Syncing iTunes to iphone from 2 computers

I have the same iTunes login name on 2 computers but they both have different music. When I go to select manually manage music it tell me, "The iphone is synced to another iTunes Library. Would you like to erase and sync to this library?" I would like to add songs from both computers as one is my work computer and the other is my personal computer. Is there a way this is possible?

Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
Although it isn't possible to sync an Apple device with two different libraries it is possible to sync with the same logical library from multiple computers. Each library has an internal ID and when iTunes connects to your iPod/iPad/iPhone it compares the local ID with the one the device normally syncs with. If they are the same you can go ahead and sync...
I have my library cloned to a small 1Tb USB drive which I can take between home & work. At either location I use SyncToy 2.1 (a Windows tool, Carbon Copy Cloner should do the same job on OS X) to update the local copy with the external drive. I can open either of the local libraries or the one on the external drive and update the media content of my iPhone. The slight exception is Photos which normally connects to a specific folder on a specific machine, although that can easily be remapped to the current library if you create a "Photos" folder inside the iTunes Media folder so that syncing the iTunes folders keeps this up to date as well. I periodically sweep my library for new files & orphans with iTunes Folder Watch (a Windows tool, Doug's Scripts has similar tools) just in case I make changes at one location but then overwrite the library with a newer copy from the other.
As long as your media is organised within an iTunes Music or Tunes Media folder, in turn held inside the main iTunes folder that has your library files (whether or not you let iTunes keep the media folder organised) each library can access items at the same relative path from the library folder so the library can be at different drives/paths on different machines. This solution ensures I always have adequate backups of my library and I can update my devices whenever I can connect to the same build of iTunes.
When working with an iPhone earlier builds of iTunes would remove any file not physically present in the local library, even if there was an entry for it, making manual management practically redundant on the iPhone. This behaviour has been changed but it will still only permit manual management with a library that has the correct internal ID. If you don't want to sync your library between machines on a regular basis just copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the current "home" machine to any other you want to use, then clean out the library entires and import the local content you have on that box. Alternatively see this thread which describes how to clone your LibraryPersistentID.
tt2

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Sync problem, cannot sync apps to iPhone from iTunes. i did it before. but now it just take backup.

sync problem, cannot sync apps to iPhone from iTunes. i did it before. but now it just take backup. anyone plz help...

Connect & select iPhone in iTunes Sudebar (iTunes > View > Show Sidebar), in Music tap (right pane top), select Sync Music and the music you want on iPhone then click Apply button (bottom right).
http://support.apple.com/kb/VI72

Manually managing music on iPhone from multiple computers

Everything I've read 'claims' this can be but I don't think the people who tell you how to do it even bother to see what happens. This is one of the things that really frustrate me about forums. It's the complete lack of thoroughness of the people who reply to a question without knowing the outcome.
It's a simple task. I want to be able to move music from multitple computers to my iPhone. When I go into iTunes and select the device, in my case it's the iPhone, and check the box to manually manage music and videos then click 'apply' I get a warning that everything is going to be erased from the phone. WTH!?! And no one on ANY forum who suggests this is the proper way manually managing music even has a solution to be able to do this WITHOUT erasing the phone.
C'mon Apple. It's a SIMPLE drag-n-drop implementation. How hard can it be? I'm not the least interested in syncing with some music library on the computer. In fact I don't even sync my phone with the iTunes Library. It's a waste of time because I can't even selectively sync music. It's either all or nothing. STUPID. I simply want to move music on and off the phone. You know, drag into the window to add and drag off to remove. And I want to be able to do it from any computer I want that's running iTunes. I shouldn't have to copy music from a different computer, carry it home and add it from the home system. That completely defeats the concept of portability. And if my home computer happens to go south for some reason then what? Even if I have all my music backed up, I have to wipe out all my music on the phone and start all over because I'm now using a different computer. Who was the genius that came up with that ludicrous idea?
Apple you really need to take a page from Sandisk and allow iPhones to be treated as external drives so we can drag and drop our music onto them. No muss no fuss. Simple and clean with no hair pulling. It's already established the you create some very pretty devices. Now let's work on improving usability. Because the way I see it, it's a bit backwards.

Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
Although it isn't possible to sync an Apple device with two different libraries it is possible to sync with the same logical library from multiple computers. Each library has an internal ID and when iTunes connects to your iPod/iPad/iPhone it compares the local ID with the one the device normally syncs with. If they are the same you can go ahead and sync...
I have my library cloned to a small 1Tb USB drive which I can take between home & work. At either location I use SyncToy 2.1 to update the local copy with the external drive. Mac users should be able to find similar tools. I can open either of the local libraries or the one on the external drive and update the media content of my iPhone. The slight exception is Photos which normally connects to a specific folder on a specific machine, although that can easily be remapped to the current library if you create a "Photos" folder inside the iTunes Media folder so that syncing the iTunes folders keeps this up to date as well. I periodically sweep my library for new files & orphans with iTunes Folder Watch just in case I make changes at one location but then overwrite the library with a newer copy from the other. Again Mac users should be able to find similar tools.
As long as your media is organised within an iTunes Music or Tunes Media folder, in turn held inside the main iTunes folder that has your library files (whether or not you let iTunes keep the media folder organised) each library can access items at the same relative path from the library folder so the library can be at different drives/paths on different machines. This solution ensures I always have adequate backups of my library and I can update my devices whenever I can connect to the same build of iTunes.
When working with an iPhone earlier builds of iTunes would remove any file not physically present in the local library, even if there was an entry for it, making manual management practically redundant on the iPhone. This behaviour has been changed but it will still only permit manual management with a library that has the correct internal ID. If you don't want to sync your library between machines on a regular basis just copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the current "home" machine to any other you want to use, then clean out the library entires and import the local content you have on that box.
tt2

Purchased songs wont sync to my iphone from my imac--shows grayed checkmark

purchased songs wont sync to my iphone from my imac--shows grayed checkmarks for each one

If the songs are greyed out, you may have set up automatic syncing with a different iTunes library.
Set your iPod to sync manually, as described here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12113
After syncing once with your current iTunes library, you can set it back to autimatic sync.

Unable to sync audiobooks to iphone from computer

unable to sync audiobooks to iphone from computer

Hi Betty,
Do you see a iTunes sync alert when the issue occurs? Try following along with the instructions in the article below to verify the audiobook syncing is setup correctly in iTunes.
iTunes 11 for Windows: Add iBooks and audiobooks to iPod, iPhone, or iPad
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13698
You can download iBooks to your computer and use iTunes to sync them to your iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad. You can also use iTunes to sync audiobooks to your iPod or iOS device.
Sync iBooks or audiobooks to your device
Connect your device to your computer and select your device in iTunes.
Click the Books button.
Do either or both of the following:
Sync iBooks: Select Sync Books, then click “All books,” or click “Selected books” and select the iBooks you want to add.
Sync audiobooks: Select Sync Audiobooks, then click “All audiobooks,” or click “Selected audiobooks” and select the audiobooks you want to add.
Click Apply.
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Why won't my music sync to my iPhone from iTunes?!?

I have been having such a hard problem with syncing my music from iTunes (which is up to date) to my iPhone 4S (which is also up to date). I have tried restoring my phone three times. It's recently backed up. All my music was wiped from my phone, on my phone it says it has 8.1 GB of free space. But on iTunes the bar (that informs you what takes up space on your device) tells me that there's music synced to the phone and its taking up 6.36 GB. But in Music on my phone it says there's "No Content"!!! I've tried to sync it repeatedly. I've tried unchecking the music box syncing it and then checking it again and syncing it. And every couple attempted syncs iTunes will say its syncing my music and then on the fourth or fifth song cancels the sync. There's definitely enough space on my 16GB phone, I don't know whats going on! I just want my music back!!! (Also, most of the music might not be directly bought from Apple, if you get my drift. )

I found the route of the problem! All the songs under 'On This Phone' are completely grayed out! The only question is now how do I ungray them???

Why won't music sync onto my iphone from itunes?

I recently had to restore my iPhone.
I backed it up, but my music won't sync.
please help, i've spent hundreds of dollars on music.
all my music is stored on itunes, but it wont sync.
thanks.

Hello annalisahansolo
If you are not able to sync, check to make sure that all the settings are correct be referencing the following two articles based on your operating system.
iTunes 11 for Windows: Set up syncing for iPod, iPhone, or iPad
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12313
iTunes 11 for Mac: Set up syncing for iPod, iPhone, or iPad
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12113
Also if you have purchased that music through iTunes, then follow the steps in this article to bypass syncing with your computer.
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Regards,
-Norm G.

HT5100 how to sync itunes u content from iphone to itunes?

my itunes recognize the iphone perfectly, it just doesn't give me the options to sync itunes u / podcasts. the available tabs when i click on the device are summary / info / apps / music / movies / tv shows / photos / on this iphone. what should i do??
info: itunes 11, iphone 4S, windows 7.

Hi Silvia,
You must go to your prefences in Itunes and select Itunes U: Edit>Preferences>"check" Itunes U.
Here is a link: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1351
This should solve your problem.
Regards,
Charlton

Unable to sync photos to iPhone from iTune

I am in distress because of this problem of syncing new photos to my iphone. The problem is that in the "Photos" selection, I keep getting the spinning wheel all the time and could not see the "select folder" button. Other items like "music", "books" etc have no problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello sopravoce,
It may help to remove the iPod Photo Cache that resides in the same location as the photos being synced.
iTunes: Understanding the iPod Photo Cache folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1314
Cheers,
Allen

Moving iTunes and iPhone from an old PC to a new MacBook Pro

Hi, I am having some real problems. I have recently bought a new Macbook Pro to replace my old Windows PC. I am having no trouble moving all of documents and music from the old PC however I am completely stuck for what to do in transferring my iTunes and iPhone 4 content AND information onto the new itunes. I have consolidated the music files on the old pc but havent copied anything yet.
What I am looking to do is to be able to sync the iPhone to the new Mac without any of the information on the iphone being erased. Is this possible without having to pay for third party software? I have a WiFi network which both of the computers are connected to. I am also able to use an external harddrive.
I have already transferred the purchases from my account onto the new mac but a lot off my music isnt from the itunes store but is from various CD's.
I am really lost on what to do and I am even considering writing down all my contacts, lol. However, i do have all of my current iPhone info such as contacts and calender sync'd with iCloud if this helps.
Many thanks in advance,
Matt

matty_234 wrote:
Will this enable me to plug my iPhone in without any changes or reformatting? ...
If you follow all the Steps in the Link it should...
matty_234 wrote:
.... Also, I guess this will overwrite the purchases already on my mac? ...
You can redownload them for free... http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
matty_234 wrote:
... One last thing, does this include the iphone backups?...
Everything that is in iTunes should be there...

Choice in how I manage iTunes on iPhone and two computers?

OK - so first off, because as I read the history this appears to be sensitive, I HAVE read a considerable amount of previous threads on this. It's hard to believe that at this point (Apr 2010) there is still no third-party software for this? Apple must have made it virtually impossible!
At any rate, here's my situation:
(1) I have two computers - one iMac which holds my primary iTunes (computer 1), one new MacBook (computer 2), and one iPhone 3Gs.
(2) I also have MobileMe which syncs everything just fine in terms of contacts, calendar, etc.
(3) My iTunes and Music folder for my iMac IS located on an external drive off of my iMac (computer 1) and not on the actual hard drive.
Again, to stipulate, I understand:
(1) iPhone is set up to sync to only ONE computer
(2) I can authorize up to 5 computers. (My issue with this is that I have considerable amounts of my own music imported that will not appear as the "authorized" music. And, I do this regularly so I don't want to have to keep duplicating the MP3 import - I'll quickly become out of sync or lose track of them.)
(3) Trying to sync from iPhone to new iTunes library will wipe out iPhone or vice versa
And, I have read this thread on the code changes that can be made:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10972003
Plus I read this thread on iTunes library being an external drive:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11148807
SO, now that I've made my case for being informed, I'm asking for your help in how to make my choice to structure my situation.
My basic desire is to have the same library on all three places - I don't need different things in different places. Same thing. And, I pretty much have access to all three devices all the time (one is not physically located somewhere else). I would, however, like to be able to purchase on any of the three and then have it added to the library for all three - and I think that's where I run into my problem.
Option 1? My iTunes library and entire music library IS located on an External Drive off of Computer 1. So, technically, could I just set my MacBook (computer 2) iTunes to pull from that library? Then, any new purchases would go into that same library, accessible by both? The risk here, I think, is that I cannot try to sync to the MacBook when I am NOT on my home network with access to that external drive? In fact, on my MacBook, should I set it up this way iTunes will be "missing" it's library completely? Second risk - how stable is this plan? Am I likely to corrupt/kill/worse my iTunes library from this set up? (Caveat: It is backed up nightly on a second external)
Option 2? Do the code changes posted in the articles linked in this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10972003
But my iPhone is not jailbroken, nor do I intend it to be - does that matter? And, how stable is this? Honestly, I don't like the idea of monkeying with iTunes code.
Option 3? Copy my iTunes library from Computer 1 and then set up as iTunes library on Computer 2. Designate one computer / iTunes as the one I both buy music on and sync with my iPhone - then can I manually transfer music added to my iPhone into the Computer 2 iTunes (hit cancel when it says it will delete the library if it's synced. go into iPhone and choose songs to manually transfer?) Not sure this is possible...
Option 4? ? ? Is there something else here I've missed?
I hope this all makes sense - I've spent a lot of time reading about the options and think I understand each, I'm just wondering your advice in terms of which is the best solution.
Thanks!
Message was edited by: akcorcoran

My basic desire is to have the same library on all three places - I don't need different things in different places. Same thing. And, I pretty much have access to all three devices all the time (one is not physically located somewhere else). I would, however, like to be able to purchase on any of the three and then have it added to the library for all three - and I think that's where I run into my problem.
Short answer:
I'd suggest a variation of your option 3, but use "home sharing" to greatly simplify the process of keeping them in sync. If you really need to sync the iPod with different machines, then maybe your option 2 is best, but I share some of your apprehension about that solution.
Long answer:
I have a similar issue: three desktop machines, one PC in my office, one Mac in my wife's office, and one Mac connected to the audio system in our living room. I have an iPhone, and so does my wife. I also roam the house with my Macbook. We keep all three desktop machines synchronized in terms of the basic collection of music, and my wife and I synchronize our individual iPod devices to our respective desktop machines.
My solution was to (despite the many complaints about this feature) employ "home sharing". Basically, not only do we share our libraries, but we've also enable home sharing on all three machines, all registered using the same Apple ID. We further more have set the "home sharing" options so purchases are automatically purchased.
It's wonderful. If I buy something at the iTunes Store on my PC, we've configured "home sharing" so it magically shows up on the other machines, with no intervention on my part, just as do purchases that my wife makes on her Mac. And on those occasions where I rip a new CD, while "home sharing" won't magically transfer it for me, it does have feature that you can (a) look at another computer's library, showing only those tracks that don't exist on the current machine; and (b) you can drag and drop music, right in iTunes, from one machine to another. Thus, in comparison to the nightmare of my pre v9.0 manually synchronizing of libraries, "home sharing" has made this much easier.
And in this set-up, my wife and I can each maintain our separate playlists for determining what's sync'ed to our respective iPods. Yes, playlists and ratings are not synced between the three PCs, but it makes it possible for us to take advantage of this to make our own playlists. (This feature is probably less of an issue for you than for us, but it's very useful for us.)
The only problem I see is that it sounds like you want to sync your iPhone with multiple computers, whereas I've explicitly decided I want to sync with a single computer.
I'll answer some of your questions below, but this is a configuration that we use, doesn't involve working around any iTunes features (like the manual manipulation of the iTunes library ID) or problems with file contention. We also have a built in backup of our iTunes library, so if one machine dies, at least all of the media files themselves are safe. (Having said that, I do backups, as well, so I've got a double redundancy.)
Option 1? My iTunes library and entire music library IS located on an External Drive off of Computer 1. So, technically, could I just set my MacBook (computer 2) iTunes to pull from that library? Then, any new purchases would go into that same library, accessible by both?
That might work, but you'd have to think about, in addition to your media files (the mp3 and other audio and video files), whether you'll put the library database file itself (the separate file that keeps track of what media files are available to iTunes, where they are located, the playlists, rankings, play counts, etc.) on that shared drive, too. If just the media files are there, then I suspect that might work, but anytime you add or remove content, you'd have to update the other library, at I think it would be more cumbersome than the "home sharing" approach.
If you decide you want to keep the iTunes library on this shared drive, too, that might eliminate the need for the syncing process, but you might run into trouble if you're not careful about ensuring that the references to that external drive are identical on the two machines. Also, if you try running iTunes at the same time on the two machines, I can imagine that you might have file contention issues on the library database itself.
Bottom line, might work, but seems that you would have the choice between a cumbersome solution and a fragile solution.
Option 2? Do the code changes posted in the articles linked in this thread ... But my iPhone is not jailbroken, nor do I intend it to be - does that matter? And, how stable is this? Honestly, I don't like the idea of monkeying with iTunes code.
You don't need to jailbreak your phone to do this. And I suspect that it's reasonable robust solution as I've seen CNET training videos that advocated for precisely this solution.
This seems like an acceptable work-around if you're trying to sync phones in disparate locations (home and office). But it seems unnecessary if the machines are on the same network, and like anything where you're trying to tweak software behind-the-scenes, I'd worry about it being susceptible to it breaking on new updates to iTunes. Apple isn't going to ensure that some hack like this won't be broken in future releases. I'd be shocked if they tested this scenario in future releases.
Option 3? Copy my iTunes library from Computer 1 and then set up as iTunes library on Computer 2. Designate one computer / iTunes as the one I both buy music on and sync with my iPhone - then can I manually transfer music added to my iPhone into the Computer 2 iTunes (hit cancel when it says it will delete the library if it's synced. go into iPhone and choose songs to manually transfer?) Not sure this is possible...
As I described, I'd suggest a permutation of this option, where you use "home sharing" to keep the machines in sync. I'm not sure if I follow your thought process on "hit cancel when it says delete library...", though. Were you thinking of using the iPhone to sync the machines? If you have a home network, that's not necessary. Or are you saying that it's important to sync the iPhone with multiple computers for some reason that I'm not understanding.
By the way, if the issue is that you want to be able to manage your iPhone from either machine, what I do is I've designated one of my computers as my "iphone sync" computer. When I want to manage this (e.g. download apps for my iPhone, etc.) when I'm not at that machine, I "remote" into that machine from wherever I happen to be sitting. (I use Mac "screen sharing" to access my wife's Mac from my Macbook, I use Microsoft "Remote Desktop" for Mac when I want to access my PC from my Macbook, and I use a free VNC client when I want to manage my Macbook or my wife's Mac from my desktop PC.) Yes, when I sync I have to plug in the iPhone into the cradle in my office, but because I can access that desktop PC from wherever I happen to be, I find that to be a manageable solution (e.g., I'll update apps and podcasts on my desktop my Macbook in the basement, and then walk up to my office and just drop my iPhone into the cradle when I want to sync). I'd love remote syncing, but Apple ain't there yet.
Message was edited by: Rob Ryan

Administrating iTunes Library by from multiple computers pc/osx

Hello.
I need to find a way to administrate same Library from multiple computers. What I need is a opportunity not only to listen my media (that's why original iTunes sharing suit me), but to Add, organize, create playlists e.t.c.
I want my Playlists be available and editable ( ! ) for all my computers.
I want to add music from any of my computers and to have all the rest app to date.
All the data will be stored on a Server computer. So what the OS is needed for the solution?
In addition I have both PC and OSX computers at home and It'll be bettor if the solution will suit this.
Thanks.

iTunes doesn't support this much syncing. Yes you can have all machines saving media files to same location (server) but each machine/account will have different iTunes libraries. Changes made on on will not be reflected on others. This is intentional so that different people would not interfere with libraries of other users.
This is especially needed for podcasts. Each account downloads/deletes podcast episodes independent of other accounts. This allows one to delete an episode without making making another account lose the file.
Message was edited by: camoracer

Syncing itunes with iphone 4s

My iphone does not show up as a device on itunes

Spent about an hour on the phone today to Apple Care and got this sorted.
Apparently it was due to a piece of software either missing or corrupt on the iPhone which affected the syncing process. The solution was to:first backup the iPhone using iTunes, then restore from that backup. Eject & disconnect the iPhone from the computer, and then reconnect it.
Upon reconnection, iTunes gave the option of starting from scatch or restoring from a backup - select restore from backup (not sure why this had to be done twice, but went with it and it worked). It then transferred over all the music - job done!
Hope that helps someone
All the best
Aidan

Why does GPS data not sync to my iPhone from iPhoto?

Hi guys,
I synced all my photos from my iPhone to iPhoto and deleted them off my iPhone. I then created albums on iPhoto and synced them back to my iPhone. For some reason the GPS data wasn't carried over - even though I can confirm it is there as I can see it in iPhoto.. Any ideas?

Hey there 2Chainz,
It sounds like youre being prompted that there is not enough space. I would use the following article to help resolve the issue named:
iOS: "Not enough free space" alert when trying to sync
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1503
Try disconnecting and reconnecting your device, then syncing again to solve this issue.
Orphaned files may remain on your iOS device if it is physically disconnected while syncing music, podcasts, videos, or photos. This can prevent iTunes from syncing the iOS device on subsequent sync sessions. When this happens, the Capacity indicator in iTunes may report a large amount of "Other" disk usage for the iOS device. To resolve this issue:
Turn off the music or photo sync option in iTunes for the device.
Click Apply to sync the changes to the device.
Turn the music and photo sync options for the device on again.
Click Apply again to try to sync the device to iTunes.
If the 'Not enough free space' alert appears, continue to step 5.
Turn off the automatic syncing functions for the iOS device. To do this:
Select the iOS device from the iTunes window and click the Summary tab.
Deselect "Automatically sync when this device is connected" and select the "Sync only checked songs and videos" checkbox.
Click Apply to sync the changes to the device.
Reduce the amount of data that is being synced to the device and resync the device. For example, if syncing your Music library exceeds the memory capacity of the device, choose "Selected playlists" to transfer rather than "All songs and playlists" under the Music tab in iTunes.
If the 'Not enough free space' alert appears, continue to step 6.
Restore using iTunes.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Regards,
Sterling

Problems with sync itunes to iphone

Hi,
I've been working on this for the last 3 hours: the goal is to copy my existing music library from my itunes to my new 4G iphone-32gb.
I also got a new laptop & have been trying to copy my music library from my old desktop to my new laptop since they are not networked, I copied my files using an external drive. I was able to do it! I can see all my songs in my laptop.
Now the problem is trying to sync my music (17gb of songs/files) to my iphone. I am only able to upload 59 songs. When I try to do it 'manually', it only duplicates the same songs. I am not able to drag & copy the all the songs to the iphone folder. Some playlist made it to the iphone, some did not, and the music library folder containing all the songs did not make the cut. It's driving me crazy!
Can someone please help me?? Thanks a bunch if you can.

I have been having a similar problem. I recently transferred all my data from old to new laptop and am trying to sync my various devices. My ipod nano was no problem, although it essentially deleted everything and then restored the new settings from my new laptop. however, when attemping to sync up my iPhone 4 I have been experiencing a lot of technical difficulty. My old iphone (which my son uses as an ipod touch) will not allow me to sync apps anymore. When managing the sync options I cannot even click the box to allow for sync apps. My new iphone 4 froze several times during initial sync to the new computer forcing itunes to close. Then when it finally does sync it takes about 30 minutes and a microsoft exchange server box keeps popping up stating that my account is not on file. Please help!

Syncing iTunes to iphone from 2 computers

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