Multiple ipods on 1 Windows PC

My girlfriend has 2 kids and herself that have ipods. The two kids have had their's for a year. She just received hers. How do I seperate the 3 of their accounts and the music libraries. Their's is already a huge music library. They have a windows XP home machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dan
PowerBook G4, 1Gb, 17, 120 GB HD SuperDrive Mac OS X (10.4.3)

This is a good resource:
How to use multiple iPods with one computer

Similar Messages

Multiple ipods on a windows xp machine

We have 3 different users on our pc, with 3 different itunes libraries and 3 different ipods (2 nano's & 1 viedo). Every thing has been working fine. My wife was charging her viedo ipod and ejected the unit. I think she then connected my daughters nano and apparently it now thinks it is our viedo ipod. The nano has all of her music on it and if you start my daughters itunes and connect the nano it displays it as the viedo ipod with its conetents. How do I get the nano to think it is the nano again?

See these articles about using more than one iPod on one computer, and with either one or more iTunes libraries.
Multiple iPod installations.
How to use multiple iPods with one computer.
If you have the latest iTunes, an easy way to create a new library is to hold down the 'alt' key whilst opening iTunes (for Macs), or hold down the 'shift' key (for Windows).
This will give you the option of either using the current iTunes library or creating a new one.
There are various methods of transferring different songs to different iPods with a single iTunes library.
One is to manage the songs manually.
With this setting, you can drag and drop songs/playlists etc onto the iPod from iTunes, and also delete and/or edit songs which are currently on the iPod without affecting the iTunes library.
If you wish to keep the convenience of automatic sync, then you could set the iPods to sync with "selected playlists". This setting can be found in the iPod summary screen under the 'music' tab. With this setting, different playlists can be transferred and later deleted from each iPod without affecting any playlists stored in iTunes or the playlists on the other iPods.
Also, on the 'summary' main page you will see the option to "only sync checked items". With this setting selected, if you remove the check marks from any songs in iTunes, they will not be transferred to the iPod. You can restore the check mark if you want to put the songs back on the iPod at a later date.
Be aware that when playing songs in iTunes, any songs that do not have a check mark against them will be skipped over and will not be played.

Multiple iPods on a Windows XP Pro networked computer

The school where I work is having a problem with multiple ipods on Windows networked computers.
Several of our students have been given 5G ipods. Each student has a network logon with a fairly restrictive mandatory profile.
The idea is that each student could log on, plug in their iPod and download the appropriate podcasts for their needs.
Here is the issue. The first student to log in plugged the iPod in and did all the setup work.
The next student logged in to that same computer and plugged in his iPod. The machine recognized it as teh iPod fom the first student.
Anyone have ideas why this would be? I have read the Apple papers on using multiple ipods on one machine and one of their suggestions is to create multiple logons, so this whole issue should not even arise.
Thanks

The next student logged in to that same computer and plugged in his iPod. The machine recognized it as teh iPod fom the first student.
those symptoms can be produced by the issue described in the following document:
Windows confuses iPod with network drive or hard drive and may keep iPod from mounting or songs may seem to disappear
(if that is what is going on, it would be a "doubled" version of the basic problem. you get an initial drive letter confusion. a copy of the ipod_control folder from the first ipod ends up on one of the drives as a result of the drive letter confusion. when the second ipod is plugged in, you get a second drive letter confusion, the PC sees the rogue ipod_control folder on the drive ... and it interprets the drive as the first ipod.)

Syncying multiple ipods to one windows pc

Hi,
What happens when you sync multiple ipod touchs to one windows pc ?
In particular what happens if all 3 of them have the same app in common (same version of Angry Birds for example) along with many different ones
Will i have 3 seperate versions/"copies" of the apps they have in common on my pc or will the later one over write the earlier one's?
Thanks in advance

This is a good resource:
How to use multiple iPods with one computer

Multiple iPods on Windows

Hello, I work at a Primary School and we've been working on getting a full set of iPods working so the kids can use them.
One of the problems I've been having is with trying to get them all to charge. We use Windows PC's at our school and I typically charge the iPods in groups of 5.
Problem is, when I plug the 5 iPods in through a hub (powered), some of them will work, the others will just turn on, display the Syncing message for about 3-5seconds and then turn off and reboot.
To get them working, I can plug them in one at a time, waiting about 3-5minutes between each iPod and even that doesn't always work.
I've ruled out the Hub as being the problem, as it works completely fine on my MacBook, I've tried a different hub (different brand) and it has the same problem.
From the looks of it, it appears to be a problem with Windows or the Laptop Hardware.
Has anyone got any suggestions as to what I could try to get this working?
Thanks,
Dustin

Nope, since you seem to have everything already solved and just posted this to play a troll game, I'll let you handle it.
Firstly, I have used powered hubs, not connected to the computer, to charge ipods. It depends upon the hub, has to be 2.0, has to be powered. Apparently the ones you are using will not do so. Your loss.
Second, and I'm not going to look it up, you can if you want, in the knowledge base it warns you not to connect more than one iPod to a Windows machine at one time. I guess if you manually assigned drive letters to each one through device manager it may work, but you risk corrupting the data on each one. And apparently it isn't working for you now.
Third, use Google and you can find charging stations that handle multiple iPods at once.
Other than that, not going to waste any more time on this.

Why does my Windows Vista computer say the wrong iPod Touch name? I have multiple iPod Touches and after updating one of them, Windows Explorer says they are all the same name now.

Sorry for the exceedingly long title...
I have multiple iPod touches, and I just updated one of them to the newest iOS (5.0.1). Now whenever I plug in any of the others, the name of the one I updated appears in Windows explorer. How can I make Windows able to determine which iPod is which again?
64 bit vista home premium.

iPod Classic are high drain USB devices, I hope you are not trying to connnect them simultaneously to iTunes, which will definitely hang your USB Host controller, thereby freeze iTunes.
But here is an Apple Support Article on using multiple iPods for iTunes.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495?viewlocale=en_US
Have nice day!

Ipod recognized by windows, not in itunes (multiple computers)

4th gen ipod click wheel + windows 2003 server w/ firewire and/or Vista notebook w/ USB + itunes 7.1.
Both of my Windows machines see the ipod fine. I made sure there are no drive letter conflicts.
Itunes just never recognizes the ipod. Strangely, if I run the ipod diagnostics all systems check out green. I can see the name and serial number of the ipod in the log and everything. I tried putting the ipod in disk mode and I still have the same issue.
Since itunes doesn't see it, I can't restore. Could I use Windows to reformat it?

Well, I decided that it couldn't hurt and went ahead and did a format of the drive from within Windows using the cmd prompt "format i: /x /fs:fat32"
When it was done, I unplugged it from USB, the ipod restarted and when I plugged it back in iTunes found it once again.
I'm back in business and someone might want to update a FAQ somewhere letting people know that formatting might help them too.

Multiple ipods belonging to multiple family members on one computer

How do I keep my family's libraries separate on one computer. I have been checking and unchecking songs each time I sync one of my children's ipods. It is driving me nuts. There has got to be a better way. My husbands library alone so far is 1300 songs. HELP!

When the iPods belong to different people, there are basically three ways of using multiple iPods on a computer and these involve:
a) Sharing a single iTunes library
b) Creating Multiple Libraries in a single user account
c) Creating multiple user accounts.
Note: When you are sharing an iTunes library, you don't have to set each iPod to update in the same manner, you can mix and match from the options below as each iPod has it's own update settings
Sharing a Library and/or User Account
If you want to share the one library, you can set either or all of the iPods so that they only get updated with only certain playlists (you can update from more than one if you wish): iPod - Syncing Music
Choosing the update option "Sync Music - Selected playlists" allows you to create a playlist specifically for the iPod and drag the tracks you want into it. If you tire of the list and want to change it, you just add or remove the songs you don't want. The ones you take out out remain in the library to be used some other time if you choose. You can read more about playlists at these links:
iTunes: Creating playlists of your favorite songs
How to create a Smart Playlist with iTunes
Or you can choose to update any or all of the iPods manually and just drag whatever content you want to them: Managing content manually on iPod and iPhone
Loading the iPod shuffle differs slightly but it can still be used with the others, for details have a look at this page: Adding songs to iPod shuffle - Windows
Multiple Libraries
It's also possible to have multiple libraries in a single account. To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Shift key in Windows when launching iTunes 7. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to the other Library.
Note: You can only have one Library open at a time and iTunes will default to the last library opened if you don't use the keyboard command to choose one. This can prove tricky when using multiple iPods, if you don't use the keyboard command you can risk syncing to the wrong library: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Windows
Separate User Accounts
Another option is to create a separate User account for each person on your PC or Mac. Different accounts by definition would give you completely separate libraries. Each account has it's own iTunes folder, Library and iTunes Music folder and you load it with CDs etc just as you did with your original one. The iPod can be set to update however the owner chooses, sync all, manual or sync specific playlists
I don't use Windows so I can't give you a step by step on that one, however I can point you to another web page which should help you out. You can read about Windows user accounts here:
Using Windows XP User Accounts
Create A New User Account In Vista

Multiple ipods on one computer

I have one PC running Windows 7 and 2 children each with their own ipod touch. How do I set things up to permit them to have seperate libraries and to be able to sync to their own library.

See:
How to use multiple iPods, iPads, or iPhones with one computer
What is the best way to manage multiple...: Apple Support Communities

Multiple iPods on one computer question

Hello,
I know this question has been asked already and I've read all the help topics about multiple iPods.
I've tried twice to use two iPods on one computer and it was not as easy as described. I'm just wondering if I'm doing something wrong.
The first time I tried was on a PC running XP with two iPod minis. I had seperate user accounts and it kept erasing all the songs in one account.
The other situation was on a different PC running XP Pro with a shuffle and a 30gig photo.
I had my 30gig for about a year and as soon as I plugged in my shuffle it didn't recognize it and the next time I plugged in my 30 gig photo it froze and I had to end up doing the hard reset for it.
Tomorrow I am about to try a PC running XP with a shuffle, nano, and a video iPod.
I've read the two ways to do it and am going to try the specific playlist option.
I'm worried that as soon as I plug in the second iPod it will freeze and I won't be able to even get to the "iPod Option" Button in iTunes.
The computer is not mine nor are the music devices. I'm doing it for a friend who doesn't understand computers that well. All devices are new, never used.
Is it as easy as the process sounds?
Also the last time I tried multiple iPods was at least two iTunes updates ago.
Thanks for any help,
Chris
PC and iMac Intel Windows XP Pro

Hello!
Let me explain this in detail for you:
The Do Not Disconnect screen
It is normal for your iPod to say this message to you when you connect it to your computer.
When you need to disconnect it from your computer, you'll first need to eject it.
There are a few ways to eject your iPod; through iTunes, the Safely Remove Hardware program, and "My Computer".
Through iTunes
Ejecting your iPod via iTunes depends on what setting your iPod is on for.
Connect your iPod. Go into Edit> preferences> iPod. See what setting your iPod is on; "automatic" or "manual".
Automatic
If you aren't restoring, or updating your iPod, iTunes should automatically eject your iPod from iTunes. If it doesn't, then right-click the name of your iPod in iTunes, and make sure that the "enable for disk use" is un-checked.
Manual
If you need to eject your iPod from iTunes if the setting is "manual", click the little arrow that's next to the name of your iPod in the left source list in iTunes.
Through the "Safely Remove Hardware" program
Look at the bottom-right corner of your screen, and there's the system tray icons there. If the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon is there, click on it, select your iPod, and click "stop".
Through "My Computer"
Go to "My Computer".
Find your iPod's listing there (it's typically "E:" or "F:").
Right-click it, click on "eject".
For additional information about ejecting your iPod, check this Apple Support articles about it.
Safely disconnecting your iPod
About the "Do Not Disconnect" and "OK to Disconnect" screens on iPod
Any more questions? I'll be glad to try to help you again.
~~Kylene

Help! syncing multiple ipods on same computer!

i will soon have two different ipods syncing to the same computer. how can i keep libraries separate so that my brother's music doesn't show up on my ipod and my music doesn't get synced to his?
iPod Video 30GB Windows XP

There are basically two methods for managing multiple iPods on one computer. See here:
Method 1 - Create different Windows users accounts for each iPod on this computer.
Method 2 - Create a playlist in iTunes for each iPod.
To make Method 2 work, connect one of your iPods, and click on it in the left-source panel.
Under the "Music" tab, and set your option for a specific playlist(s) under the "Sync Music" option.
Do the same with your other iPod; not connected at the same time as the other one, though.
For more details on this matter, check out Apple's Support article about it:
How to manage multiple iPods using one computer
I hope that helps you.
-Kylene

Multiple ipods on same pc?

I have 3 ipods on the same computer. how do I set them up so they each have their own itunes library - i.e. so they don't necessarily share songs? It's a problem because they have different gb's. my running ipod has only 8 gb, my home ipod has 160, and itouch 16 gb. I now have more than 8 gb music in my library, and thus running ipod doesn't have room for my playlists.

There are several different ways to use two or more iPods with one computer. iTunes will recognise each device that you add and they will have each their own individual settings. Have a look at this help page for suggestions and choose the method that suits you best: How to use multiple iPods with one computer
If you particularly want to have separate libraries you can use that method if you wish. To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Shift key in Windows when launching iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to the other Library.
Note: You can only have one Library open at a time and iTunes will default to the last library opened if you don't use the keyboard command to choose one. The new library will be empty until you add content to it. To get back to your original library you need to close iTunes and open it again while holding down the shift key, this time choose to open an existing library and navigate to its location. Multiple libraries can prove tricky when using multiple iPods, if you don't use the keyboard command you can risk syncing to the wrong library: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Windows
You can mitigate the risk by switching off auto-sync and sync the iPod yourself after you are connected. Open iTunes first and go to Edit>Preferences>Devices and check the box "Prevent iPods and iPhones from syncing automatically" and choose Ok. Then connect your iPod.

Multiple Ipods on One PC

Can i use two different ipods on the same Itunes or PC.
I already have one and want to get one for my partner for Xmas, but i only have one PC. I have heard stories of only being able to register one Ipod with each Itunes
Windows XP

This should help:
How to use multiple iPods with one computer
Forum Tip: Since you're new here, you've probably not discovered the Search feature available on every Discussions page, but next time, it might save you time (and everyone else from having to answer the same question multiple times) if you search a couple of ways for a topic, both in the relevant forums, in the User Tips Library and in the Apple Knowledge Base before you post a question.
Regards.

Multiple ipods

i have an ipod and would like to get one for my daughter for her birthday. But I need to find out if more then one ipod can be uploaded from my computer because we only have one PC. We all have user accounts but i wasn't sure if we could use multiple ipods on one computer.
ipod nano Windows XP

Hi Jim,
Welcome to Apple Discussions
This should answer your question:
How to use multiple iPods with one computer
Regards,
Colin R.

Multiple iPods on One Vista Computer

I just got a new 3rd generation nano and I'm trying to use both my 2nd and 3rd generation nano on my Vista computer. I want to have different music on each iPod but can't figure out how to do this. Any suggestions? Thanks...

You can set either or both of the iPods so that they only get updated with only certain playlists (you can update from more than one if you wish): Loading songs onto iPod automatically - Windows
Choosing the update option "Sync Music - Selected playlists" allows you to create a playlist specifically for the iPod and drag the tracks you want into it. If you tire of the list and want to change it, you just add or remove the songs you don't want. The ones you take out out remain in the library to be used whenever you choose. You can also sync from any existing playlists by choosing the same setting, you just need to make sure that the size of the playlists don't exceed the capacity of your iPod. You can read more about playlists at these links:
iTunes: Creating playlists of your favorite songs
How to create a Smart Playlist with iTunes
Or you can choose to update any either or both of the iPods manually and just drag whatever content you want to them:
Managing content manually on iPod
iPod 101: Fill 'er Up
Something to be aware of however when using an iPod in manual mode is that the "Do Not Disconnect" message will remain on the display until you physically eject the device. In that case use Safely Remove Hardware icon in the Windows system tray on your desktop or check this link: Safely Disconnect IPod
You can read more about using multiple iPods on this page: How to use multiple iPods with one computer

Multiple ipods on 1 Windows PC

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