Upgrade to iTunes 11 has disabled Manually Manage Music option

After upgrading to iTunes 11, it has now removed the option to 'Manually manage music' when I connect my iPhone (4S). Previously I manage all my playlists and keep them up-to-date, but found this morning I now cannot add anything to the phone,,,
Each time I tick the box and click apply, it warns me that it ERASE the entire iPhone - Not what I wanted to hear!
Is there any way to bring this back inline, it also warns me that the phone is synced to another iTunes library (techincally correct but this is the previous version that it recommended me to upgrade from... Are they serious!?)
PLEASE HELP!
I want to avoid resetting the phone and letting them win.... again! I can't put into words how frustrating this :-/
*I'm running Windows 7 64-bit with an iPhone 4S, and in the UK.
Many thanks...!
Chris

I have an iPhone 5, same happened to me. I need to erase and resync my phone, loosing all playlists and ratings in the process. Music that I wanted in my iTunes but not my iPhone will now also be re-added.
I'm really over having to spend hours reloading my phone and playlists how I like them everytime Apple decides to unleash a dud update. I've literally spent thousands of dollars for the convenience of keeping my music and phone life in one place over the years, but that conveneince is now outweighed by Apple's user unfriendly approach to their software updates.
My next update will be away from Apple.

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ITunes automatically checks Manually manage music and videos????

Every time I connect my Classic or Nano, iTunes automatically checks Manually manage music and videos. If you uncheck this option it wants to erase your iPod, Classic or Nano and create a new sync which takes hours.
So to be specific. When start the first sync I have the following checked:
Open iTunes when this iPod is connected.
Enable Disk use.
After doing a 2 hour sync and then reconnecting, it has automatically checked Manually manage music and videos. When you uncheck it wants to reload your entire Library. Which takes 2-3 hours. The problem with Manually..... it doesn't sync new additions to the Library.
I am starting to become an Apple hater. They are going the way of Microsoft. You call Apple tech support and they want to charge you per incident. And Lion is a disaster. I was an early convert to Apple and now I am getting really cranky.

I was thinking the other way.
Checking Manually manage Music and Videos does not erase the content (even though it says it will).

Manually Manage Music Option get error The iPod cannot be updated error(-50

I am following the instructions on how to move music to a new computer. When I get to the step "Switch the iPod to manual update and enable disk use" and try to apply the 'Manually manage music' option, I get the following error: 'The iPod (my iPod) cannot be updated. An unknown error occurred (-50). I have tried moving my dock between the two USB ports on my Dell but nothing works..can someone help?

I tried some additional things and it seems to have fixed the problem.
First, I forced the iPod Service to close using the Windows task manager (control-alt-delete and then closing it). I then restored my iPod to its original factory settings using that option in iTunes.
I renamed the iPod and then set up what I wanted to sync with it. I have made a couple of changes and they have worked.

ITunes automatically unchecked "Manually manage music and videos"

Hey all, hope everything is well.
I have a frustrating problem that I don't know how to fix on my own.
So last night when I plugged my iPhone in to put some songs on, everything worked normally. I was able to edit the info and all that jazz, but today when I plugged my iPhone in...I noticed that I cannot add/delete/edit any of my music. I went into the Summary tab and seen that the "Manually manage music and videos" box is unchecked?! When I check it and apply, it says my iPhone is synced with another computer and all my data will be erased. I have spent 2 days doing album art and editing every single track info and the reason why it p*sses me off is because all of the edited songs on my iPhone are not edited in my iTunes library, so...if I do erase and sync, I would have to do everything over again for approx. 780 songs.
I guess it`s kind of my bad that I didn`t do all the editing/album art in the library THEN put the songs on my phone.
Anyway, just wondering if anyone maybe knows why iTunes decided to uncheck "Manually manage music and videos" for me.
Thanks and take care!

You should be able to extract any media not in your library with the tips in this post from forum regular Zevoneer but I'm not sure what the implications are for your application settings.
If your IPhone has previously been managed from this library then application settings and data should be alright. If you transfer any missing purchases into the library with iTunes, recover any other media using third party tools and then backup the device you should be able to immediately restore the device from the backup to make sure that the device and library are properly paired.
tt2

HT201593 Itunes 12 does not have the "Manually manage music" option

I have itunes 12 and the "manually manage music and videos" is not there. "Manually manage videos" is the only option. I use itunes for work and I NEED a fix. I am unable to drag and drop as well.

Hello there, Jenks855.
When wanting to manually manage content on your iOS device, the Knowledge Base article you were referred from provides some great information and practical steps for troubleshooting:
Manage content manually on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod - Apple Support
Manually add items to your device
Connect your device to your computer.
Open iTunes. Make sure that you have the latest version.
Choose the content that you want to add to your device from your iTunes library.
Drag the content to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod. A panel should appear. Locate your device.
What if I can't manually add content to or remove content from my device?
To manually manage your content, check to make sure that the "Manually manage music and videos" option is turned on. Then:
Connect your device to your computer.
Open iTunes. Make sure that you have the latest version.
Locate and click on your device.
Click the Summary tab.
Click the box next to "Manually manage music and videos."
Click Apply. If you see a message that your device is synced with another library:
iPhone can only add music or video from a single iTunes Library.
iPad and iPod can add music from multiple iTunes Libraries, but video from only one iTunes Library.
If you choose to manually manage your movies and music with the new iTunes Library, the iTunes content currently on your device will be erased and replaced.
You can’t manually manage music while using iTunes Match on your device.
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

Manually Manage Music Option Diasppeared

I'm hoping someone can help me with a really frustrating change that seems to have happened to itunes since I started using iMatch: the option to manually manage music and videos has disappeared and been replaced by an option to manage video only. If anyone has any ideas on how I can get it back I'd be very grateful!

rwmccar wrote:
...If anyone has any ideas on how I can get it back I'd be very grateful!
Turn off iTunes match on your device. Settings > Music > iTunes Match OFF.
From http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4913:
"When enabling iTunes Match on your iOS device, the music library on your iOS device will be deleted and then replaced with your music in iCloud.
Syncing music with iTunes will be disabled while iTunes Match is enabled on your iOS device."

Manually manage music option - keep what's on my iPhone already

Sorry if this has been asked and answered before but some of the reposonses here seem to contradict each other. I have tried reading the supporting documentation (other posts and links to the Apple knowledgebase) but can't see a clear response.
I have an iPhone 4S (runing O/S 5.1.1) and am using iTunes (v10.6.3.25) on a PC. When I first got my iPhone (a couple of months ago), I set it to "Manually manage music and video" before putting any content on it. All was fine until my laptop died and was replaced - now when I attach my iPhone to my new laptop (or any other device running iTunes), I see that this option is not ticked. If I try to select this option, a dialogue box is presented informing me that if I apply, all the content currently on my iPhone will be erased - obviously this is not the effect I'm trying to acheive. So I guess my questions are:
Is there any way of setting my iPhone to be able to manually manage music and video WITHOUT first erasing all the current content?
Is it possible to have another device (like my PC at work, for example) recognise that the iPhone has this setting checked when I attach it?
If anyone has the time, patience and inclination to let me know, I'd be very grateful! Thank you in advance!

millou_ wrote:
Oh - I can get the data back, that's not the real problem. It's the several hours of my life required to do it!
That's a relief...
All I really want is to be able to attach my iPhone to my laptop at home AND my PC at work where in both cases my iPhone can be manually managed so that I can add content MANUALLY from either location onto my one, lovely iPhone.
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

Itunes Library and Manually Managing Music iPod

I have 775 songs in my library on iTunes but only 650 on my iPod. I manage music manually. How can I find out which songs are missing from iPod? Gar

It might just be easier at this point to remove all the tracks currently on the device via iTunes. Then highlight all of the tracks in your main iTunes library and drag them over onto the iPod from under Devices. This will add all the tracks from your iTunes to your iPod.
If you don't want to go that route, you'll be much better off using automatic syncing rather than manual management.
B-rock

Itunes not giving "manually manage songs" option despite following instruc

I have an ipod shuffle. I am trying to place songs on my ipod from a computer at work (Mac G5) instead of my home computer (Windows XP). Despite following the instructions to set itunes to manually manage my songs, it never lets me get far enough to set the ipod to manually manage in the first place. When inserting the ipod into a usb a window pops up stating my ipod is "synced with another library and if I want to erase and sync" (duh). At this point, according to the instructions on apple.com I am to "Click the iPod button in the lower right corner of the iTunes window." However there IS NO ipod button in the bottom right corner to click in itunes. Also, In the pop up window asking wether I want to sync it gives me two buttons: 1. cancel or 2. erase and sync. If I hit "cancel" the ipod never shows up in itunes at all, so I can't select it and change to manual. I don't want to click "erase" for obvious reasons. As long as this pop up window is open I can't do anything in itunes unless I choose one of the two. And when I hold down my option and apple keys to try and bypass this pop up and set ipod to manual (also as per apple instructions) nothing happens. No pop up, no ipod in menu on the right in itunes and no ipod button in the lower right. It's as if ipod doesn't exist. Using itunes 7 and software has been updated. Ipod works just fine at home on the pc(windows XP). I can't be the only one having this problem.
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

There is no manual mode on a Shuffle. You can't load music from multiple computers or iTunes libraries onto iPod Shuffle like you can with other iPods: iPod Shuffle FAQ

Itunes not giving "manually manage songs" option despite following instruct

I have an ipod shuffle. I am trying to place songs on my ipod from a computer at work (Mac G5) instead of my home computer (Windows XP). Despite following the instructions to set itunes to manually manage my songs, it never lets me get far enough to set the ipod to manually manage in the first place. When inserting the ipod into a usb a window pops up stating my ipod is "synced with another library and if I want to erase and sync" (duh). At this point, according to the instructions on apple.com I am to "Click the iPod button in the lower right corner of the iTunes window." However there IS NO ipod button in the bottom right corner to click in itunes. Also, In the pop up window asking wether I want to sync it gives me two buttons: 1. cancel or 2. erase and sync. If I hit "cancel" the ipod never shows up in itunes at all, so I can't select it and change to manual. I don't want to click "erase" for obvious reasons. As long as this pop up window is open I can't do anything in itunes unless I choose one of the two. And when I hold down my option and apple keys to try and bypass this pop up and set ipod to manual (also as per apple instructions) nothing happens. No pop up, no ipod in menu on the right in itunes and no ipod button in the lower right. It's as if ipod doesn't exist. Using itunes 7 and software has been updated. Ipod works just fine at home on the pc(windows XP). I can't be the only one having this problem.
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Whilst it's possible you may get a response here, you would stand a much better chance if you re-post in the iPod shuffle forum.
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=823

Manually Manage Music option is GONE...when I plug in my IPHONE (which is already synced to this computer) I can no longer manually manage songs. I have already opted to do this but all my songs are grey and it won't allow me to manage ANY songs?

I cannot delete or add any songs to my Iphone (or my son's ipod) for some reason..all the songs are grey and cannot be manually managed. Any feedback is appreciated.

You will need to restore your phone as a new one using the itunes on your computer. This WILL erase everything on the phone but it will let you change the name of the phone and then you can add content to it.

ITunes - manually manage music no longer works

So I'm quite startled to find only a few topics about this without any resolution. Up until today after I upgraded to iTunes 11, I was always able to set my main itunes to manually manage music with my iphone and then go to ANY computer and add music to my iphone. NOW it wants to wipe my whole iphone library every time I try to apply the "manually manage music" option which would allow me to add music from any computer. I ask the community here - WHEN did this happen? Are we no longer allowed to do add music manually from any computer? WHATS the point of manually manage music (the whole point was that you didn't need to sync always with one comp)? I've tried wiping my iphone at two locations I often add music at with checking the manually manage music and everytime I wipe at one place then go to the other it wants to wipe again when I check the box to add music. I would really like to know if this is how it works now - meaning YOU NOW CAN ONLY ADD MUSIC TO YOUR IPHONE THROUGH ONE ITUNES LIBRARY. If so, I will be immediately uninstalling iTunes and finding alternatives. I appreciate any info or help. Thanks.

iPhone has traditionally only allowed manual management from a single library. Also once set up to sync, iDevices can only be switched to manual mode from the "home" library without iTunes wanting to erase the content. On any other library it will want to erase. Has your main library been rebuilt following a crash? This could lead to the symptoms you describe.
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.
Perhaps the reason you were able to add music from more than one computer in the past is that you had done something similar by accident rather than design...
tt2

ITunes Manually Manage Music

Hi, I am wondering if I have an iPod and so does my boyfriend and he has a CD of his that he ripped to his iTunes and I want it, is there a way for me to select the Manually Manage Music option and add just that CD from his iTunes in stead of having to rip it to my computer too and still have it be synced with my library on my computer? or will it erase the CD that I added off from his when I go back to mine? Please help me out!

Hi glfprtFL,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
This link from the iTunes User Guide for Mac shows you how to customize the views:
iTunes Help: Customize the iTunes window
http://help.apple.com/itunes/mac/11.1/#itns0c1999db
Cheers,
- Judy

Manually manage music and voice memo's

Good morning all, so I can't figure this out, If I have my iTunes set to manually manage music and videos how do I synch my voice memo's? Last night when I was doing that it seemed to me I had to change it to synch selected songs and once I checked Voice Memo's it emptied my iPhone of all the music. Is that right, or am I missing something? Thanks for your help!

thanks for the reply but I was hoping to find out where they go on the Mac, from the Finder point of view... where are the actual files after syncing any iPhone with voice memo recordings on it ?
The answer is, at least for me, they go to the root level of your iTunes Music folder. There they will be given a date such as:
20091012 185152.m4a
These recordings seem to play fine on my:
Quicktime Player 7
Quicktime Player Snow Leopard version
In case this can help anyone out there, still love my iPhone 3gs !

Cannot manually manage music

I recently had to replace my hard drive, and I am just now trying to manage my iPhone music again through iTunes. At the moment, I cannot manage my music. When I go into the summary page and click "Manually manage music and videos," then Apply, I get the message "This iPhone is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library?" The only choices which appear are Cancel or Erase and Sync. I don't want to erase my iPhone, but I do want to be able to manage my music...what do I have to do to be able to select the manually manage music option without erasing my iPhone?

Well, without a backup, you're gonna have to use third party software to first put your content into itunes BEFORE you sync. You can transfer purchased content, as I've said: File>Transfer Purchases. Music you ripped on your own will have to be transfered by third party software:
http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/
Like I said, when you first sync or manually manage, all itunes content on your phone will be erased & replaced with the content from your "new" computer. There is no way to avoid this. Backing up is your only protection, as the iphone is NOT a backup device.

Upgrade to iTunes 11 has disabled Manually Manage Music option

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