Manually manage music on 2 different computers

Each iTunes library has an internal ID. When you try to manage media with with a different library on a different computer iTunes sees the new ID and may want to remove existing content from an iPhone, even if manually managed, or from any synced device. See Move your iTunes library to a new computer. If you clone the library from one machine to the other you can then manage the device with either library.

tt2

All iphone has always only been able to sync or manually manage music with one and only one computer at a time. Syncing or manually managing from another will erase the current content. This has always ben the case with all iphones.

"Even when manually managing music, some content may be available from only one library at time. This includes all content on iPhone and video content on iPod and iPad."

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1535

check off

Do you mean the checkmark is set off (unchecked) or that it is checked off (i.e., set on)?

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, e.g. Carbon Copy Cloner. 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, e.g. MusicFolder Files Not Added and Super Remove Dead Tracks.

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

Perhaps you had copied the work library to home or vice-versa at some point in the past, and an update has changed the internal ID of one of the libraries. That might explain why if worked for you before (when it generally isn't supposed to) and why it no longer works now.

tt2

Great stuff tt2! 🙂

Hi Jizzlets,

I am experiencing the same problem. I am very frustrated about the loops apple makes you jump through just make it appear easier to buy your music on itunes and sync every computer to have the same stuff on it.

<E-mail Edited by Host>

Hi, a solution is in this thread.

I've asked the hosts to remove your email address from your post. It is an invitation for general spam and attempts to hijack your Apple ID.

tt2

"iPod shuffle and iPhone are intended for use with a single computer. You cannot load music from multiple computers or iTunes libraries onto iPod shuffle and iPhone like you can with other devices."

I found my answer, You Can't

so even though I own two computers and have differen't music on both, (business and personal) I cannot load the music i worked on during the day at my business to listen to on my way home.

That is really F-d up

I may actually return my Phone because of these restrictions. I would hope there would be a law against this considering apple is restricting your right to put songs you own on your computer unless it is on your home computer or purchased directly from itunes

Please read my long post above and pay particular attention to the last paragraph. Apple made it hard to randomly connect your device to one computer after another and transfer music in either direction as part of the price of getting digital music off the ground. If you put in a little effort you can gain the freedom to load content from multiple computers. Or you can download new purchases directly to the phone to avoid the need to sync with your work computer.

tt2

Feet1stmusic wrote:

I would hope there would be a law against this considering apple is restricting your right to put songs you own on your computer unless it is on your home computer or purchased directly from itunes

???

It's not restricted at all.

You can very, very easily copy music from your home computer to your work computer and vice-versa.

oh yea Chris CA, real walk in the park, all I have to do is transfer the music to an external hard drive, load it up to my personal computer when I get home (where i don't want work music), upload to itunes, move it to my phone, delete it from my home itunes folder and then wait till the next day to listen to it, when all i wanted to do is listen to the music i worked on during my way home from the day

I have a solution, if you own the computer you can put music (or how about media) from it onto your phone without having to change the itl file.

Feet1stmusic wrote:

oh yea Chris CA, real walk in the park

I know it is, that's why I wrote it was simple.

Besides, you complained about Apple restricting you to "put songs you own on your computer unless it is on your home computer or purchased directly from itunes".

Apple does not restrict this at all. But this is not your issue. You want to sync your iPhone to multiple computers.

and TT2 explains how to use the "same library" in the post he linked to.

if you read my whole post you would realize i am aware of changing the itl file and you would also realize that I do not want to sync my phone to two differen't computers.

I am shocked that I am the only one who is bothered by the restriction apple is exercising.

The point is, I shouldn't have to manually trick my itunes that I am using my home computer. I own both systems and should be alloud to manage my music with ease