iPod and multiple Macs

[mainstreetmark]

Ok, thinking of getting ahold of one of these magical iPod things.

But, I intend to share this with the family, as we all seem to take frequent trips to different places, and, as opposed to buying 4 iPods, I thought we should just get one.

So, here are my questions:
- If I plug an iPod into one mac, I understand that it'll dump the whole music collection to the iPod.
- What happens if I plug it into another Mac? Does it replace the music collection, add to it, or nothing at all (maybe the iPod realizes it's not on it's "main" mac?)
- Playlists, Smart Playlists, number of times played and Rating all sync, right?
- What if I play a song twice in iTunes and 3 times on iPod and then sync them?
- It can act as an extra firewire drive. Does that mean that all tunes are stored in some iTunes directory on that drive, and you can dump other files anywhere you want, or is there some special rules for using it as a drive?

 

[twinn233]

Re: iPod and multiple Macs

Originally posted by mainstreetmark
Ok, thinking of getting ahold of one of these magical iPod things.

But, I intend to share this with the family, as we all seem to take frequent trips to different places, and, as opposed to buying 4 iPods, I thought we should just get one.

So, here are my questions:
- If I plug an iPod into one mac, I understand that it'll dump the whole music collection to the iPod.
- What happens if I plug it into another Mac? Does it replace the music collection, add to it, or nothing at all (maybe the iPod realizes it's not on it's "main" mac?)
- Playlists, Smart Playlists, number of times played and Rating all sync, right?
- What if I play a song twice in iTunes and 3 times on iPod and then sync them?
- It can act as an extra firewire drive. Does that mean that all tunes are stored in some iTunes directory on that drive, and you can dump other files anywhere you want, or is there some special rules for using it as a drive?

Whole music collection yes, but you have many options

If you connect the iPod to another mac iTunes will ask you what you want to do, if you want to sync with the new computer or not.

Everything syncs yes, Playlists, Smart Playlists, number of times played, Rating, etc.

When you enable your iPod as an external HD you can't see your music it's invisible.

P.S. I love my iPod it's wonderful, it does everything i want it to do.

 

[twinn233]

Here's some options

 

[mainstreetmark]

So, there shouldn't be a problem with plugging the thing into my Mac and making it the master, but then if, for example, another family member wishes to borrow it, you can simply tell the iPod that the other mac is now the master, and it'll wipe all my great songs off and copy on my sister's crappy music? And when she returns it, I can remake my mac the master?

If so, SOLD!

(If not, 'sold' anyways)

 

[twinn233]

yes

 

[rainman::|:|]

that's a lot of disk activity, but sure, you could do it. but you could also have a shared library, with playlists for each family member, so that the iPod would always have everyone's songs... and still access them from their computers...

pnw