02-16-2012, 11:30 AM

I purchased my elderly mother in iPad for Christmas. She does not own a PC/Mac so it is a standalone unit.

She has a number of documentaries on DVD and I see from google there are many software available that I could rip her DVD's on my MacBook Pro to iPad format. But it appears to transfer these files the obvious option is via iTunes which is not ideal, what is my best option to transfer photos/movie files to her iPad from my laptop?

Thanks in advance

02-16-2012, 01:44 PM

why cant you use itunes?

02-16-2012, 02:36 PM

Syncing with iOS devices is truly done only through iTunes..you can do a lot without connecting these devices to a computer with iOS 5..but you are going to be restricted in the things you can get onto the device with what's available through the iTunes or App Store on the device..

02-16-2012, 03:13 PM

You could share a dropbox account with your grandmother. Rip the video files to your computer and she can access them with the dropbox app on her iPad. I'm pretty sure it requires the host computer to be on and running in order for her to access the video files, so you may have an obstacle there to figure out.
But it does not require iTunes or for her to use a computer...

02-16-2012, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by Deckyon

why cant you use itunes?

Never said I couldn't, but what is she going to sync it with? Effectively its a stand alone unit.

02-16-2012, 04:25 PM

Dropbox isnt really gonna work - depending on how many DVDs there are, there goes the space.

If you dont want to rip and then sync (through iTunes) the DVDs, then she cant really, easily, get them on a stand-alone iPad.

Depending on how many DVDs there are, and how big her iPad is, you could rip them all, sync them once, and be done with it.

Or, she can watch them on her TV via DVD player.

02-16-2012, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Deckyon

Dropbox isnt really gonna work - depending on how many DVDs there are, there goes the space.

What is the storage limit for Dropbox? I didn't think about a limit...

Originally Posted by Deckyon

Depending on how many DVDs there are, and how big her iPad is, you could rip them all, sync them once, and be done with it.

This is (so far) the best bet, if Grandma's DVDs exceed Dropbox's limit. ...which they probably will.

02-16-2012, 11:22 PM

I use AVPlayer HD and wirelessly transfer from pc to Ipad, plus it plays almost any media format on the IPad
AVPlayerHD for iPad on the iTunes App Store

02-17-2012, 04:00 AM

My wife would far prefer to be iPad-only, but I need to sync her iPad periodically to her account on our iMac in order to upload family photo batches for her, and to make a local backup.