[Macworld]

Post your comments for Ask the iTunes Guy: Syncing tips here

[chimerical77]

The experience of syncing my kid's iPod touch with a large iTunes music library is awful, while Apple TV syncs with it easily. Make sense of that.

[stevescat]

"To sync the folder, click on an iOS device's icon in the iTunes source list (your device must be connected via USB or using Wi-Fi syncing). Now go to the Music tab, check Sync Music, then choose Selected Playlists, Artists, Albums and Genres. Select the folder you just made, or select any or all of the playlists it contains. Only those items will sync. Each user can have their own folder, and sync that to their device."
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If I click my iPad in the Devices list and go to the music tab it says, "iTunes Match is On". The only checkbox is to "Sync Voice Memos".

How to sync playlist folders in this case?

[kirkmc]

 stevescat, on 18 May 2012 - 06:13 AM, said:

"To sync the folder, click on an iOS device's icon in the iTunes source list (your device must be connected via USB or using Wi-Fi syncing). Now go to the Music tab, check Sync Music, then choose Selected Playlists, Artists, Albums and Genres. Select the folder you just made, or select any or all of the playlists it contains. Only those items will sync. Each user can have their own folder, and sync that to their device."
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If I click my iPad in the Devices list and go to the music tab it says, "iTunes Match is On". The only checkbox is to "Sync Voice Memos".

How to sync playlist folders in this case?

If you use iTunes Match, then you don't sync. If you want to sync, then you need to turn off iTunes Match. The two don't work together.

[bastion]

To the second question: Among the available criteria for populating a smart playlist is inclusion in or exclusion from another (smart or static) playlist. So for example I have smart playlists that contain a specific number of randomly chosen songs with 3-, 4- and 5-star ratings. Then I have the playlist I actually listen to and sync from, which is simply the union of those other "utility" playlists.

This post has been edited by bastion: 18 May 2012 - 06:19 AM

[zgaryd]

On the last question...before I switched to iTunes match, I remember getting those messages. It seems to me that when I went back to iTunes to see why, there was a small black exclamation point next to the iOS device name, and clicking on that revealed the 'more information'...

[j1h15233]

I wish someone would have asked about an external drive housing your itunes library. iTunes ALWAYS forgets that this is where the folders are located and then nothing will sync.

[ottobudan4s]

 j1h15233, on 18 May 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

I wish someone would have asked about an external drive housing your itunes library. iTunes ALWAYS forgets that this is where the folders are located and then nothing will sync.

I've had success using iTunes with external drives by using an app called TuneSpan. Since I've used it, I've never had an instance of iTunes "losing" the location of a file. You might want to give it a try. www.tunespan.com

[bastion]

 j1h15233, on 18 May 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

I wish someone would have asked about an external drive housing your itunes library. iTunes ALWAYS forgets that this is where the folders are located and then nothing will sync.

Perhaps no one asked about it because virtually no one experiences it. I've been using iTunes with libraries on external and/or network drives for years. I've never had it forget where things were.

[mschmitt]

Unfortunately the smart playlist size limit gets confused when you use the feature to downsample to a lower rate when syncing.

[kirkmc]

 j1h15233, on 18 May 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

I wish someone would have asked about an external drive housing your itunes library. iTunes ALWAYS forgets that this is where the folders are located and then nothing will sync.

I've had my iTunes music on an external disk for years. Just make sure that the drive is on and mounted before you launch iTunes. I never have any problems.

[bastion]

 kirkmc, on 18 May 2012 - 02:38 PM, said:

 j1h15233, on 18 May 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

I wish someone would have asked about an external drive housing your itunes library. iTunes ALWAYS forgets that this is where the folders are located and then nothing will sync.

I've had my iTunes music on an external disk for years. Just make sure that the drive is on and mounted before you launch iTunes. I never have any problems.

And really, it's even more forgiving than that. You only have to have the drive mounted before you try to use the media.

[Ben428]

The only thing that fixed the "items could not be synced" message for me was restoring my iPhone and setting it up as a new iPhone.

[k88dad]

Great Q & A on syncing. Unfortunately, you've left off the number one syncing issue for iDevices--How do I move content from iDevice to computer? I get so tired of answering that question for people that I know.

CAUTION: Do NOT go to a famous answers site and use the frequency of this question as a drinking game.