Enabling "Sync Books" in iTunes wants to remove songs

Did you sync it to another library previously? Every iPod can only be connected to one library at a time. Before syncing with the new library, you have to (let it) erase it all.

I am having exactly the same problem! Did you find the answer?

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

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

Yeah, this is STUPID! Can't they figure out a better way to allow syncing a new feature??

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

thanks for this. I had downloaded stuff on my ipod before syncing. Good to know how to transfer them.

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?

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.