My laptop cannot update beyond iTunes 11.4 because I am on OSX 10.6. I have access to a desktop Mac with a later version of iTunes. I have turned on home sharing, so my laptop's music library shows up in the desktop Mac's itunes. If I sync my phone on the desktop, will I be able to sync it with my laptop's music library?
iPhone 5, iOS 9.3.1
Yes, but a phone can only be synced to one library at a time. Unless you transfer the entire library to the new computer (which can have multiple libraries) iTunes will want to erase your phone before syncing it to the other library which only has the same media as the old one. In concept this should not matter since both libraries should have the same media content.
The libraries have the same media content when I access it on the desktop, but when I try to sync, it shows only 420 songs on the iPhone, which would be the ones I've purchased through iTunes. All of the other music won't sync. I guess I'd have to transfer the entire library to the desktop instead of just turning on home sharing?
You can import the library from one computer to the other one with home sharing. I assume that this will work importing from the iTunes 11 to the iTunes 12 library.
iTunes 12 for Mac: Use Home Sharing to import items from another iTunes library
Purchased music can be downloaded again if needed on the computer where it does not reside. You should be able to use the transfer purchases feature in order to get the songs off of the phone and into the new iTunes library.
When you transfer purchases, you are essentially setting up the new iTunes library like the old one, if the music is the only difference between the two libraries.
That only imports purchases...the vast majority of music on my phone is from uploading songs into iTunes from CDs and what not. 😟
I have a new Dell W10 computer running iTunes 12.3.3. I use it as my workhorse computer for all major work. My wife and I have a large collection of CDs (yes we are old fashioned) and nearly all my music in the Dell iTunes is from those CDs, ripped into the Dell computer.
I also have a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.11.4 and iTunes 12.3.3. When I want to update the iTunes library on the Mac I go to the File Explorer on the PC, expand the Libraries Folder, expand the Music folder, and copy the iTunes folder in its entirety to a large flash drive. Then I delete the iTunes folder on the Mac (Finder > Music > iTunes) and paste the iTunes folder from the PC. I have never had an issue doing this, even across different platforms, and I am able to play and sync my ripped CD music in both the PC and Mac. Hope this helps you as well.
Thanks for the help everyone, the link helped me figure out how to transfer all the music on the shared computer into a new iTunes account on my desktop. Much appreciated.
Can I sync my phone with my library from another computer?
