iPod Help

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#1

My wife has an iPod Touch and she manages her own music library on our PC, but occasionally I’ll purchase a couple of TV shows on my computer (a Mac, but that shouldn’t make a difference) and put on her iPod for some in-flight entertainment.

Before we left I bought a couple of shows (Dexter, if anyone’s interested), and manually added them to her iPod. In this case I was logged onto iTunes using my own account. I had automatic syncing turned off and had no problems. For our return flight, I bought 2 more episodes, but in this case I logged on to I tunes using my wife’s account because she had some iTunes credit to use up. However, when I tried to add them to the iPod I was told that I couldn’t because this computer wasn’t authorized to play those files. I relogged on to iTunes as my self and it still didn’t work. I then tried authorizing her iPod from the Store menu. This allowed me to add the new TV episodes to her iPod, but also proceeded to delete her entire music library (luckily her library is on another computer, but she probably would have liked to still have it on the iPod for the flight). Any clues what I did wrong and how I can avoid this in the future? Thanks!

#2

It’s not a bug, it’s a (RIAA mandated) feature. You can’t manage an iPod from multiple computers, so that the kids don’t ‘trade music’ or somesuch. Makes it a real PITA in domestic situations.

#3

Phil,

Let me say this back to you so I know I have it clear:

Wife iTouch -> Synced with -> Her PC
Your device -> Synced with -> Your Mac

I need to lay this out as I do this occasionally with my wife. I buy something on my iTunes and then load it onto her account. In my experience it asks you, “Give authorized password for this purchase” and when you do everything is kosher.

I feel like I am missing something in your scenario. Can you describe how you are getting the files over to her account? When you click on them on the computer does it request, “Please enter password to play”?

#4

Assuming the computers are “authorized” for each other, he should be able to move the files between computers, and then onto the various devices.

#5

Backup your purchases, deauthorize all machines, then reauthorize. That’s all you really can do, I fear.

Investing in a MythTV box may be a worthwhile investment for the future?

#6

Yes, that’s pretty much the case, but in my case I still manage my iPod manually. I inherited my iPod from her, so there’s music on it that I don’t have on my computer that I would prefer not be erased. I pretty much only use it to listen to podcasts, so it’s pretty easy to manage it manually.

I need to lay this out as I do this occasionally with my wife. I buy something on my iTunes and then load it onto her account. In my experience it asks you, “Give authorized password for this purchase” and when you do everything is kosher.

This sounds like the opposite of what I did. I accessed my wife’s account from my computer to use her iTunes gift card. To do this I had to log on as her of course. I then purchased the shows and downloaded them to my library.

I feel like I am missing something in your scenario. Can you describe how you are getting the files over to her account? When you click on them on the computer does it request, “Please enter password to play”?

I never was asked a password to play the shows from my computer. My only problem was dragging and dropping them on to Lisa’s iPod. That’s when I got the “This computer is not authorized to manage these files” warning.

Yeah, my problem was that we were traveling with only my laptop and two iPods. I know I’m not supposed to be able to duplicate a file more than a couple times, I just don’t know why I can’t put it on one. I also want to know how to avoid having my wife’s iPod accidentally syncing to my computer. It seemed that ‘authorizing’ her iPod lead to immediate erasure of her library.

The other problem I realized was that Dexter might not be the best TV show to watch in a public place. Luckily, the screen is pretty small, but we were in the last row and people milling about the lavatories could get quite an eyeful if they paid close enough attention…

#7

We have the same problem (The GF and I, that is, not Solai and I. (Not yet, anyhow.))

As far as I can tell, the issue stems from the problem of syncing. It’s just easier to have one machine deal with another. Once you introduce a third, problems increase geometrically. So, to keep it simple®, Apple enforces a iPod/iPhone<->One Mac rule. There are third party alternatives out there, but I haven’t tried them.

#8

I don’t know anything about Macs (I use a PC), but do Macs have separate user logins (for the OS) when you start up your computer? I use one computer for multiple iPods, but I just log on to as a different user for each iTunes library for each iPod. Then I just keep the music files in a shared folder, so I can access them and drag them into whichever iTunes library I’m using. As long as I don’t mix up the iPods with their respective iTunes library, things seem to work.

#9

This is precisely why I refuse to buy any music/video infected with DRM. (Aside from Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter in 2007, which was only available on ITMS)

Call me crazy, but in my opinion if I buy something, I own it. You don’t get to sell me something and then tell me what I can and cannot do with it.

#10

I am chicken. :confused: I moved (ok my husband) all of my computer stuff from one hard drive to the other including my iTunes stuff. The podcast titles came over but not content. Should I just plug my iPod into my computer and follow the directions or what? Updating my iPod on my old computer is getting very hard to do. Oh and I use a Mac if you have not seen one of my rants. :smiley:

#11

handbrake is by far the best app i’ve used. Iit will also put the video in your itunes library when it’s done encoding as well.