Enabling "Sync Books" in iTunes wants to remove songs

Question

Level 1

27 points

Enabling "Sync Books" in iTunes wants to remove songs

I just installed iBooks on my iPhone 3G and wanted to sync the books I've downloaded on iTunes. The "Sync Books" option was disabled, and when I try to enable it I get the following message:

'Are you sure you want to sync books? All existing songs, movies and TV shows on the iPhone... will be removed.'

Why does it want to delete my data to allow me to sync my iBooks?!

13" MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Aug 5, 2010 5:35 PM

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Answer 1

emahyar

Level 1

4 points

Oct 31, 2010 9:50 AM in response to Aaron D

That solution only works if you want to add books from your computer to your iPad or iPhone. It doesn't work if you want to copy the book from your iPad or iPhone to your computer. Does anyone know how to do this without deleting your music? I've tried this on my iPhone already and it does delete your music even if you manage it manually as I do.

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

278,061 points

Oct 27, 2013 3:28 AM in response to Scott Newman

Scott Newman wrote:

....And I can't turn on books syncing in iTunes because it will delete all of my music on my iPhone.

You should always have all the media that you want on your device in your iTunes library, whether you manually manage or sync selected. If you've got yourself in a position where this is not the case then see the user tip Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.

tt2

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

278,061 points

Oct 27, 2013 2:57 PM in response to Scott Newman

"Of course" for you maybe, but sadly not for others which is why I offered the recovery tip in case it might help you or anyone else reading the thread.

I quite agree that the sync options on each tab should be independent of each other, but I'm just a fellow user. You can let Apple know what you want via iTunes Feedback or sign up for an Apple Developer Connection account and make use of Apple Bug Reporter.

tt2

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

278,061 points

Aug 20, 2010 10:47 AM in response to RachyCollins

If you've always "manaually managed" the iPhone then it won't neccessarily know that it is associated with your computer's library for media so will still issue the warning about removing everything. If the music you've manually added previously is all still in the iTunes library, then despite the warning, it should leave the music untouched.

Although I auto-sync I've occasionaly switched modes to test things out and haven't had to reload all my music, though obviously there is a still a danger that it might decide to dump your previous selections. Unlike other iPod models it's worth noting that even in manual mode when modifying content on the iPhone iTunes appears to cross check every file on the device with the local library and removes anything that can't be found. This makes manual management with multiple libraries impossible.

tt2

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Answer 5

PeteyPak

Level 1

0 points

Aug 25, 2010 9:54 AM in response to draco33333

I got an iPhone today, and got the same problem. The iPhone is new out of the box, never used elsewhere. I have an old iPod that I've used with this computer, but I've never sync-ed it - I always managed everything manually. After reading the other comments I thought that I'd try pressing "OK" anyway, and...

...It did delete all of my music!!! What the heck Apple?

Since it's all new, I didn't lose anything that I couldn't replace inside of 10 minutes, but let my mistakes be a warning to others :-s

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Answer 6

Aaron D

Level 1

0 points

Sep 10, 2010 9:54 PM in response to draco33333

I finally found the solution to this...

After iTunes finishes recognizing and/or syncing your iPad/iPhone/iPod as it usually does, click the "Books" tab under "LIBRARY" in iTunes, the one that lists which books are saved to your hard drive.

Then simply select the desired book or books one at a time (or use cmd-A to select all as usual) and drag them onto your iPad/iPhone/iPod that's listed under "DEVICES".

In other words, all you have to do is manually sync books the same way you would manually sync music!

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Answer 7

emahyar

Level 1

4 points

Oct 31, 2010 10:00 AM in response to emahyar

I just called Apple and found the solution to transferring books you've downloaded on your mobile device onto your computer. In iTunes go to the File menu and select "Transfer purchases from _ iPad/iPhone." This will download everything you've downloaded, even free books.

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Answer 8

Nov 9, 2010 3:02 PM in response to Aaron D

There seem to be a number of issues related to this specific problem...

Then simply select the desired book or books one at a time (or use cmd-A to select all as usual) and drag them onto your iPad/iPhone/iPod that's listed under "DEVICES". <<</div>

fwiw, this does not work on my device... the "no drop" icon remains no matter where the book is placed... on the device, on the device's book subicon.

I wonder if there is a "manual sync" option somewhere... I do have it set to not sync on connect, but that does now allow the above drag/drop transfer.

In my case of copying an mp3 ebook cd's mp3 tracks to itunes, originally I converted them to AAC and, when finished, they were automatically moved from the music section of the library to the books section. I attempted, but was unable to drag them from the library book section to the device.

I finally went back, erased the tracks and started over and did not convert them to AAC. As MP3 files, they had "Book" but not "AudioBook" options as they did as AAC files, and they stayed in the music section allowing syncing both them and music files.

fwiw, as MP3 book genre files <Ctrl-I> allows marking all tracks with "Remember Place" so each track restarts where you ended it the last time you listened _even if you listen to something else in the meantime_

Hope that this information is of value.
Beverly Howard

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Answer 9

Dec 15, 2010 6:53 PM in response to bevhoward

I was having the same problem. I was trying to drag and drop my books from iTunes to my iPhone, but it was saying that my phone wasn't synced to this computer... which it was. I went into my computers library under Books, grabbed the books I wanted, copied them, then clicked my iPhone's Books and pasted them... it automatically synced my books between the two.

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Answer 10

Dec 31, 2010 3:15 AM in response to emahyar

emahyar wrote:
I just called Apple and found the solution to transferring books you've downloaded on your mobile device onto your computer. In iTunes go to the File menu and select "Transfer purchases from _ iPad/iPhone." This will download everything you've downloaded, even free books.

DUDE! That's totally the answer I was looking for.

The stupid thing is, all my purchases used to be automatically transferred until the other day when I had to start manually managing my music and video as the iPhone was getting full. Since then, books, apps, music and video don't get transferred to the PC when purchased on the device, which makes no sense.

If I'd not read your post I would probably have lost my free 12-days gifts but accepting the prompt to wipe existing files my syncing books again.

Sort it out apple!

Message was edited by: rickwookie

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Answer 11

khungui

Level 1

31 points

Jan 23, 2011 10:13 AM in response to draco33333

This is insane, Apple. I just wanted to add a pdf of my own from iTunes on my computer to ibooks on my iPod. ITunes told me that if I sync books (which is where I put the pdf), I would erase all my songs and pictures. Reading this thread, I decided to risk it, because I can't believe Apple would destroy my files simply because I wanted to add one more.

BUT IT DID!!! ALL MY MUSIC IS GONE FROM THE IPOD!!!!

NOW I HAVE TO RE-SYNC THE ENTIRE IPOD (it didn't erase

Can't say I wasn't warned, but what the heck is this about?

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Answer 12

khungui

Level 1

31 points

Jan 23, 2011 10:33 AM in response to draco33333

Sorry, I meant to say that it didn't erase the iTunes library on my computer, so I was able to restore the iPod after everything got deleted. But I can't imagine I have to do this every time I want to add a book to my iPod.

And, my iPod has never been connected to any computer except my current MacBook Pro. My original sync was from this computer, and this iTunes library.

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Answer 13

turingtest2

Level 10

278,061 points

Jan 23, 2011 10:42 AM in response to khungui

Manually managing an iPhone has no advantages that I can see and several disadvantages. I apologise if I've confused anyone with my earlier comment to this thread where I said:

If you've always "manaually managed" the iPhone then it won't neccessarily know that it is associated with your computer's library for media so will still issue the warning about removing everything. If the music you've manually added previously is all still in the iTunes library, then despite the warning, it should leave the music untouched.

I should have added:

... provided you create one or more playlists with your selections and select these on the various tabs before commencing the sync operation.

Mea culpa 😟

tt2

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Answer 14

Jan 25, 2011 4:51 AM in response to draco33333

You can also email yourself PDF's or non-DRM books, click on your email attachment and open them in iBooks, which then places them in the library on your iPad. This helps if you only if you only have one or two items or lots of patience. I save lists and databases to PDF and find this helpful.

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Answer 15

Anhyzer

Level 1

0 points

Mar 11, 2011 7:56 AM in response to donna_nw

Having the same trouble I was able to transfer the book to my library so I didn't lose it during the software update. But I still get the same warning when I check the synch books box in iTunes. Is there no way to just tell iTunes "please synch my books always" without deleting all my stuff? C'mon Apple!

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