Help needed

[camborambp]

I am wanting to add songs onto my ipod. Problem is that the computer I use to usually put my songs on is somewhere else, and I have downloaded some new tunes onto a computer I am using at the moment. How can I get these songs onto my ipod, without getting rid of all the other songs already on my ipod?
Any sugestions would be fantastic.

[jhollington]

Hi, and welcome to iLounge!

This is a fairly common question, but you'll find most of the answers in our iTunes forums, since it's more of an iTunes-related question.

Essentially, what you have to do is to connect your iPod to this other computer in "manual" mode. Ensure that you have a recent version of iTunes on this computer, and then simply connect the iPod. A popup dialog box will inform you that this iPod is currently linked or associated with another iTunes library, and ask you if you want to re-associated it with this one. You should answer "NO" to this question.

Once you've done this, go into your iTunes preferences (specifically iTunes/Edit->Preferences->iPod) and select the option to "Manually manage songs and playlists." This will allow you to access the music on your iPod directly through iTunes, where you can reorganize, delete, or add new content manually.

At this point you can just drag-and-drop your new tracks onto your iPod through iTunes, just as if you were adding them to a playlist.

One note of caution, however, is that you will lose these newly-added songs when you connect back to your own library, since auto-sync will delete any tracks that are not present there. I would therefore suggest that you copy those tracks some other way (put them on a portable storage device, burn them to a CD as files, etc), so that you can import them into your main iTunes music library when you get back to that computer.

Alternatively, you could get a program to copy them back off the iPod, but you might find that's a bit more complicated than simply making an extra copy to take with you.

[camborambp]

Great thanks for the help, I have usually used ephod to get tracks off other peoples ipods onto my computer so I take it I can use that to get my new songs onto my library. As long as i take off auto sync!

Cheers