iPod Touch - Was Connected to Mac; Now Wants to Be Connected to PC

[GuyNoir]

Ok, so the wife's cell phone contract ran out, which meant she got to satisfy a extended lust for an iPhone (don't ask. . .).

I inherit the iPod touch she had before, the device that "ignited" the iPhone lust.

She's a Mac user; I'm on PC.

I want to connect the iPod to my PC without mucking up the music and apps on it.

Any ideas, experience, what to do, what not to do to make that happen? I know some of you MUST have done this already. . .

 

[rocket9005]

Don't use iTunes on the PC then. It will want to erase and resync to the Ipod. I have my son's old Ipod "classic", he has a Ipod, and and a Iphone. I have used a Linux machine to delete his (c)rap off the iPod and put my music on it. On Linux I use amarok, which is a Itunes look-a-like to control it, but it doesn't have a windows version. I have installed a cross platform program, Floola, on my machine, but I haven't used it on the iPod yet.

On a side note, you should really be using a Mac. and if you do need Windows, the Intel based Macs can dual-boot into windows if you use Bootcamp, or you can use a visualization program like VMware or Parallels.

 

[BHP]

I dunno about the Mac to PC issue but when my daughter wanted to transfer her iTunes library from one PC to another we simply copied the library to an external hard drive, loaded the library from the external hard drive to the second PC and resynched the iPod to the second PC. It worked for us (her).

 

[gpoehlein]

Not sure completely, but if she "authorizes" your PC (you are allowed to authorize up to 5 machines to use the same music), you will be able to transfer the music and apps from her mac to your PC. Once that is done, even if iTunes on your PC wants to wipe the iPod, you can just reload the material. Might not even be a bad idea anyway - a clean wipe and a restart is never a bad idea when changing systems. If you try alternate methods (like Linux and other work arounds), you will never be able to use iTunes with this iPod and will never be able to add more material to it.

If there is anything on the iPod that is not backed up to a hard drive somewhere (a REALLY bad idea - store copies of all iPod material offboard) there are a number of programs that will pull material back off the iPod. I downloaded a freeware program called Senuti (from either Tucows or Downloads.com, I think) that backs up music from an iPod back to the mac computer. I haven't used it in a while, so I don't know if it is still available, if it has been updated for apps and videos (my iPod is a second generation model, still running after six years) or if it is still freeware.

Greg

 

[RoyAtl]

If the PC and Mac are both on the same network, and you upgrade both machines to iTunes 9, and authorize both computers, you should be able to take advantage of a feature called "Home Sharing."

I've not used it, since I only use one of my PCs for syncing with my iPhone, so I can't tell you if or how well it would do what you want.

 

[mkadams001]

Check Apples web site for information on authorizing computers. This will be the solution you are looking for.

 

[Pat_B]

Just killed off my I-Tunes account due to Apple's lack of security. Someone used my account to buy a $50 gift certificate and Apple refuses to even answer my emails. Similar problem last year when my I-Pod become defective.

Anyway, the crooks initially put through a few $1 charges on the account to see if its a valid account and if anyone notices. They'll later put through larger charges. Some people have been hundreds of dollars with concert ticket purchases. Apple is doing all it can to hide the fact that their security is next to useless with credit card info.