Help me get over my fear of iTunes.

Could somebody gently and respectfully help me get over my fear and loathing of iTunes? I'm not a switcher...I love Macs. But I have an iPad and I'm typing this awaiting the arrival of my first iPod touch, and I have little experience managing files on an iPod.

My problem is the fear in my stomach whenever I connect a device to my computer. To me, the most terrifying word in the Mac vocabulary is "Sync." It seems like every time you plug in an iPod or iPad to your computer it threatens you, giving an incredibly ominous message like "Syncing will overwrite all data on both devices, leaving you with no data and bone cancer. Are you sure you want to do this?" How can I tell it, "No, I don't want to overwrite anything at all! Just add the songs. Don't erase anything!"

What if I just want to move some pictures from one computer to another? Can I use my iPod touch to do that? It seems like you should be able to use it as a big flash drive if you want. Why does iTunes have to be so controlling and threatening? I'm really getting fascist vibes from this program.

OK, I'm ranting without having seriously tried to figure out the problem on my own. I thoroughly deserve your sarcasm, but like most igonorant ranters I have a delicate heart...please take it easy on me.

I have no problems "syncing" from my iphone to itunes and vice/versa.... I simply select Don't Sync and select what I want sync'd by checking or unchecking playlists, movies, etc....

It's easy........ to get rid of your fear, you just have to learn more about it and face it head on.

More than 500 million people use iTunes every day. Maybe 25 have a problem (and we hear about it when they do!).

But seriously, the solution to your fear is ... backups. If you have them, you have nothing to fear.

Thanks...

Thanks, guys...

I'm REALLY looking forward to my new iPod Touch. It didn't come today, even though the FedEx site said it was on the truck. I'm considering suing FedEx for the physical and emotional trauma from standing up by the mailbox in the rain for six hours.

Alas, I have no friends with Facetime.

In spite of one fried hard drive on my Macbook, I still don't regularly back up... I am one of those people. I don't floss, either, and I'm 36 and haven't started saving for retirement. I do have an external hard drive, so I suppose I should get one of those programs you recommended in your sticky.

Anyways, thanks again for the support. I'll give iTunes a good try.

If you don't back up, then you have every reason to be afraid. Luckily you don't need to get any programs to back up your files to an external drive. Your Mac already has Time Machine on it, which will make backing up really easy.

As for iTunes itself, it's no really much different from any other media player. You import your music files, and then they get transferred to your iPod. You create playlists, rate songs, etc. What exactly are you afraid of with iTunes? It's not any more controlling or threatening than any other program. Every song has a check box next to it; check off the ones you want copied to your iPod and deselect the ones you don't. You're in total control.

"Syncing will overwrite all data on both devices, leaving you with no data and bone cancer. Are you sure you want to do this?"
Used to the M$FT life, I see.

Overwriting data won't happen on both devices unless YOU SPECIFICALLY chose it. You only overwrite data on the ipods if you are syncing a new device/new itunes account, and new authorized account. Also, corrupting your ipod via jailbreak requires you to sometime resync everything all over again, but that's due to you jail-braking and isn't a fault of itunes/your ipod.

Remember why they do this: Because they don't want people stealing copyrighted music from one another. If they didn't do this, it would be possible to steal a 120 GB iPod along with the thousands and thousands of dollars worth of music on it.

Just give it an honest try. If you can't figure something how, look through the menus a bit. Try the help menu, it is really good. It even finds things similar, in case you don't know the right search terms. There are also tutorials on apple.com that can be quite helpful.

Also, remember that there are very few power users who will actually use iTunes to its full capability. Just use it for what you need it for, and forget the rest. When you have a new need, it can help you out. What I try to do is stay aware of what it is capable of. I'd hate to miss a feature that could be helpful, just because I'm old-fashioned.

You're going to love the new iPod Touch. My wife has a 3rd gen and I have the new 4th gen, and the difference in the display is amazing. Can't even see any pixels. My only complaint is that most of the game apps I've seen are more like time-wasting games, and not top-class like the ones for Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. For "serious" games, you still need something else.

Thanks again for the responses.

I've had the iPod for two days now, and today I used it to order another one. I love it.

I've now synced to two different computers successfully, using the feature where it checks what you've purchased and adds those songs to the new computer.

I think my problem was that my laptop is running 10.4, so when I bought my my iPad this spring I couldn't sync to it. I ended up with songs on two other computers. I'll just have to pick one...I do have some unpurchased songs that I've recorded myself, so I can't keep syncing to multiple computers unless I get some 3rd party software that allows me to do so.

Because I'm on 10.4, I don't have Time Machine. I'll have to get another program for backups.

I have to say that Filemaker Go is a wonderful app for those who use Filemaker. Pretty much all of the functionality of Filemaker...it's awesome. I'm dreaming of having my employees each carry an iPod with which they can access a database of all the things (plants) that we sell. We could also communicate by email and Facetime wherever they were in the complex, if I put up some antennae for the wi-fi.

So, in conclusion...I think I'm over my fear. Thanks all!

So now I bravely hooked up my iPod to the computer and let it do it's thing. Sure enough I see in the status bar "Deleting Facebook" and then "Deleting Truphone." It didn't give any explanation, or even ask permission!

This is why I have a fear and loathing of iTunes!!! Shouldn't it be backing up my apps onto the computer instead of deleting them?

Grrrr.

heliotrope said:

So now I bravely hooked up my iPod to the computer and let it do it's thing. Sure enough I see in the status bar "Deleting Facebook" and then "Deleting Truphone." It didn't give any explanation, or even ask permission!

This is why I have a fear and loathing of iTunes!!! Shouldn't it be backing up my apps onto the computer instead of deleting them?

Grrrr.

Click to expand...

heh, the beauty of the market in action. to save the music you purchased you must now pirate it. I love how great of a job the corporations have done in writing the laws for electronic/digital things.