iPod iPod to Mac/PC

[notwist]

I just got my new MacBook a week ago and am still amazed at how I was ever able to function without one! Pre-Mac, my first iPod (40gig Photo) was sync'd to my desktop PC which contains my entire music collection. Now having a Mac, I was planning on syncing my new iPod (5G 80gig) to my new comp. I was wondering, since my PC and Mac will be on the same network, would it be possible to 'shortcut' my music on my PC to my Mac but not make a duplicate of it on the Mac. My PC has considerably more disk space than my notebook so ideally I'd like to be able to sync my iPod to my Mac whose Library actually exists on the PC. Sorry if this is all confusing.
I realize there is always the option of just manually managing the files onto the iPod but syncing it is really conveinent.

Thanks!

 

[mad jew]

Assuming you have the machines networked, then just start iTunes up whilst holding the OPTION key. This should give you the option to choose a library from which to run your iTunes. Navigate to the library on your PC (make sure it's set to be shared by the PC) and that should be it.

 

[Sesshi]

Multiple libraries can be a bit of a nightmare - playcounts, etc get scrambled and you lose many of the niceties of syncing.

The best thing is to share the music folder on the PC, attach to it on the Mac and Import (without copying) all the PC music to the Mac's iTunes so that all the Mac has is a pointer to each file on the PC on the network. This way you'll be able to sync the iPod from your Mac with music from your PC.

You may want to invest in Thursby's DAVE to make this all a bit more convenient as there are some gotchas when you sync off networked drives - the Mac can lose connection to them (unlike a PC) and you may have to quit iTunes, manually set up the network connection again and restart iTunes in order to make the Mac realise that it now has access to all the networked music back again.

Bear in mind also that syncing over a network is much slower than directly off a Mac/PC, although this is only going to really hurt you if you're in the habit of rotating large amounts of music on your iPod.

I would say that if the Mac is going to be your main machine from now on it makes far more sense to buy a firewire external drive and put the music on there, and use it for backup of your stuff as well.

...I mean, you do keep backups, right?

 

[notwist]

Thanks for the tips! I will certaintly try both methods and see which works best for me. I imagine it might take longer than if the files were located on an internal or external hard drive. Also, I read that it is possible to make the iPod work with both Mac and PC by formatting it with the PC. I was wondering: If I do format it with the PC, and I later change my mind, is it possible to restore it back to normal and format it with my Mac? I realize it might be necessary to format the iPod's HD but I'm ok with that.

I do plan on buying an external Firewire HD eventually but, this will have to hold me over until then. Thanks!

 

[mad jew]

You won't need to, but yes it's possible to again reformat it. A Windows formatted iPod will work just as well with a Mac as it will with a PC because it uses FAT32 formatting.

 

[butaro]

You won't need to, but yes it's possible to again reformat it. A Windows formatted iPod will work just as well with a Mac as it will with a PC because it uses FAT32 formatting.

How do i do this?? After connecting my windows formatted iPod to my Macbook, iTunes said that i had to reformat/turn it into mac.
How can i set it up for FAT32 again? I want to be able to use it as a portable drive sometimes!!!

 

[notwist]

Can't you just Restore if from within iTunes?

 

[butaro]

Can't you just Restore if from within iTunes?

If i restore it on my mac it changes my ipod to HFS+. Im not sure what will happen if i try to restore it on windows itunes then just bring it over... but i dont want to lose my current library on my mac incase it thinks of it as a new library or something

 

[mad jew]

Restore it on a PC to get the FAT32 formatting and then plug it into the Mac. Don't let the Mac restore the firmware but do let it sync the libraries.

 

[butaro]

Restore it on a PC to get the FAT32 formatting and then plug it into the Mac. Don't let the Mac restore the firmware but do let it sync the libraries.

Great! Im going to try this now, i was a bit worried that it would just make me go in circles i keep my itunes database currently on my mac hard drive so it will be easy just to sync up again hopefully.