Another iTunes topic
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iTunes on Win7
My daughter is about to purchase a new iPod Touch. She has a 2nd gen one now. She basically wants the same setup she has now on the new one... music, apps, photos. After we transfer the old stuff to the new I will take possession of the old, wipe it clean and start fresh.
I started researching how to transfer and started getting confused. Is there a simple way to do this that I am missing? Granted I have not opened iTunes yet as I am at work but I believe when I get home she will have already bought her new iPod.
Also, is there another program that will manage an iPod touch? Apps, music, photos...? I have seen others that manage music for non app iPods but not for the Touch.
Thanks for any help.
Oh, and FWIW I hate using iTunes. And the first person that says "Get a Mac" will get
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Ooo, it looks like I finally found a site that explained it well enough:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/30402/transfer-music-apps-and-other-data-from-an-old-gen-ipod-to-a-new-one/I guess then you just Restore the old iPod and start fresh.
My question about other software still stands though.
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Plug in iPod
Under it's preference set Manage Music Manually
Drag 'n' drop your tracks
Ignore all syncing shit and automatically transfer new purchases/albums etc
That's how I did it. Having iTunes to decide everything takes the fun outta rebuilding your library every now and then. If you ask me gadgets are slowly becoming boring because they now tend to second guess your every move.
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Well thanks for breaking my little girls heart Apple. New iPod Touch that she purchased won't run on the current version of iTunes so I downloaded the latest and in the middle of installing I got a warning saying the Windows installer failed. Too late to figure the fracking thing out tonight.
Eventually I want to move iTunes to the laptop but I dread that process. Did I mention I hate iTunes?
End of bitch session.
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Seen this on net, dunno if it will work as I cannot quite make out what the hell he said.
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You didn't lose anything. Just re-install itunes to the same location as the original installation. All songs, music, etc. will still be there.
Add the new ipod to itunes. (Activate or something, I don't remember. I haven't added a new device in a while)
Sync.
After the itunes update you may need to re-select what is synced, sometimes it de-selects music or whatever.
Always set your itunes to back up your device automatically.
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Thanks Pete
.Thanks Jeff but that is not the issue. I have backed everything up and iTunes is still there with all the apps, music etc.
The problem is iTunes won't recognize the new iPod Touch without the latest version of iTunes. I have tried a few times to install the new version and it failed each time. Now that the girls are asleep I am currently doing an update to the computer and will restart and try again.
This is the message I get when trying to install iTunes:
@unknownuser said:
There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor.
This is the first time I have seen this message. I have had iTunes for a few years now with multiple updates. Only now when my daughter spent her own money to buy the latest is it failing (I know, sob story blah blah blah, but it is Valentines Day and Apple made her cry
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Well still no luck. I plugged the new iPod back in to see exactly which version it said needed to be installed. 10.5 or newer. I found a site with the older versions and 10.5 is 4 months old so I am downloading it now. Cross your fingers...
(Not my daughter but appropriate none the less). -
Well, no luck there either. I tried version 10.5 and 10.5.2.11 but I get the same error message. I guess it is time to figure out how to move iTunes to another computer.
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eric. . .sorry you're having trouble with the iTouch. I have had similar issues trying to coordinate my library between an old iPod, ITouch, iPad and the iPhone. It all i-Sucks.
ITunes has never been what one would call user friendly. In the hyper -paranoid fear of music piracy, (which most smart hackers can work around anyway) Apple has created a really great product with really lousy software.
Good luck. . .and when you get it figured out. . .will you explain it to me?
David
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Oh explain I will because I finally got it working thanks to this Apple support community thread.
iTunes is on our oldest computer which is running XP. About 3 year old computer.
So the error I got mentioned that the Windows installer had a problem. Turns out if you are running XP and you try to install the new iTunes you have to remove Quicktime, repair Apple Software Update, then remove Apple Software Update. Only then will iTunes install!
The error message should have read as follows:
@unknownuser said:
So sorry there is a problem installing the latest version of iTunes on WIN XP. The problem is that our software cannot even manage to talk to each other much less talk to your operating system. Please remove all our shit before you try to update again. Thank you.
Tongue in cheek to a degree here. I really am not that upset because I expected problems. I am just tired now.
Sync in progress...
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Mmm, the saga continues. All apps and photos synced fine but no playlists.
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By chance did you dig into the device > music menu and see if it needs to be selected to sync?
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No, I just figured the backup was just that, a backup and restoring it would do just that, restore it. Too much to hope for?
Her playlist is not that large so I just made new ones and filled them up. She was a happy girl this morning. I think it was the quickest she has gotten up in the morning in years. Score 1 for daddy.
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Eric,
There are many options available, personally I do not like iTunes at all, wished it was more like Zune, however there are many ways to load content onto your iDevice without iTunes. One way would be to jailbreak it, but lets not go there right now.
- Media Monkey (Windows)
MediaMonkey is a heavy-duty, fully-featured media player for Windows. It is just like iTunes in Mac, allowing you to manage your music, video, podcast, rip CD, organize album art etc. In their latest version 3 release, they implemented iPhone/iPod Touch support and you can now transfer/sync your music easily.
In order to use Media Monkey to manage your iPhone music, you have to first install iTunes (version 8.1.0.52 and before). That could be ironical since the purpose of it all is to do without iTunes completely. However, iTunes comes with the device driver for iPhone/iPod Touch that is required by many third-party media players to detect and access the database of the iPhone. As soon as you install iTunes, you will be able to use Media Monkey to sync your music.
For those who don’t want to install iTunes, there is a hack:
Download the iTunes.exe file
Rename the .exe to .zip
Open up the zipped file and extract AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi and QuickTime.msi
Install these two files.
You can then sync your iPhone with Media Monkey without iTunes.
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Winamp and the ml_ipod plugin (Windows)
For those who have been using Winamp since the first day it was launched, there is no need to migrate all your music library to iTunes just because you bought a iPhone. With the ml_ipod plugin, you will be able to sync your music.
Firstly, you have to install iTunes (ml_ipod was tested with iTunes 7.4.2 and 8.0.2. If you are using a later version of iTunes, might not work), or use the above hack to install the driver without installing iTunes.
Secondly, install Winamp (recommended version 5 and above), follow by ml_ipod (version 3.08 or later). Plug in your iPhone and start Winamp. You should be able to see the device appear on the left side of the panel (see above screenshot).
One good thing about using this combination is, unlike iTunes, this is a bidirectional sync – you can download the songs back to your computer. -
SharePod (Windows)
If you are looking for a simple and lightweight software to get the synchronization done quickly and easily, then Sharepod would be a good choice.
Sharepod is nothing more than a software for you to sync your iPod and iPhone. While you can play music directly from your iPhone within Sharepod, the music player is only minimal and does not offer much options.
SharePod also offers bidirectional synchronization between your iPhone and computer. Did I also mention that there is no installation required for Sharepod? It just works!
Just like the above two softwares, you’ll need to install iTunes (or perform the hack) for SharePod to recognize your iPhone. -
CopyTransManager (Windows)
If you are still using firmware 1.x on your iPhone, CopyTrans Manager will work out of the box to sync your iPhone. However, if you are using firmware 2.x, it will prompt you to apply a fix to downgrade the iPhone database so that it can be read by the software. If you are not comfortable with it modifying the internal structure of your iPhone, this software might not be for you.
Unlike all other software listed above, you don’t need to install iTunes to use CopyTrans Manager. It claims to be the alternative to iTunes. Perhaps in the field of syncing your music library, it can be a good alternative. Other than that, it is clearly lacking in features and does not offer as many features as iTunes. -
PwnPlayer (any platform)
Pwnplayer is an iPhone music player app that acts as an alternative to the default ipod.app in your iPhone. Its user interface is almost similar to the iPod.app, allowing you to view your songs in Artists, Albums, Songs, Genre list etc. It also supports album art display.
To use Pwnplayer, you have to first jailbreak your iPhone, then install the PwnPlayer application from Cydia. Once you have jailbroken your iPhone, you can then transfer your songs (over SSH) to any folder in your iPhone (for more information about transferring files over to the iPhone, refer to my older article: 6 Ways To Use iPhone As An External Hard Drive). Pwnplayer will scan the whole iPhone hard disk and add the songs to its library. You don’t have to worry about any compatibility with OS platform since it works regardless which OS you are using. As long as you can perform SSH in your computer, you can get Pwnplayer to work.
Or you can use this: http://www.leawo.com/imediago/
- Media Monkey (Windows)
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Wow, thanks for the post Pete I appreciate it. And the Leawo iTransfer looks like a great tool.
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Sorry I wasn't much help, but glad to hear you've got it working again.
ITunes works great, until it doesn't...but then that's true of most things.
If you elect to continue using it, just make sure you update it regularly to avoid those issues. I had the same problem with an iPhone 3GS that had iOS 4.x on it and my computer was 5.x. Luckily I wasn't worried about the content on the 3GS, so it was easier to just wipe it and start fresh.
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