The death of iSync?

[swiftaw]

I switched from Windows about 3 months ago and I absolutely do not regret my decision.

When I first switched, one of the things I loved about OS X was that you only needed one application, iSync, to sync your calendar to .Mac, a phone, a PDA, and an Ipod. In Windows you would need a separate application for each syncing.

With the advent of Tiger .Mac syncing was taken out of iSync and moved to system preferences, not a big deal as the syncing is done completely automatically anyways.

However, now comes iTunes 4.8 and now iSync has lost iPod syncing. Thus if i want to sync my calendar to my ipod AND my phone i now need to use two separate applications.

Is iSync dying? Why did Apple feel the need to go the windows route and have a separate application for syncing each type of device. At least give us the option of continuing to sync our iPod via iSync rather than disabling it completely.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

Is iSync dying?

You liked .Mac Sync becoming automatic but dislike having iTunes handle synching with the iPod when it updates the iPod Library?

I don't think iSync is dying -- it just seems like Apple is streamlining some of OS X processes. You're already using iTunes for your iPod. It makes sense if iTunes to pull data from other sources (Address Book, iCal, etc) and dump it onto the iPod, saving you from setting up iSync to do the same thing.

*shrug*

 

[swiftaw]

But what if, like me, you keep your calendar on a different machine to your music. I keep my calendar on my powerbook but my music library is on my windows desktop machine at home.

Now I have to open itunes on my powerbook when i want to sync my calendar to my ipod, whereas before I could use isync to sync both my ipod and phone simultaneously.

 

[Applespider]

I'd have liked the ability to do it from both places. If I've just added lots of people to my Address Book, it's much handier to connect the iPod and phone and then use iSync to synch them all simultaneously.

Having said that, there have been more times I've synched my phone and .mac but the iPod's contacts/calendar has been left to get stale since it's not plugged in for some reason. And the 'can't sync' message was always annoying.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

But what if, like me, you keep your calendar on a different machine to your music. I keep my calendar on my powerbook but my music library is on my windows desktop machine at home.

Now I have to open itunes on my powerbook when i want to sync my calendar to my ipod, whereas before I could use isync to sync both my ipod and phone simultaneously.

Have you tried iSync since upgrading to iTunes 4.8?

I haven't tried it (I'm still at work, so my Powerbook isn't nearby), but they didn't upgrade iSync today. I suspect it still works the way you want it to.

 

[CoffeeMonkey]

This is old news.

'N Sync broke up years ago.

I switched from Windows about 3 months ago and I absolutely do not regret my decision.

When I first switched, one of the things I loved about OS X was that you only needed one application, iSync, to sync your calendar to .Mac, a phone, a PDA, and an Ipod. In Windows you would need a separate application for each syncing.

With the advent of Tiger .Mac syncing was taken out of iSync and moved to system preferences, not a big deal as the syncing is done completely automatically anyways.

However, now comes iTunes 4.8 and now iSync has lost iPod syncing. Thus if i want to sync my calendar to my ipod AND my phone i now need to use two separate applications.

Is iSync dying? Why did Apple feel the need to go the windows route and have a separate application for syncing each type of device. At least give us the option of continuing to sync our iPod via iSync rather than disabling it completely.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[swiftaw]

Have you tried iSync since upgrading to iTunes 4.8?

I haven't tried it (I'm still at work, so my Powerbook isn't nearby), but they didn't upgrade iSync today. I suspect it still works the way you want it to.

Personally I haven't, but other posters here have and have reported that iSync gives an error message saying that iPod syncing is now handled by iTunes.

 

[James Philp]

Looks to me as if iSync will be used solely by 3rd party peripherals in the future.
To me this is welcome because:
I have 3 iPods syncable, a palmpilot and a phone, and (b4 tiger) .Mac between 2 computers!
iSync used to screw up ALL the time - at one time it quadrupliated all my iCal events (god that took a while to delete them all), another, it deleted everything 2 weeks before that day (luckily i had a backup on another computer!). It hated playing with multiple devices at the same time, taking AGES to sync - especially iPods and Palm Pilots!
.Mac syncing is about 100 times better now - haven't tried the iPods yet in iTunes.
Bye Bye iSync, farewell, thank god!

P.S. - Maybe apple are thinking of the PC users wanting to import calendars and stuff!?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Looks to me as if iSync will be used solely by 3rd party peripherals in the future.
To me this is welcome because:
I have 3 iPods syncable, a palmpilot and a phone, and (b4 tiger) .Mac between 2 computers!
iSync used to screw up ALL the time - at one time it quadrupliated all my iCal events (god that took a while to delete them all), another, it deleted everything 2 weeks before that day (luckily i had a backup on another computer!). It hated playing with multiple devices at the same time, taking AGES to sync - especially iPods and Palm Pilots!
.Mac syncing is about 100 times better now - haven't tried the iPods yet in iTunes.
Bye Bye iSync, farewell, thank god!

P.S. - Maybe apple are thinking of the PC users wanting to import calendars and stuff!?

Fortunately, I didn't experience those iSync problems you had - I would be just as annoyed as you expressed in that post if that happened to me. I think you might be on to something as far as PC users that have iTunes is concerned. Apple will probably flesh out this new sync capability in future updates to iTunes, I think.