Strange sync behavior -- Itunes wants to sync music on two computers!

I use my iphone to keep contacts and calendars synced between my office and home computers, which it does nicely (asking me each time I switch machines whether I want to merge or replace the data--to which I always reply merge).
I thought Itunes was NOT supposed to be able to sync music with more than one computer--that it was supposed to produce a message saying, "The iPhone "xx" is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library?" And then let me opt out of syncing the music, while still merging the calendar and contacts files. That's exactly what happened with my previous office computer.
Since setting up my new office computer, however, Itunes on both computers WANTS to sync the music on each. That would be fine, if it were syncing my music BETWEEN the two computers (leaving me the same tunes on each computer and on the iphone), but it's not--instead it's alternatively syncing with one and then the other, removing stuff I bought at home every time I sync at the office. If I try to tell the office computer NOT to sync the music, it warns me that that would mean erasing everything on the iphone.
Anyone have any ideas about what's going on here and how I can correct it?
Thanks!

No, unfortunately you can't sync your music from your iPhone to your computer.
I'd suggest using and external disk to transfer your music from your XP system to your new MBP. You'll just have to authorize your account in iTunes when you first play the songs.
If you have an iPod, you can use that as a disk to transfer the music: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93651 or you can use any other hard disk.
Once you have the songs on your Mac, just sync. The songs on currently on your iPhone will be replaced with the ones in your iTunes Library, as you stated.

Similar Messages

I need to sync my iPhone to new user id on the same mac. How do I keep my iPhone contacts and music library? I tried to sync and iTunes wanted to erase both.

I need to sync my iPhone to new user id on the same mac. How do I keep my iPhone contacts and music library? I tried to sync and iTunes wanted to erase both.

When you say a new user ID, are you referring to your Apple ID that you use to make purchases in the iTunes Store, etc? Or are you talking about a new user account on the same Mac?
iTunes alternatives
http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/index.php
http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/
http://www.copytrans.net/

I purchased two songs on my iphone and it did sync with itunes. Then i put the two new songs in a music folder and it won't sync the songs to the folder on my iphone. same phone same computer never had this problem before.

i purchased two songs on my iphone and it did sync with itunes. Then i put the two new songs in a music folder and it won't sync the songs to the folder on my iphone. same phone same computer never had this problem before.

In iTunes, try signing out of your Apple ID & then back in: click on iTunes Store on the left sidebar of iTunes, click on your Apple ID on the top right, sign out, sign back in. Then try to sync your purchased music to your phone again.

I moved my music from the c drive to the d drive. All of my music is in itunes but my ipod won't sync with itunes. The syncing process is taking much longer than usual too. I left my ipod over night to sync and it didnt finish. Fails to sync every time.

I moved my music from the c drive to the d drive. All of my music is in itunes but my ipod won't sync with itunes. The syncing process is taking much longer than usual too. I left my ipod over night to sync and it didnt finish. Fails to sync every time. I tried to restore my ipod and it didnt help.

Ignore. I figured it out:)

I got a new iphone- went to sync with itunes just to get music and it restored my phone to my old phone's settings. Lost everything I put on it this weekend (including ALL my pics). Is there any way to unsync it so I can get all of that back?

I got a new iphone- went to sync with itunes just to get music and it restored my phone to my old phone's settings. lost everything including ALL of my pictures. Is there any way to unsync my phone so I can get everything back?!!! please say yes!!!!

In short. No, you cannot unsync. If you had a back up from your old iPhone you cand restore from a back up.
In iTunes go to Edit > Preferences > Devices > and select the latest back up.
Before you synced your phone did you have it set up with the PhotoStream or iCloud? The pictures would be saved there. Or if you had them sync to a file on your computer.

Why the **** can I only sync my phone with one itunes program. Perhaps I have two computers with music on them that i'd like to add to my iphone,ipad,itouch,ipod. Fix this please thanks.

Why the **** can I only sync my phone with one itunes program. Perhaps I have two computers with different music on both of them that i'd like to add to my iphone,ipad,itouch,ipod. Fix this please thanks.

Becasue that is the way the ****** iphone is designed.
You can only sync with one ******computer.
There is nothing to ****** fix.
It is the ****** design of the iphone. It is ****** by design.

My iPad will not charge, it can sync to iTunes and transfer data/music to it, but when plugged in to a USB or an A/C wall adapter all it says is not charging.

My iPad will not charge, it can sync to iTunes and transfer data/music to it, but when plugged in to a USB or an A/C wall adapter all it says is not charging.

A lot of computers (especially older ones) generally do not provide enough power to their USB ports to charge the iPad at a sufficient rate - it may still be charging slowly, and should be a bit quicker if the iPad's screen is off (if you leave it for a while and then disconnect it from your computer you may find that it's battery percentage has gone up). The wall charger is usually the most efficient way to charge the iPad.
In terms of the wall charger, have you tried a different charger and/or cable, or do you know anybody else with an iPad so that you can try their charger and cable and they can try yours ?
Have you tried a reset to see if it charges after the iPad has restarted ? Press and hold both the sleep and home buttons for about 10 to 15 seconds (ignore the red slider), after which the Apple logo should appear - you won't lose any content, it's the iPad equivalent of a reboot.

Need solution for the following sync error: "iTunes could not sync calendars to the iPad "iPad name" because an error occurred while sending data from the iPad"

Need solution for the following sync error: "iTunes could not sync calendars to the iPad "iPad name" because an error occurred while sending data from the iPad"

I want to add that I deleted all the old back-ups and created a new back-up without any issues except sync problem.

I have two apple ID's on my laptop, one is mine and one is my roomates, I recently restored my ipod and now when I try to sync to itunes it says sync will complete ones a song is available, what do I do?

I have two apple ID's on my laptop, one is mine and one is my roommate, I recently restored my iPod and now when I try to sync to iTunes it says sync will complete ones a song is available, what do I do?

Try syncing songs one at a time to see if there is a problem song(s).
Do the songs play in iTunes on the computer?

HT1449 how do you move all music from two computers into one itunes account?

How do you move all music from two computers into one itunes account?

An "iTunes account" is an online account you use for buying music, like a bank account. An iTunes collection is the media you see when you open iTunes. Which do you mean?
If it is two computers, it would also help to know where these are located. Are they on the same local network? If they are, try Home Sharing (and you have control of both and you aren't just trying to get music fro your computer to your friend's computer in another state). If they are not, you'll have to use an external hard drive or flash drive.
Is this on a PC? Your computer information says Windows but you posted this in the iTunes for Mac forum.

Loaded music on two computers - how do I get both libraries in my ipod?

loaded music on two computers - how do I get both libraries in my ipod?
Started Itunes on my home computer and added some CDs that were made from old albums and I had to manually inpt titles..then took a stack on a trip and did the same on my laptop. But when I tried to update my Ipod with the laptop it asked did I want to replace the library.
Can't my Ipod be updated from more than one source?
Maybe 50 yrs old is too old for an ipod:)
Thanks,

Maybe 50 yrs old is too old for an ipod:)
Nope, not at all and you're getting help from a 40 yr old
This link will tell you how to do what you wanting to do
Use an iPod with multiple libraries
Good luck

Restored iTunes wants to sync old image of iPhone

My harddrive crashed. Bought a new one and restored from iDrive the last version of my iTunes library (several months old). When I try to sync my iPhone apps, by selecting the Sync Apps check box, the current image of my iPhone applications screens (OS 4.0.2 organized by folders) disappears and iTunes displays the several month old version of my applications (pre OS 4.0.2, no folders). I want iTunes to just refresh my apps on my iPhone and backup the current image. I have succesfully synced my iPhone, with Sync Apps unchecked. That sync appeared to backup the phone, but iTunes still changes to view/image of my applications to the old version when I check Sync Apps.

Even more curious, there's no music on my iPod, but when I look in the files on the iPod, the music is still there. I'm not sure as to what I do next, do I delete the music or no?
Also, music + videos = 40 gb. I'm assuming there's some duplicates somewhere on my iPod?

ITunes wants to sync 2 audio files to my iPhone

Hello, recently i've downloaded 2 songs from iTunes store using my iPhone. These songs have been downloaded on my mac as well. After a couple of days i've deleted them from my iPhone using iTunes via wi-fi because i didn't want them to be on my phone. Now, every time i connect to wi-fi in my home network they are put in queue for sync by iTunes even though they won't be synced if i press SYNC. Is that normal?

Restore the data you backed up from your old computer to the new one. It will still need to erase your phone to set up a new sync relationship, but since you will already have restored all your iTunes media, contacts, etc. you can just sync it all back to the phone.
If you did NOT back up your old computer, you can transfer purchased items from your phone to iTunes. You can transfer contacts to a supported address book on the new machine by making sure you have at least one entry in the address book on the computer BEFORE you attempt to set up the sync relationship. You can transfer photos in the camera roll the same as you would from any other digital camera. If you have anything else on the phone (photos, music ripped from CDs, etc.) you're going to have to resort to 3rd party software to try and extract them from the phone. This software is not sanctioned by Apple and is generally NOT free.
The iPhone is NOT a backup device.

Music on two computers - really want to sync or download from both, but how

Like many people, I have a computer at work with much music on it, and a computer at home with even more music on it. I use iTunes on both. I recently bought an iPhone 3G and synced it with my work computer which has my email and schedule etc. Also synced iTunes. Now at home, it says it will erase everything if I sync up iTunes. Even when I check manual downloading, and click "apply" it says it will erase the music library in the phone if I continue. This makes no sense at all, since much of the universe now has separate computers at work and home.
How do I solve this dual syncing problem? Thanks!

You can always use a disk or portable drive to transfer music between PCs and import into one of your iTunes libraries. Then sync music with that one computer.

I lost my hardrive, got new computer, tried to sync with itunes and my personal music (not purchased) does not show up. Do i have to re-download all my personal music once again?

I lost my hardrive, got new computer, reloaded itunes, tried to sync with ipod nano and only my purchased music shows up - how do I get my downloaded music back. message says ipod is sync'd with other library - the one I lost on my old computer! Help!

Sue,
I recommend an external drive to maintain your music. All your purchases are held in iCloud...so redownloading should be easy. Also, Home sharing is a great way to transfer to a new computer, but in the case of hard drive failure your options are limited. Home sharing is specifically for transferring to another pc. Good luck!

Strange sync behavior -- Itunes wants to sync music on two computers!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for