New computer & laptop

Question

I have one computer at work that my music file is on because I needed a new one at home. I now have a new computer & laptop at home and I want the same library that I have on computer #1. How do I get my computers to be in sync? I have XP at work and Vista at home.

Answer 1

You can't "sync" that is automatically update an iPod from multiple libraries or computers. If you want to connect and use an iPod on more than one computer you need to change the update preference in the iPod Summary tab to "Manually manage music and videos" and click Apply. In this mode you can directly access the content of the iPod and play it through iTunes and you can drag and drop whatever you want to the iPod from either library:
Using iPod with Multiple computers
Managing content manually on iPod
iPod 101: Fill 'er Up
Something else to be aware of 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
If you want to copy the content of your iPod to your new computer there are a few things you can do. The transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod to a computer
The transfer of content from other sources such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can read reviews of some of them here: Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
TuneJack Windows Only
iPod2PC Windows Only
iGadget Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
SharePod Windows Only
iRepo Mac and Windows
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows
There is also a manual method of accessing the iPod's hard drive and copying songs back to iTunes on Windows or a Mac. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available at this link: Two-way Street: Moving Music Off the iPod