One iPod shuffle on two computers

Is there any way to use my iPod shuffle both on my desktop Mac and my iBook? Take this scenario: I fill my iPod shuffle about half full of music on my Mac Mini. Then, I grab my iBook and go on the road. While on vacation, I buy a new CD, or perhaps purchase a few songs from the iTunes music store. I import the CD into my iBook, and then wish to put it, or the purchased music, on my iPod shuffle. If I connect the shuffle to the iBook, it'll say something about the shuffle being linked to a different library and that continuing would wipe all the music off of it! All other iPod's I've used can be put into "manual" mode and this works fine, not to mention songs can be played directly from the iPod - the shuffle has to "think different" it seems. Is there a way to actually accomplish this, or would I then be forced to wait until I get home to load more music on the shuffle?
I can hear someone already saying, just use your iBook for all your music. Nope, because I don't want to take out my iBook every time I want to listen to some music, nor do I want to manually be shuffling songs back and forth between iTunes libraries.

The conspiracy theory for not having "manual" mode on the shuffle is that it's the cheapest iPod and "manual" mode somehow makes it easier to copy music from the shuffle to the host computer. I find that unlikely because it's just easy to get music of all the iPod models as long as you know what you're doing.
There are progams that let you update the shuffle manually. They are easier than the alternative (copy the files to the iBook, load them into iTunes, update the iPod with the songs).

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Using iPod Shuffle with TWO computers

I have two laptops (one Powerbook and one iBook) and would like to use my iPod Shuffle with both computers, downloading music from the iTunes of each computer. Is that possible or will it always make me choose which iTunes I am linked to and delete all the music from the other one?

You can set your iPod shuffle up to mount as a disk on the desktop, and copy data files that can be transported from one computer to another. You aren't going to be able to use the shuffle to sync music from one iTunes account and another, however. It was only designed to work with one computer/one iTunes at a time.

How do you sync ipod shuffle to two computers?

Hi, i recently got a 1gb iPod shuffle (green) for Christmas and i started loading songs on it. Everything seems well when i synced the iPod to my desktop but when i went to my laptop to try and add songs it says some thing like " ( THE NAME OF MY IPOD ) has already been synced to a computer and you can only sync an ipod to one computer at a time. You can erase your the contents of your ipod and sync your ipod to this computer" Then i either press cancel or Yes/Erase.
I really need help as i will need to go back and forth between computers. I have itunes version 8.
please help me!

Oh ok i just found out an alternative but it ***** that apple made it like that.
I read this somewhere: Enable disk use on for my shuffle, set a reasonable amount and then go to the other computer i want to get songs from then drag them to the ipod shuffle. Then go back to the computer where i would sync my ipod and transfer the files into itunes. Then sync to my ipod.
Thanks for you help though .

I want to use my iPod shuffle with two computers I have at home: my laptop and my desktop. How do I do this?

I have an iPod shuffle. On the Apple Help it says that the iPod can be used with more than one library. Is this true? I have a laptop with a library on it and a desktop with another library.

I believe it's true for the 3rd and 4th generation iPod Shuffle, but not for the earlier generations.
B-rock

Sorting out my new macbook, one ipod, music on two computers?

I would like to keep my old G4 as my designated music/itunes machine but have my music also on my new macbook (for work, using in keynote, etc.). I assume I can just move my music to my new machine and every few months do it again when I have a lot of new music. Do I have drm issues with this approach?
The ipod will only be connected to the old machine, if I did not make that clear.
Is this best accomplished by just moving the whole Itunes folder? Thanks for your advice.

Copy the whole iTunes folder. This brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the same location on the other computer. This has to be the exact same place, on a Mac this would be in Username/Music/. Everything has to be exactly the same on the new computer including the Mac user account name. When you open iTunes on the new computer it will be the same as on the original one Songs, Playlists, Play Counts, Ratings etc. You should also use the same version of iTunes on both computers. Don't forget that you'll need to authorise your other computer to play your purchases: About iTunes Music Store Authorisation and Deauthorisation

I have one ipod shuffle synced on my computer but it won't let me sync a second one. Device isn't recognized and device icon doesn't show up in itunes

I have one ipod shuffle synced in itunes on my computer but it won't even recognize a second ipod

Is the second iPod also a shuffle, or is it a "big" iPod? If they are both shuffles, what are the two shuffle types? This document shows the four types of shuffles.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1719

One wireless keyboard with two computers?

This has already been asked probably but there is no specific area for Apple's new wireless keyboard (aluminum).. so here it goes:
I have a desk with a MAC MINI and a monitor on it. (currently wired keyboard, wired mouse)
Planning to buy the wireless keyboard.
I also have an additional spare monitor on my desk so it would be nice if I could just plug that into my MACBOOK and use the wireless keyboard from the Mini to wake it from sleep.
Somehow tell the keyboard (and mouse...) to control the other computer
One keyboard and one mouse on desk -- two computers. Can this be done?
Greg

I'm in the same boat with you on this one. I have to unpair it with one before it will pair with the other. Too much to fiddle with just to reduce clutter on the desk. I eagerly await someone's creative solution.

I have three computers backing up onto the same Time Machine. The Hard drive of one has now failed, and I'd like to restore certain items (principally photographs) to one of the other two computers. How can I do this?

I have three computers backing up onto the same Time Machine. The Hard drive of one has now failed, and I'd like to restore certain items (principally photographs) to one of the other two computers. How can I do this?

"You can also browse the original backup disk for past backups by using "Browse other Time Machine Disks"--to see this choice, hold the Option key then click the Time Machine menu in the Finder (to see the menu, "Show Time Machine status in the menu bar" must be selected in Time Machine preferences."
Mac 101: Time Machine

Two computers, one ipod shuffle

Can I use my shuffle to carry itunes back and forth from home to my work computer? I installed Itunes on my work computer today, thinking I could just treat my ipod as a storage device, dragging my library off the ipod over to the work desktop. it didn't work. can I do it? how?
thanks for the guidance...

Ron,
Don't know if this helps, but I have a similar problem. I just want to connect my shuffle to two different computers. There's quite a few articles that make it clear that the shuffle can only be associated with one at a time, so when you plug it in to one computer you have to lose all the data you had on it from before. That's a pain but if that's how it works, I can live with it. But after I move the shuffle over it all looks ok in iTunes but then, like you, I get no audio.
I did make it recover from this once but wasn't really sure how. I'd be interested if you got any further with your problem.

I have two Ipod shuffles on two different computers and now have a third. How can I hook up all the shuffles to download music I have stored from my main computer? One of the shuffles is registere on the main system, the second on my lap top and the t.

I have 2 ipod shuffles and one nano. One of the shuffles is registered on the main computer, the second on my laptop. the nano I just got. Can I download music from my main system even though my second is registered on the laptop, or does all my stuff have to be registered on my main system?

If those older shuffles work and have the songs on them...
For songs purchased from the iTunes Store, you can use iTunes to transfer from iPod to computer. The command (in the current version of iTunes) is at
iTunes Menu Bar -> File -> Devices -> Transfer Purchases from [name of iPod]
However, you may need to have your current computer authorized with the Apple ID (iTunes Store account) used to make the purchase. If you do not, the purchases from that Apple ID may not transfer.
There are third-party methods and utiltiies (not using iTunes) to transfer song files from iPod to computer. These should not care about Apple ID or that a particular song was purchased from iTunes Store or not. If you do a Google search on something like "ipod transfer," you should get some links.
Once the song files from the two older shuffles are transferred to your computer, you can add those songs to your iTunes library. Then, sync your 4th gen shuffle from the "consolidated" iTunes library.

Can't manually update shuffle on two computers.

I have my music on two computers. One is my Mac at home; the other is a Windows machine at work (all my own music). My computer at home was originally used to load some songs onto my Suffle. Sometimes I download a podcast at work and want to listen to it on my way home from my Shuffle, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to manually load a single song onto the Shuffle at work without redisignating the work computer as the computer associated with this iPod and erasing all the songs.
Nowhere can I find the "manual update" option that everyone talks about in the software. It just isnt' there!
Of course, I know I'm missing something, which is why I'm posting to the forum.

I think I finally found the answer to my question from reading several other posts on this matter. I've learned that the Shuffle is different than at least some other iPods in that it is NOT able to be loaded with songs from more than one computer. It can only be linked to a single computer, unlike other iPods which actually can be loaded with songs from multiple computers.
At least I feel better, knowing that I wasn't overlooking something that was there.

Sharing my Ipod classic with two computers

Does anyone know why my Ipod classic will not syncronize it starts and 30 sec.later it ejects. I down loaded a couple songs off Itunes and now it will not sync. I also created a new playlist. can you down load on two different computers? I also upgraded to 9.? Thanks

I believe it's true for the 3rd and 4th generation iPod Shuffle, but not for the earlier generations.
B-rock

Can you have more than one iPod shuffle in one copy of iTune

Hi,
I've bought an iPod shuffle each for my two daughters, since they live with their mum I won't be able to set them up for them, anyway, they will be using them on a W2K PC, I am wondering, can you have two iPods set up on the one copy as it were, of iTunes?
Someone at the Apple store said they'll have to set up two windows users (they all share one login) and login separately, in order for their two libraries to remain separate, with their two ipods? Or is it as simple as creating two libraries, and naming the two iPods separately?

Hi Angela.
Welcome to discussions. If you want to ask a question which is totally different from the one which started the topic, then it is best to start a new topic. That way you stand more chance of getting an answer more quickly.
Plug your shuffle in. Open iTunes (it will probably open automatically). The shuffle will appear in the source list of iTunes. Click the name of your shuffle (in the list). There is a grey bar (at the bottom of iTunes). Make sure that "replace all songs when Autofilling" and "choose songs randomly" are not selected. Then just put the songs on the shuffle that you want and delete any that are already on there that you don't( drag and drop / delete). Then the next time you plug it in, it won't make any changes automatically.
Basically as long as you never push autofill, then your shuffle should not start doing things of its own accord. So just get the songs you want on there via the drag and drop method (the only method for manual selection). Then never push autofill again.

IPod shuffle and other computers

Dear All
Once the sync process is complete with one computer, can the iPod Shuffle be used to copy music from other computers that have not been synchronised with the it? And can one only work with the Shuffle with the computer with which it has been synchronised?
thank you
veedeekay

An iPod shuffle can only contain content from one iTunes library at a time. Content placed onto it through the Finder or Windows Explorer doesn't count toward the limit but can't be played on it.
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Shuffle on two computers

I have an iPod shuffle that I would like to bring to work so I can listen to it on my computer (PC). I sync the shuffle at home (PC). Is it possible for me to listen to my shuffle on my work computer? Both computers are using iTunes 7.0. Thanks!
Windows XP Pro

The number five is the number of computers you can play music which you purchased from the iTunes Store. It has nothing to do with iPods.
You can only manage music on an iPod shuffle from one iTunes library on a computer. You need to ensure that computer has all the music you want. Once it is on that computer you can manage the contents of your iPod shuffle easily.
If the music is on another computer you need to find a way of transferring the music files to your computer. You could burn them to disc and then add them to iTunes on your computer.

One iPod shuffle on two computers

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