Macworld: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks ...

smoothjazz

2 posts since
Jul 14, 2007

16. Jul 16, 2007 12:53 PM

in response to: dux5

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

PLEASE, PLEASE - WHY WON'T YOU RESPOND TO HOW YOU ARE GETTING VIDEO'S TO SYNC FROM A PLAYLIST?

As so many others have commented, the only way to get videos to sync from a playlist, is to retag them as TV SHOWS or MUSIC VIDEOS.

Jason, is this true for you? You never mentioned this anywhere in your article. This is a big omiision if that is correct.

Please let us all know. It would be nice not to have to retag the videos, but how else?

feefer

241 posts since
Dec 19, 2005

17. Jul 16, 2007 1:44 PM

in response to: smoothjazz

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

I sync my iPhone to my Powerbook G4 (X.4.10 and iTunes 7.3.1).

After reading this article, I tried syncing to my 1st-gen MacIntel Mini (running X.4.10 and iTunes 7.3.1), but plugging the iPhone into my Mini produces an error message in iTunes that the iPhone is synced to another computer, as Frederick reports. I'm given the option to proceed with syncing, with a warning that the iPhone's contents will be over-written if I proceed.

Those who report they can sync with more than one computer: is this a version issue (7.3.0 vs 7.3.1)? I'm wondering if 7.3.1 broke (or more accurately, prevents) the ability to sync with more than one computer.

Jason Snell

2,190 posts since
Dec 11, 2000

18. Jul 16, 2007 2:21 PM

in response to: dux5

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

Quote:<hr />
Since I want my home bookmarks, but all logic dictates that I use the calendar and contacts at work, this is a bit of a challenge. I've found a somewhat long-to-describe workaround that handles the issue just fine in my book though.

<hr />

Using a utility that syncs browser bookmarks between home and work is probably the best scenario, though there are quirks.

Jason Snell, Editorial Director, Macworld

Jason Snell

2,190 posts since
Dec 11, 2000

19. Jul 16, 2007 2:22 PM

in response to: smoothjazz

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

Quote:<hr />
PLEASE, PLEASE - WHY WON'T YOU RESPOND TO HOW YOU ARE GETTING VIDEO'S TO SYNC FROM A PLAYLIST?

<hr />

I check the box and the videos sync. But I will admit, all my videos are tagged as TV Shows. I haven't tried to drop a movie in there.

Jason Snell, Editorial Director, Macworld

Jason Snell

2,190 posts since
Dec 11, 2000

20. Jul 16, 2007 2:22 PM

in response to: feefer

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

Quote:<hr />
plugging the iPhone into my Mini produces an error message in iTunes that the iPhone is synced to another computer, as Frederick reports. I'm given the option to proceed with syncing, with a warning that the iPhone's contents will be over-written if I proceed.

<hr />

I believe the contents won't be overwritten if you uncheck sync boxes and then apply the settings, but I can't guarantee it 100%, so try it only if you're brave.

I have done syncs in 7.3.0 and 7.3.1, so it's not a version thing so far as I can tell. And I've used PowerPC and Intel systems.

Jason Snell, Editorial Director, Macworld

michaelhiga

2 posts since
Jan 28, 2006

21. Jul 16, 2007 2:38 PM

in response to: Jason Snell

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

Hi All-

I wish I knew what the "secret" is that those of you successfully syncing work and home (calendar/contacts on one and media on the other) computers is. Jason's article is great, but I've been trying this since the day after I got my iPhone and I always get the same error message:
"... the iPhone's contents will be over-written if I proceed."

...and my work computer sync wipes out the media that my home Mac syncs to my iPhone. I just got off the phone with 2 different Apple techs: one says it will work, and the other says they don't support syncing to 2 computers.

Please, can somebody tell me what the secret is to make this work? Thanks in advance to all!

ps - per the Apple tech's suggestion (the one who said it works), I did an iPhone reset, turned off automatic syncing in iTunes and checked/unchecked the corresponding boxes on each computer...

- Higgy

feefer

241 posts since
Dec 19, 2005

22. Jul 17, 2007 11:27 PM

in response to: Jason Snell

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

Quote:<hr />
I believe the contents won't be overwritten if you uncheck sync boxes and then apply the settings, but I can't guarantee it 100%, so try it only if you're brave.

I have done syncs in 7.3.0 and 7.3.1, so it's not a version thing so far as I can tell. And I've used PowerPC and Intel systems.

<hr />

Well, I tried syncing, ignoring the warning/threat of overwriting, and sure enough: iTunes overwrote the current files, and synced the data from the current computer. In other words, my iPhone wouldn't sync with more than one computer. Of course, I synced the phone BEFORE I did this, so was able to revert to an older sync, i.e. no data lost.

FWIW, I made sure to disable "automatic syncing for ALL iPhones" in iTunes Preferences (for iPhone), AND disabled "automatically sync when THIS iPhone is connected" on the menu that appears whenever an iPhone is inserted into the USB port. I suspect Jason's results are due to some combination of these settings, but don't know for sure....

PS just watched Jason's video, and see that the iPhone breaks data down into different categories (video/music, info/podcasts, and photos). As shown, apparently you can sync with multiple computers without overwriting (with podcasts as the exception, overwritten when you transfer music/video).

dux5

71 posts since
Dec 2, 2004

23. Jul 18, 2007 1:37 AM

in response to: feefer

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

Quote:<hr />
Well, I tried syncing, ignoring the warning/threat of overwriting, and sure enough: iTunes overwrote the current files, and synced the data from the current computer.

<hr />

I'll re-create the best I can how this worked out for me:

1) Opened the iPhone packaging and ran through the activation on my MBP. I continued to sync all the music, podcasts, video podcasts and data on the laptop to the phone as well as my home e-mail accounts.

note: since I was on vacation, this is how I set it up for the time being, but the intent was to have the calendar and address book sync from my work computer

2) After performing my last data sync from home on the morning I returned to work, I de-selected the calendar, contacts and bookmarks sync from the info tab.

3) Upon returning to work, I connected the iPhone to my G5. I clicked "cancel" (or similar, can't recall exactly) when iTunes asked about performing a sync.

4) I then went in to the various tabs and de-selected syncing on everything but the contacts and calendar and asked my G5 to over-write all such data on the iPhone (the MBP didn't have all the current data on it, so I wanted to start fresh and add back in the 5-10 items I had added since first setting up the iPhone).

5) I then went back in and asked the G5 to sync my work e-mail and selected "merge data" when presented the dialog window. This did not overwrite any setup on my home e-mail accounts big note here: I believe this works fine as long as each e-mail account has a unique name. If my MBP and G5 had both had two different accounts, but both named "Dux5" I'm pretty sure this would have presented a problem.

6) Somewhere along the line, I asked my copy of Aperture on my MBP to sync a smart album with the iPhone.

7) I decided I wanted my home bookmarks synced to my iPhone. I selected the bookmarks sync tab in iTunes on my MBP and asked it to sync the bookmarks from Safari.

8) The next morning at work on the G5 the calendar and contacts did not sync ... which I attribute to them being in the same grouping (as described by Jason Snell in the original post) as the bookmarks. In iTunes on the G5 the bookmarks (which had previously been unchecked) and the contacts and calendars (which previously had been checked) were all de-selected. I selected both the contacts and calendars and again used the "merge data" option when the dialog came up.

Of course, I also was pretty careful to back up this important data before starting each of these various steps (except for the last one, which was kind of flying by the seat of my pants).

gaefstan

53 posts since
Jan 27, 2002

24. Jul 18, 2007 1:17 PM

in response to: Jason Snell

Neither...

...since both you and PM are saying the same thing. You state:

"As I write this, Im sitting at work. On my desktop is an MP3 file I downloaded today that Id like to listen to on my way home, on my iPhone. But I cant not without erasing the entire music and video contents of that phone. Thats because my iPhones music and video libraries are synced to my home Mac."

PM states:

"If, for instance, you sync photos to your iPhone from your work computer, then later try to add more photos onto the device from your home computer, the iPhone will erase all the photos you previously put on it."

See? Same thing since they noted that they were only trying to add more photos. This is the same as you attempting to add more music except in a different block. Where there may be confusion is a readers assumption that that applies to all blocks (meaning all data will be overwritten rather than having certain blocks user selectable for overwrite).

feefer

241 posts since
Dec 19, 2005

25. Jul 19, 2007 3:34 AM

in response to: gaefstan

Re: Neither...

Just as a side-note, iPhoto automatically opens whenever the iPhone is attached. This is annoying when you simply want to sync other data besides photos.

If you want to disable this behavior, see the General Prefs setting in Image Capture.app ("when a camera is attached, open NO APPLICATION").

dux5

71 posts since
Dec 2, 2004

26. Jul 19, 2007 1:29 PM

in response to: feefer

Re: Neither...

Quote:<hr />
Just as a side-note, iPhoto automatically opens whenever the iPhone is attached. This is annoying when you simply want to sync other data besides photos.

If you want to disable this behavior, see the General Prefs setting in Image Capture.app ("when a camera is attached, open NO APPLICATION").

<hr />

iPhoto (or Aperture, for that matter) only open if there are photos in the "camera roll" on the iPhone. Once you import them to iPhoto (or Aperture) AND delete them from the iPhone, the photo applications will not launch.

Instead of disabling the settings you note above, you could simply attribute a keyword (say, "iPhone") to all photos you want to keep on your iPhone and create a smart album that syncs with your iPhone.

The idea is that only newly taken photos should be in the iPhone's "camera roll."

davidtrpt

12 posts since
Jun 28, 2007

27. Jul 24, 2007 8:29 PM

in response to: gaefstan

Re: Neither...

Maybe I'm off in the weeds in my conception of how the sync activity takes place, but I think of it as merely creating a mirror image of the data on whichever computer is being used for the sync activity. So, on computer #1 if I have photos 101, 102, and 103 and I sync with that computer, then my iPhone has copies of photos 101, 102, and 103.

However, if I sync with computer #2 with photos 104, 105, and 106, then the iPhone politely obliges and now contains photos 104, 105, and 106. If I go back to computer #1 and re-sync, then the iPhone again will contain photos 101, 102, and 103 - it maintains a mirror image of the files on whichever computer it was last synced with.

My way around this to be able to use both computers for syncing photos is to update my photo folders in both computer #1 and #2 so that they are always identical. If I add new photos to computer #1 then I also add the same new photos to computer #2 - a quick chore since my computers are linked via my Airport network. If I were to have one of these computers at a remote location and wanted to upload new photos to my iPhone, then of course the new sync operation would overwrite the old photos with the contents of the updated folder and its new photos. When I get home then I need to remember to duplicate the folder contents so that both computers are the same again. Or if I want to listen to a new tune on the way home, then I need to accept that the old tunes will be overwritten by the new one, and I will lose the old information until I do another sync with a computer that contains BOTH the old and new information.

Am I thinking correctly? Just to make certain I was not going crazy, I performed a similar exercise a few minutes ago, with my grandson's music on one computer and one of my Canadian Brass favorites on the other. The results were the same as for the photo example above. So that I don't have to maintain identical calendars, address books, etc. I just have to remember to check the appropriate boxes to define the source data for the sync activity, whether it be iCal, Addresses, Music, or Photos.

Dave

Mark_Simonson

3 posts since
Jul 29, 2007

28. Jul 29, 2007 3:52 PM

in response to: dux5

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

I'm having trouble syncing between my iPhone and two Macs.

What I want to do is have my iPhone get info, music, podcasts and video from Mac #1, and only photos from Mac #2.

The first part works fine, but when I connect the iPhone to Mac #2, it behaves as if it thinks it's connected to Mac #1. In other words, all iPhone settings in Mac #1 seem to be duplicated in Mac #2, with the exception of the Info pane. If I change the settings in Mac #2 NOT to sync music, podcasts and video, it deletes all of these things from the iPhone. If I connect the iPhone again with Mac #1, the settings for these panes are now the same as on Mac #2--set NOT to sync.

This is very difficult to explain, but essentially, the iPhone sync settings on the two Mac seem to be in lock-step. I cannot make them different from each other, in spite of the fact that the music libraries are not identical. It's as if the iPhone thinks these two Macs are the same Mac (except for the Info pane).

Mark_Simonson

3 posts since
Jul 29, 2007

29. Jul 29, 2007 5:07 PM

in response to: Mark_Simonson

Re: Macword Weblog: iPhone sync tricks

One more wrinkle:

On Mac #2, if I set it to sync photos, but not music, videos, or podcasts, it adds the photos and deletes the rest. If I then sync on Mac #1, neither music, videos, podcasts or photos are checked for syncing. BUT, if I select music, videos and podcasts for syncing, it adds those files AND leaves the photos on the iPhone.

This works as a work-around, but it means that every time I want to add or delete photos (syncing with Mac #2), the other stuff gets deleted or changed and I have to sync with Mac #1 to restore them.

Isn't there a way to tell Mac #2 to leave the music, videos and podcasts alone and only sync with photos?

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