iTunes - Sharing with co existing multiple devices.

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tdgeek

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#82538 1-May-2011 10:23

Hi all

Are there an preferred methods or gotchas? I wish to have one iTunes installation used to manage an iPhone4, iPad, 2 x iPod Classics?

The iPod classics to hold their own music collections, and the iPhone4 and iPad to largely have the same apps.

I cannot test or play with this as all but the iPad are locked down in ChCh CBD at the moment, hopefully recovered end of this week.

Any help, opinions, ideas gratefully recieved.

And, how to back this up? Can I copy the entire iTunes folder to a backup drive, and in the event of a failure, copy the backup back then install iTunes over the top?

Cheers

dclegg

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#464114 1-May-2011 11:23

There shouldn't be any issues doing this at all. Our iTunes library is shared by 2 iPhones, 2 iPod Nanos, and an iPod shuffle. Each device has it's own dedicated playlist which it synchs to, and we have been running a this configuration for years.

We don't perform any iTunes specific backup, but instead have our HDD backed up using Time Machine (the OSX backup utility).

tdgeek

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#464121 1-May-2011 11:43

Hi dclegg and thanks

So the key is audio playlists. How does this work for apps, does iTunes know what apps belong to what device?

JayADee

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#465549 5-May-2011 06:54

Ya, it does. I run an ipod touch, an iphone and an ipad each with different books, games, apps, audio books and even OS versions (one is jail broke, I forget why). Never been an issue.

dclegg

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#465566 5-May-2011 08:11

tdgeek: Hi dclegg and thanks

So the key is audio playlists. How does this work for apps, does iTunes know what apps belong to what device?

Sorry, I missed your reply for some reason.

Yes, iTunes manages apps between multiple devices. By default a new app will be available to both devices, but if one device deletes or opts out of that app, it won't be synched back on it again. This allows you to have a different set of apps on each device, but also share apps where applicable.