Sync Iphone on 2 or more pcs

[kernal_panic]

I have 3 computers one at home, one at work, and a laptop.

How the hell do I get my Iphone 3g to let me sync it with all 3 pcs with itunes???

i have different music and videos on all 3 machines.

with my zune I just sync my Z80 as guest on my other pcs. is there someway to do that with my iphone?

[jhollington]

Hi and welcome to iLounge.

Unfortunately, you can't do this with iTunes itself... It's designed to only sync an iPod or iPhone with a single library.

The iPod has a "manual" mode that will allow you to add music from multiple computers manually by drag-and-drop, but the manual mode on the iPhone doesn't work on multiple computers.

Your only other option will be to look at third-party software such as PhoneView (Mac) or TouchCopy (Windows). These will allow you to add content from any computer where these applications are installed, and as an added bonus you can also copy music and other data from the iPhone back to your computer (something that iTunes doesn't allow you to do unless you're working with purchased items).

[kernal_panic]

Thanks for the reply. I tried touchcopy and while I could see the content already on the phone I wasn't able to add content to the phone and the the phone would then recognize.

is there a particular folder I have to copy the music or videos into for the phone to recognize?

[SuMMerS]

There is a way to access all your music and videos on all the computers so long as they are all on the same network.

I KNOW this works with a PC as i do it. Mac i don't know.

ok heres what you have to do....

Move all of your movies and music and whatnot onto one computer that you want to act as the "server" preferrably this will be the one with the biggest hard drive for later expansion, or maybe just to hold all your existing data. It also may be a good idea to have it be your most powerful computer, as this process may cause it some stress in the background.

You "MAY" either need a second hard drive on one of these computers, or partition your existing drive, because IIRC windows doesn't let you share your system drive.

Import it all into your itunes on the "server" computer... (I strongly advise you have all your music/videos in the same folder and organized as it can sometimes get confusing)

Now you can delete the music and videos off the other compters that you will not use when the computer is connected to the network. If you need access to some files when away from the network, it is best to leave them locally on that computer.

Here is where it gets interesting.

If your computers are not already networked, do so now.

Then you are going to need to share the drive over the network. (i don't remember exact steps and am to lazy to check now, but if you have problems tell me)

Then on the other computers, right click my computer and hit "Map Network Drive"

Select a drive letter that is not already in use. Then browse for the drive on the other computer that you have just shared.

accept it and yadda yadda

Go to my computer and click on the drive you have just mapped. You should be able to browse the files on there just as you could as if you were on that computer.

If all is working fine, proceed.

On the "server" computer go to itunes > Edit > Preferences > advanced and take note of where your itunes music folder is located.

Now go to your other computers... and start up itunes, as soon as you double click the icon or whatever you do, hold shift.

A box will pop up asking for the itunes.itl file. Browse to the networked drive, to the location noted by the "server" computer. Select this and hit ok

Now let it load all your library and your good to go.

All your computers now have access to your entire library so long as they remain connected to the network.

The only drawback seems to be if more than one computer tries to boot itunes at the same time, it will say itunes cannot be accessed because it is on a locked drive. Solve this by simply exiting itunes on both, starting it first on the server computer, and then boot it up on the others.

Also for this to work the server computer must be on at all times.

I know this may seem confusing, but it really isn't to bad. I figured it out with trial and error, so i probably know any error you will run into.

[kernal_panic]

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate the time and effort both of you have expended in responding to my question. Unfortunately neither answer is a workable solution for me. I have an 80 gig Zune I'll just keep using it for music/videos/podcasts and just use my Iphone for a phone. its really too bad apple apple has hobbled the iphone so. its a really kick ### phone if not the most kick ### phone available.

I suppose if I was a single pc user and not the road warrior that I am (i put 600+ miles a week on my car driving around the state) I could use the the ipod portion of the phone but the 1 pc restriction just doesn't cut it for my music and videos.

[jhollington]

Well, I'm not sure why TouchCopy isn't working for you, although I haven't personally used it beyond basic testing since I'm a Mac user. It's possible it doesn't offer this functionality, in which case that's a shame, but I'm sure other apps will pop up to fill the void.

I travel quite a bit as well, but my solution is that I have a laptop computer anyway, so I just keep my iTunes library (well, the database) on the laptop itself. I can then sync my iPhone to the laptop as often as I need to, and even add additional content. The files that are already on my iPhone don't need to be on the laptop -- they can be on an external hard drive, but as long as they remain listed in the iTunes library, they will not be removed.

I have a 2TB+ library that sits on an external storage array when I'm at home, and I do most of my syncing there, but when I'm on the road, anything else that I download and import, including podcasts, just gets stored on my laptop hard drive, and can of course be synced to my iPhone (or any of my iPods for that matter). When I get back to my desk and plug in the external array, a quick "Consolidate Library" operation copies any of the tracks from my local hard drive back up to the array (since that's still the default media location).

Further, I don't even use manual management for any of this -- I do it all with automatic sync.

Perhaps not an optimal multi-computer solution, but if you're travelling with a laptop anyway, it's probably the best way to handle your iTunes library IMHO, since then you still have everything technically in a single database and can manage it in one place.

Our our iPod 201 article, Managing your iTunes Library on an External Hard Drive (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-hard-drive/) has some more information on how this all works.

[dskstylo]

I have my ipod sync'd through 3 computers using the network at home, and yes it works on a Mac with a networked drive. Now for the twist..I also run MS Vista on a dual boot macbook pro. The mac portion of the disk has a sync'd itunes on it, but is not connected to my network when I am at work. I also have to run Windows at work, so is there a way to use itunes as a jukebox to pull songs off my iphone without syncing? :confused: My PC partition will not hold the extra 16 gig of the itunes/iphone library or I would do that. thanks

[Ricardo Dawkins]

I guest sync between my main computer at home and the computer at office. yeah, I own a zune 80.

[Sparky_92]

I guest sync between my main computer at home and the computer at office. yeah, I own a zune 80.

Yeah, but it doesn't work with iTunes. :shake: