh and update playlist as they change, I tried copying the contents of a playlist in my music library into the playlist on my iPod. THIS, however, produces duplicates of each song in the playlist that are already on the iPod (another poor design decision!!!!)
Which of course brings me back to wanting the SHOW DUPLICATES function on the iPod.
Why were these poor decisions made and why is what I'm trying do so difficult?!?!?
WinTel HP Pavillion Windows XP

Okay.
Is the software on your computer up to date?
iTunes
iPod Updater
Updating iPod's Software
If so, and the manual update still won't stick, then you may need to restore your iPod...
Restore the iPod
See if it works after the restore.
btabz

Managing content manually on iPhone, iPad, and iPod

Please if anyone can help I was able to add or erase my music without having to sinc it to my whole library, what should I do?

There is no way around it.
This is how the iphone works.
You can sync, or manually manage form one and only one computer/library at a time. Syncing to another will erase the current contents.

How do I keep my downloaded content on my iPhone 4 when connectng to iTunes? It says erase and sync. I want to keep what I have downloaded, and manually manage contend on iTunes. Can I do this without it saying erase and sync?

How do I keep my downloaded content on my iPhone 4 when connectng to iTunes? It says erase and sync. I want to keep what I have downloaded, and manually manage contend on iTunes. Can I do this without it saying erase and sync?

No backup? Never a good idea to not maintain a backup of your important data. If you do not have a backup, follow these instructions:
By design, the iphone will sync itunes content with one computer at a time. Any attempt to sync such content with a second computer will result in ALL itunes content being first erased from your phone & then replaced with the content from the second computer. This is a design feature and cannot be overridden. Because you formatted your computer, your phone, will see your computer as a "new" computer. The itunes content sync is one way: computer to phone. If you have photos that were synced to your phone or music ripped on your own that were not backed up, you will first have to extract them from your phone using third party software, before you do anything else:
http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/index.php
Once you've done that, do the following in the order specified:
1. Disable auto sync when an ipod/iphone is connected under preferences in itunes(under the edit menu).
2. Make sure you have one contact & one event in whatever supported applications you use for contact & calendar syncing. These entries can be fake, doesn't matter, the important point is that these programs not be empty.
3. Connect your phone, itunes running, do not sync at this point.
4. Store>Authorize this computer.
5. File>Transfer Purchases(To make sure all purchased content on your phone will be in your itunes library).
6. Right click in the device pane & select reset warnings.
7. Right click again and select backup.
8. Right click again & select restore from backup, select the backup you just made. When prompted to create another backup, decline.
9. This MUST be followed by a sync to restore your itunes content, which you select from the various tabs, You'll get a popup regarding your contacts & calendars asking to merge or replace, select merge.
That's as good as it gets without a backup of your itunes library and other important data..

Manually Managing my content?

Is there anyway I can manually manage my content on my Apple TV like it was an iPod.
I want to put movies onto the device, but I don't want it on my computer or iTunes.
Can I do this?

I certainly don't recommend you do this but this is how you would.
Sync up. Once everything is on the tv that you want, locate the original files you want to take off your mac/pc, i you you know where they are fair enough go ahead and delete them off your hard drive. If you don't know where the original files are kept, select them in itunes and select 'file/show in finder and delete them as itunes locates them for you.
DO NOT delete their links from itunes, if you try to play these files once the originals have been deleted you'll get a message saying they can't be found, you'll have to live with this. If you delete the links in itunes, next time you sync they will get erased from the tv. If you leave the links alone, when you sync it should just skip these items.
Turning off sync at any time will erase your tv, so having deleted all your originals if you ever turn off sync, accidently sync to something else or need to restore the tv at all, you'll lose the lot.
Your choice, I wouldn't do it, but at least now you know how and the risks involved.

What contents are being deleted if I click "Manually Manage Music and Videos" in my iPhone 4S?

Would it delete all my txt messages, contacts, and notes? I don't mind getting all my apps deleted, but my contacts are very important.

If you sync and you have chosen manually manage music and Videos then only those songs and videos that you have ticked in itunes will be synced to the phone Nothing will happen to contacts notes and apps

Cannot delete music from iPod nano (latest generation). Have already selected "Manually Manage music and videos" but delete is unavailable from right click or Edit.

I have done everything I've seen recommended for deleting music (jncluding "manually manage"). Thanks for the assistance!!!

Did you Apply the change after selecting (checking the box for) Manually manage music and videos?
With the latest iTunes, if the sidebar is hidden, from the menu bar, under View, select Show Sidebar.
In the sidebar, select the iPod under DEVICES. Click the toggle (to the left of iPod) to drop down the iPod's content list, indented under iPod. Click on Music there. Over to the right, the list of songs on the iPod is shown. You can select songs there, right click on them, and select Delete from the contextual menu. You can also select songs there, go up to the menu bar, and select Delete under Edit. You can also select songs there, and just press the Delete key on the keyboard.
If you want to use automatic syncing, which is far more convenient than the manual method, and easily manage content on the iPod (add and remove songs), please post back.

Is there a way to auto sync playlists while manually managing your music?

I used to use WMP11 before I bought an iPod and used iTunes, and in that I was able to auto sync playlists to my Samsung dap, as well as being able to manually drag tracks/albums to it.
Since using iTunes, I have found it is not as accessible in this regard. Of course, you can opt to manually manage your music, but if you do this, it does not auto sync any info. This means that if I drag a playlist to my iPod and alter it at a later stage by adding more tracks, it won't alter it on the iPod unless I manually replace it with the amended one. It also means that any ratings that I set on my iPod do NOT get transfered to the tracks in iTunes when connected.
What I have done is set a playlist called 'iPod Tracks' in iTunes, and have dragged any extra albums to my iPod using that, as well as the smart playlist 'Top Tracks'. But the disadvantage of this is, if I drag a few songs from an album into my 'iPod Tracks' playlist, then later decide I want the whole album and drag that over, I end up with two of the same tracks in the playlist, which makes it look very untidy (although I am aware only one of each track will be on the iPod) so it is not ideal.
Surely there must be a way to auto sync playlists so that when you amend them in iTunes it does so on the iPod too, as well as manually drag over any extra tracks/albums you want without having a messy playlist work-around like I have done.
Any help/ideas?
Thanks in advance.

There is no way to sync content back to itunes. As you are aware there are a couple of unsupported ways to recover your content, you will need to decide if your content is valuable enough to go down this route.
If so and you are not comfortable with the procedures, I suggest taking the unit to a data recovery specialist with mac experience.

I have an Iphone 4S and two computers, can I sync with both computers? When I click on manual manage it says I have to delete songs from phone

I have two computers, my desktop has much more music on it, but my laptop is 10 times faster. I originally sync'd my iphone 4s with the desktop to try and keep the hard drive on the laptop from bogging down. My desktop is on it's way out and I'm trying to sync with the laptop but itunes won't let me. When I go into my iphone on the computer I check off to manual manage music and when I hit apply it tells me that the iphone can only be sync'd to one computer and requires the contents of the phone being deleted. Is there anyway around this or am I going to have to delete everything and go through my laptop?

This is from article on device with multiple computers:
iPod shuffle and iPhone are intended for use with a single computer. You cannot load music from multiple computers or iTunes libraries onto iPod shuffle and iPhone like you can with other devices.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1202

I have over 16,000 songs in my iTunes library so I manually manage the music on all my devices. I bought a new iPod to replace an older one. I'd like to transfer all 900 songs to my new device without having to handpick each song. Is there a way to do it?

I have over 16,000 songs in my iTunes library so I manually manage the music on all my devices. I bought a new iPod to replace an older one. I'd like to transfer all 900 songs to my new device without having to handpick each song from my music library. Is there a way to do it?

No. I have quite a few more 16,000, so I don't manually manage. Making playlists for each device makes things much easier to organize. You can create regular lists of essential tracks and smart playlists to automatically catch new content, top rated, most played etc. If you'd done it this way all along configuring a new or restored device would be the work of moments.
tt2

Manually Manage Content?

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