radioguy

my sister just bought me a 30g ipod and i'm going to pick it up from her place next week. she lives a couple states away...anyways, i have loaded all my music into itunes and was wondering if i could access that music from her computer. i think i read somewhere that you can sync your ipod to up to 5 computers...any truth to this? also, if i can use her computer to access my stuff, will it effect her itunes use? thanks

meanSpleen

The music is on your computer, but you want to try accessing it from her computer? Currently, iTunes does not support that functionality. However, if you ask KnifeMissle really nicely he might be able to program something that will allow remote access of music in iTunes

See this thread - http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=112587

You may be better off just burning everything to a CD or an external hard drive and taking it along with you. If you were able to network your computers together then you can listen to your music on her computer, but thats about it. No file transfer.

Sync ipod with 5 computers = I think this is only for music purchased from iTunes, not mp3s or anything else.

You can hook up your new ipod to her computer, and it will ask if you want to sync it with her computer. She can then put her current one back in after you unplug it and it should continue to work normally.

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radioguy

thanks man....not what i wanted to hear, but thanks for letting me know that i can't do this! this sucks!!! oh well....i guess i can wait until i get home to fill my ipod.... my sisters music taste sucks!

AbigailAlfano

Oh you are so gonna love your ipod. I just bought a 30g too! We're taking a trip in February...loooong plane ride, and I've been busy downloading television shows, and podcasts etc. to keep me entertained.
I bought the FM tuner thing that lets you play your ipod in your car wireless via your FM radio. You have to get one of those, too. Sounds great, and all your music at your fingertips.
Also, if you want to sync a datebook or calendar, you can do that too.
Congrats! Enjoy!

Dragonlich

There's a few programs that allow you to access your music outside of Itunes; I've used PodUtil for a while, and it seems to work fine.

As for extra's: I have an IPod car kit in my new car; just plug it in like you would a mobile phone. I can now switch between various playlists using my normal audio control buttons on the steering wheel. Much better than an FM tuner thing IMO. (But then again, my boss paid for the car and car kit.)

KnifeMissile

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking.

If you're asking whether you can play the music off your iPod on her computer then the answer is yes. Simply plug the iPod into the computer and it will autodetect it and launch iTunes in response. The iPod will register as a library in iTunes and you can play any song it it like any other.

If you're asking whether songs can be extracted from the iPod the official answer it no. Apple doesn't want you to extract songs from the iPod and iTunes' inability to do this is evidence of that.

However, luckily there is software, out there, that will allow you to do exactly this. In fact, they sit unencrypted on your iPod so you can do this yourself with no extra software other than the file browser on your OS. However, they have been renamed so the only way for you to know which song is what file is to listen to them (or compare their exact file size). If you have a large library, this can be too tedious to be realistic. Luckily, PodPlayer can extract the music files while creating a reasonable file name from the iTunes tag information. Even if this isn't want you were asking for, you'll probably still find this useful. Personally, I keep a copy of this program on the iPod myself, so it's always there when I need it...

spectre

Or you can just dump the mp3s onto it, using it as a usb hard drive. Just plug it in, go through the "My Computer" for the iPod and open it up. Then, just drag and drop the files onto it. As long as you have enough room for the mp3s, you should be fine.

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radioguy

thanks guys....i'm heading out to my sisters on friday and i'm going to just hook the ipod up to her computer and steal her stuff. i found out she actually has some things i like! the guy that built her computer put about 2500 songs on there, so there is something for me! when i get home and connect to my computer, i'll just add what i have to that...correct?

and thanks for the podutil and podplayer link...i'll certainly use those!

meanSpleen

Not that easy! Sorta.

Once you get it back home, you are going to need to do the following so iTunes does not remove all the songs on your ipod -
And you will probably want to copy the songs you bring back with you to your own computer. You can use something like iPod -> Folder (free!) to do this.

http://www.longfingers.com/ipodfolder/

Once everything is on your computer, you can drag all the folders/songs into your iTunes music library

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radioguy

thanks meanSpleen.....i want to load my ipod up at my sisters and i was wondering if i was going to lose those songs or not....now i see that i won't!!!

kofspades

Most every other MP3 player allows you to drag-n-drop your music files onto it like any 'ol folder. I never understood why people like "syncing" with iTunes. Seems like a big pain in the ass to me.

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meanSpleen

Its the software. You can drag music onto your ipod, but the software will not be able to find it because it organizes everything on the ipod to a reference ipod-library database. Syncing just creates and updates the lookup database with any changes to the files being stored/removed

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spectre

So why not do that, using it as a hard drive, and when he gets home, drop onto his comp, then transfer it back with iTunes?

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KnifeMissile

If people have their iPods "synched" to iTunes, it's only because their iPods are large enough to store their entire music library so synching with their library is just easier. All the music they have to listen to can be had with their iPod without any manual intervention...

Personally, I have an iPod nano which is not big enough to store my library. In which case, I don't have it synched with my iTunes library and, instead, just drag and drop files from iTunes into my iPod. Admitedly, I am forced to do this through iTunes...

ubertuber

I've got way more music than will fit on an iPod and I manage it by designating certain playlist for synching. With a couple of creative smart playlists and a bunch of normal ones, I get the ease of auto synching and lots of control over what's on there.

Honestly, with an 80gb iPod synching with a 400gb library, it's the drag-n-drop method that sounds like a pain in the ass to me...

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meanSpleen

He wouldn't be able to listen to anything unless he syncs it with his sisters iTunes. He could, if he wanted to, just toss everything onto the ipod using Windows Explorer or whatever, but the ipod would not be able to find the songs.

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spectre

That's true but at least he'll have it.

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KnifeMissile

But why wouldn't he want to "have it" and be able to play it on his iPod? Surely, that's a more attractive option?

spectre

He'll have it, and once he gets home, he can sync it. If there's no other easier way, then it's at least an option.

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KnifeMissile

You don't think easier and more utilitary ways have been suggested in this thread?