Bloody iTunes

[familychoice]

I've got a ton of music and voice memos on my iPhone which used to be synced to iTunes on my old PC. I want to sync it to the new PC but it informs me that it will wipe out any music on the phone that doesn't exist on the PC. That's not a problem (though it is a major pain in the bum) as I've got other copies of the music and can put it all back on. What does bother me is that it might wipe all my voice memos as well, and I haven't got copies of those.

There is an option to check/uncheck 'include voice memos' when you start the sync, but naturally this is selected and the option to deselect it greyed out.

What would be great is if you could drag and drop files from your iPhone into folders in your iTunes account, but that would be too easy.

And I can't seem to find a way to back up the memos from my iPhone before running the sync.

Any advice welcome as I'm a bit stuck with this.

Love the iPhone, but I detest iTunes.

[familychoice]

The option that seems to be the one to go for is the 'manually manage music and videos' but it then informs me that the phone is synced and if I do this it will erase everything on the phone, so I have to cancel and not able to use this option.

aaaargh.

[robwhizz]

Which iPhone have you got? As I understand the iphone 3 can be used with things like winamp and you can get file explorers etc. The iphone 4 is locked down harder. Is it jailbroken?

[familychoice]

Hi Rob,

It's a 3gs. I've managed to transfer my purchases across and I downloaded a copy of this http://www.macroplant.com/iphoneexplorer/ which has allowed me to back-up my voice recordings. I also did a 'back-up' of the whole phone via iTunes.

I've authorised and set everything up as it should but if I click the sync button it comes up with the 'wipe' threat/warning and if I try and select the 'manual' option it does the same thing.

At the moment the iPod part of the phone is basically useless as I can't add or remove songs. Photos and videos you can grab via a file browser though. I've read through a few forums and a lot of others seem to have the same issue. The advice is usually to hit the manual management button, but in my case that's still going to wipe the phone first.

What I don't like, and don't get, is this insistence on wiping the phone.

I'll have a look and see where this back-up has been stored, and if it's possible to import it into iTunes so the PC 'library' matches the one on my phone. It's such a stupid way of doing things though.

[Dom]

That's another reason why I don't bother with Apple stuff - iTunes. Despite some of the no-doubt useful features it has, it seems to make the simple tasks (ie. the tasks you'll actually be doing) a massive pain in the bum.

[robwhizz]

I had the same with my son's iPod. I set it up at work for him and added some music etc. so it was ready to go on Christmas day. Being a 4g, I couldn't find anything that would work other than iTunes. And when I installed that on his PC I got exactly the same. Wipe all and start again.

On my son's PC there is an option greyed out that says 'Transfer purchases from ipod'. I assume that will add the new PC into the list of 'allowed' devices under DRM and pop the paid for music into it. I wonder if it affects other stuff on the device?
If Apple are going to tie you into an app, they should at least have the decency to offer a way to move everything if you upgrade your PC. Even Windows allows you to upgrade hardware etc. by re-activation.

It sounds like iTunes will only wipe music. I'd have thought that files created on the device it's self would be OK, with apps too. Casting my mind back, I remember that my son's PC wiped the music, but the apps were not touched.

There are only two things stopping me getting an iPhone at some point. iTunes and Swype.

[Stealth]

http://www.getsharepod.com/

Lets you get files off your iphone/ipod without itunes. You can download all the music and photos then itunes can wipe what it likes.

[rutty]

http://www.getsharepod.com/

Lets you get files off your iphone/ipod without itunes. You can download all the music and photos then itunes can wipe what it likes.

I've used this - it works very well.

[familychoice]

That's another reason why I don't bother with Apple stuff - iTunes. Despite some of the no-doubt useful features it has, it seems to make the simple tasks (ie. the tasks you'll actually be doing) a massive pain in the bum.

It doesn't make any logical sense why I've just had to erase all of my music and voice recordings, just because I've connected it to a new PC. The 'library' on the PC is empty, so the logical thing would be to sync that to the iPhone, but instead it insists that I sync an iPhone full of music and other stuff to an empty directory, deleting everything in the process.

Stupidity personified.

http://www.getsharepod.com/

Lets you get files off your iphone/ipod without itunes. You can download all the music and photos then itunes can wipe what it likes.

I've used this - it works very well.

Cheers guys, I'll have a look at that one.

It sounds like iTunes will only wipe music. I'd have thought that files created on the device it's self would be OK, with apps too. Casting my mind back, I remember that my son's PC wiped the music, but the apps were not touched.

I'm hoping so, it's wiping my phone now. As it didn't offer me the option to deselect voice memos I'm guessing it's removing those as well, but I backed up those using the PCexplorer app.

It's informed me that I can only use the phone with a maximum of 5 machines, so there's 3 left now.

[update] It's removed all the music as expected but doesn't seem to have touched anything else. The apps aren't synced though and I get a warning they'll be wiped, as the music was if I do. I transferred the purchases so hopefully they'll be ok.

Oh well, looks like I'll be reloading music back in for the next few hours then.

Bloody iTunes.

[Steve Lampkins]

It doesn't make any logical sense why I've just had to erase all of my music and voice recordings, just because I've connected it to a new PC.

To stop 'the kids' taking their iPod around to a friend's house and copying all their music onto their computer. PIRACY!! Thanks, record companies. Let's just ignore the existence of USB memory sticks and hard drives, and the internet.


I think the authorisations refers to DRM-protected content, and it might be 5 machines at a time. I think you can de-authorise older computers. Probably not much help if the old computer breaks though.

[robwhizz]

It doesn't make any logical sense why I've just had to erase all of my music and voice recordings, just because I've connected it to a new PC.

To stop 'the kids' taking their iPod around to a friend's house and copying all their music onto their computer. PIRACY!! Thanks, record companies. Let's just ignore the existence of USB memory sticks and hard drives, and the internet.

This silly circle has been around for years, but now it's sillier than ever.

Kids today have access to all kind of manner of ways to get free music, and so have a couple of options:
Buy it legit. It's stupidly expensive, you are locked into various systems/apps and ranges of music and you can only play it on a couple of devices (as long as they support the version of protection the file has).
Download it for free. Use it anywhere, every music player supports it, you can burn it on CD for the car, put it on your phone yada yada.
It's a no brainer.

My son had a iTunes voucher for Christmas and he bought a few albums. They cost between £8-10. A quick look on HMV website (not the cheapest in the world), shows all of those albums can be bought for exactly the same price. You get higher quality sound and it can be ripped and played on any device you want. This is still the way I buy my music.

[Shirker]

I've got a ton of music and voice memos on my iPhone which used to be synced to iTunes on my old PC. I want to sync it to the new PC

Last time I had to do this I copied the iTunes folder from the old PC to the new PC, overwriting the one on the new PC, then synced my iPhone and iPod and both worked fine straight away on the new PC. Any help doing it that way?

[Mr Anderson]

If you're set to auto synch then once you've carried out your first synch it'll copy any changes from PC to ipod/iphone and vice versa. So if your PC suddenly doesn't have previously synched content the expected behaviour is to remove it from the ipod. If you want to prevent that happening there's a couple of things you can try - 1. set to manual synch, 2. go to edit > preferences > devices and tick the prevent ipods, iphones and ipads from synching automatically option.

The option that seems to be the one to go for is the 'manually manage music and videos' but it then informs me that the phone is synced and if I do this it will erase everything on the phone, so I have to cancel and not able to use this option.

I've just double checked this on mine and didn't get that happening, so maybe there's another setting that needs adjusting too?

On mine in the summary pane I have manual synching unticked (setting autosynch), with the prevent autosynching option (mentioned above) set in the preferences. I also have the synch only ticked songs and videos option ticked in the phone summary, and the "warn when any data on the computer will be changed" option set in the devices section of the preferences.

With those settings I normally update playlists, and then in the phone manager tick which playlists (and other media) that I want to synch, then click the synch button. This copies anything new from the PC to ipod (so long as I've told it to), and vice versa, and deletes from the ipod anything that's been removed from or unticked on the PC. (It'll also remove new content from off the ipod/iphone if I tell it not to copy to the PC when synching - to stop this behaviour you would need to manual synch all the time.)

To test your issue out I ticked the manually manage music and video option. I didn't get any warnings when I did and after doing it I could drag and drop between the library (right hand pane) and the phone (expanded view in the left hand panel).

When reverting back from manual to auto, by unticking the option in the summary, I got a warning asking if I no longer wanted to manually synch because all existing content on the phone would be replaced with content from the library - in my case this isn't an issue because my autosynch settings are to only synch ticked content, which was already the same as what was on the phone.

[familychoice]

Thanks for the replies.

I've got a ton of music and voice memos on my iPhone which used to be synced to iTunes on my old PC. I want to sync it to the new PC

Last time I had to do this I copied the iTunes folder from the old PC to the new PC, overwriting the one on the new PC, then synced my iPhone and iPod and both worked fine straight away on the new PC. Any help doing it that way?

That probably would have worked (assuming the file structure for XP and Win7 are the same), I'll remember that one next time!

I've just double checked this on mine and didn't get that happening, so maybe there's another setting that needs adjusting too?

That was the problem, all the help files I read and every forum I checked the advice was the same - check the manual option. But when I tried this and hit the 'apply' button a message informing me it was going to wipe my phone appeared. It was the same story in the Music section for the phone. Whatever I tried to do it always flashed up the wipe message and in the end I had no other option but to let it do this.

It's not the end of the world, and I wanted to change the music on there anyway but I just cannot get my head around the way this stupid software works.

[robwhizz]

I checked the 'manual' option with my son's PC and it still wiped the lot.

[Tony]

iTunes is the spawn of the devil - not sure if I've mentioned that before.

[Mr Anderson]

I checked the 'manual' option with my son's PC and it still wiped the lot.

Check the other settings, as that doesn't happen on mine

[Matt]

iTunes is the spawn of the devil - not sure if I've mentioned that before.

WHS - cant stand it. So much so I dont bother using my iphone as an ipod, just so I dont have to plug it in. That, and the fact I cant connect it to my car anymore, so good old MP3 CDs are the way to go for me, even get the artist and album named on my car display.

[familychoice]

Not sure if it's the new headphones or hardware but the sound quality from my iPhone is much better than my old iPod, and it pretty much wipes the floor with any other mp3 player I've got/tried.

Now I've got it set up again it's fine and I can sync my music again. I'm not syncing the apps - just in case, but at least I can stick some new tunes on.

Fortunately for Apple the pros beat the cons at the moment, but if the competition gets their hardware act together my next phone won't be chained to bloody iTunes.

[sickpuppy]

iTunes is the sole reason I've never owned an iPod. My MP3 player appears as an external drive I can drag MP3s onto. It works.

[Dom]

iTunes is the sole reason I've never owned an iPod. My MP3 player appears as an external drive I can drag MP3s onto. It works.

Ditto. Being an amateur DJ I've got a lot of music, and umpteen times I've been tempted to get an iPod Classic for the 160Gb storage it offers. But then I remember that I'd need iTunes to maintain/sync the files etc, when all I really want is a drag'n'drop function like I've got with my current MP3 player.

If Apple sorted it out so that you didn't need iTunes to effectively use an iPod, I'd be willing to stump up the cash for one.

[Steve Lampkins]

But there are unofficial 3rd party apps... I've never looked into it too closely as iTunes has never caused my any grief thus far.

[robwhizz]

But there are unofficial 3rd party apps... I've never looked into it too closely as iTunes has never caused my any grief thus far.

With last gen ipod/iphones it was easy to install the driver and use a 3rd party app. When I tried to do this with 4th gen ipod just before Christmas, I apple had changed iTunes and I could take the driver out of the package and get a working driver install. I had to install iTunes (although I might have found some 3rd party software), apple stopped or changed the way the 4th gens work so they can't be mounted as disks the same way previous gens could. At least I remember reading something like that...
It's just occured to me that I'm talking about the touch. As far as I know the current gen classics will still work fine with 3rd party software.

There's probably a solution now.

I'll just carry on syncing wirelessly with Android and Winamp.

[Steve Lampkins]

Yeah, the unofficial stuff naturally lags a bit. Same with jailbreaking. Jailbreaking would probably help you out with breaking free of iTunes as well.