Is there any way to connect to both mac and pc while having my iPod formatted for a mac? Well, your other option is MacDrive. You can get a free trial(thats if you dont feel like formatting your ipod right yet) and use the ipod as a hard disk to transfer your music to a new computer.
Once configured, you only need your iPhone/iPod, the USB sync cable, and a computer with iTunes to implement the hack (the idea being you always have your iPhone or iPod and the person with the computer has the iPod USB cable). It takes about 20 minutes to set this hack up and then only a few seconds to implement each time you would like to use it.
Things to Note. If you want to be able to do this hack on both Mac and Windows machines, you’re going to have to configure two separate iTunes libraries: one from a Mac and one from a Windows machine. I was using an iPhone when writing this tutorial, so the iPod directions may vary slightly. If you are using an iPhone or iPod touch: When you sync your device, the account last used to access the iTunes Store from the computer is synced to the mobile device. So make sure you sign out of your friend’s iTunes account before you sync your device, otherwise when you try to download the application via the app store on your phone you will be logged in as them. This method does not work with DRM’ed music. Using this method will let you plug your iPhone/iPod into any computer and listen to the music directly off of it.
Whereas before, this was not possible. What You’ll Need. Computer with iTunes. iPhone: Wi-Fi, USB cable, iTunes, phone. iPod: cable, iTunes, iPod.
Software (Mac):, (Open Source Free Software for Macs). Software (Windows):, Configure Your iPhone/iPod for Use as External Storage You are only going to have to configure your iPhone or iPod to be used an external storage once. iPhone: & Configure Air Sharing ($4.99).
iPod: Setup as hard drive. Connect iPod to computer and open iTunes. iTunes Preferences iPod Tab.
Click checkbox “Enable disk use”. Close iTunes Manually Manage Music and Videos On iPhoneiPod We need to make it so we can simply drag songs onto our iPhone/iPod. Launch iTunes. Connect iPhone/iPod.
Select the “Manually manage my iPhone/iPod” option. Close iTunes Create an iTunes Index On Your iPhone/iPod If you want to be able to sync with both Mac and Windows computers you will have to make two separate iTunes index folders: one for the Mac and one for Windows boxes. So, just do this step both a Mac and Windows machine.
Mount your iPhone/iPod as external storage device. Point the iTunes index to your iPhone/iPod.
On a Mac: while holding “option,” double click on your iTunes icon. On a Windows machine: while holding “Shift,” double click on your iTunes icon in your start menu. A “Choose your library” window will pop up. Select “Create Library.”.
![How to connect an ipod formatted for mac to a windows computer screen How to connect an ipod formatted for mac to a windows computer screen](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125405825/277994114.jpg)
Under “Where” select the location on your iPod/iPhone from the pulldown. Save as: “iTunes1”. ITunes will Launch. If you decide to do this on a Mac and Windows machine, make a folder called “iTunes 1” from the Mac and a folder called “iTunes 2” from the Windows machine. Editing Files On iPhone/iPod You are only going to have to edit the files on your iPhone once.
We need to edit those files so that whatever computer you connect your device to will think it can sync to your iPhone/iPod. I found over at the Shiny Things blog. Thanks Andrew!. On your computer navigate to your iTunes music folder.
Macs: User Music iTunes. Windows: Music iTunes. Right click on “iTunes Music Library.xml” and open it with a text editor (, or something similar, in OS X and Notepad in Windows). Look for the “Library Persistent ID”. There will be a string of numbers and letters between the “string” tags. (In the screenshot below it is 2817B0BEDC7A2E5F). Copy this entry to another document for safe keeping.
It’s time to edit the files on your iPhone/iPod. Go ahead and mount your iPhone/iPod and then navigate to the iTunes folder we created earlier. Find the “iTunes Music Library.xml,” and open it with a text editor. Look for the “Library Persistent ID.” First, copy whatever is between “string” tags to a text document for safe keeping. Next, Replace whatever is between the “string” tags with our key that we copied earlier.
In our example we are replacing the ID on the iPhone/iPod with 2817B0BEDC7A2E5F. Save the file and close it. Now find the file called “iTunes Music Library” and open it with the Hexeditor mentioned above in “What You’ll Need.” (On a Windows machine it is called “iTunes Music Library.itl”).
Select “Find and Replace” from the Edit menu. Make sure “Hex” matching is selected (not ASCII).
In “Find” enter the ID from the iPhone/iPod before we replaced it (The ID we put into a text document in step 7). In Replace, enter the ID we copied from the original computer (in our example it’s 2817B0BEDC7A2E5F). Choose Replace All, there should be one match. Save the file. Close the Hexeditor.
We are now completely done configuring the iPhone/iPod. If you want to be able to sync to both Windows and Mac machines, make sure the do the all the steps listed above on both machines. Getting Music From Other Computers (Finally!) Getting music from computers that are not your home computer is the step that you will have to perform over and over again. Mount your iPhone (using Air Sharing) or iPod (as an external storage device). Point the computer’s iTunes index to the one on your iPhone/iPod. Mac: while holding “option,” double click on your iTunes icon. Windows: while holding “Shift,” double click on your iTunes icon in your start menu.
A “Choose your library” window will pop up. Select “Choose Library.”. Navigate to the “iTunes 1” or “iTunes 2” (depending on if you’re on Mac or a Window’s machine) folder on your iPhone/iPod and select “Open”.
iTunes will launch. The actual iTunes library will be empty, this is OK. We aren’t adding things to the iTunes library, just to the iPhone/iPod library.
Your iPhone/iPod should appear in the left hand column of iTunes. Click on your iPhone’s or iPod’s music library to select it.
A playlist should appear in the main iTunes screen with all the music form the iPhone/iPod. Drag any music you want into your iPhone’s library. Make sure you drag into your iPhone’s/iPod’s library, not the iTunes library. Since we are loading the library our iPhone/iPod is connected to, not the computer’s local iTunes library, we have to manually locate music on the computer to be able to add it to our iPhone or iPod.
In OS X navigate to: User Music iTunes iTunes Music. In Windows navigate to: My Documents Music iTunes iTunes Music.
When you’re done getting music, safely disconnect your iPhone/iPod and close iTunes. As a final step, we need to point the computer back to its original iTunes library. On a Mac: while holding “option,” double click on your iTunes icon. On a Windows machine: while holding “Shift,” double click on your iTunes icon in your start menu. A “Choose your library” window will pop up.
Select “Choose library.” Point to the iTunes Music folder on their computer (Inside the Music folder on both Mac and PC). Getting the New Music Back Onto Your Main Computer iTunes won’t let you take the music off your iPhone/iPod, so we’re going to have to use third party software.
(OS X Free Open Source iPod Ripping Software) or (Windows). I made a playlist on my iPhone called “New” so I know what to download.
Import all songs from the “New” playlist. Empty the “New” playlist so that you do not accidentally download the same songs next time you sync. And there you have it! I know it’s a lot to digest, so please let me know if you have any questions in the comments. Related GigaOM Pro Content. Lol man dis process looked soooo fun!
It actually wuld hav made me feel lyke a hacker!!! Bt itz also VERY difficult. Datz y took da liberty of going to the source. On apple it sayz dat all u havta do iz sync ur ipod with the otha computer and change tha sycn setting to MANUAL mode. Dat way ur ipod wont automatically sync dat iTunes library with ur ipods which iz MUCH more simpler den dissecting iTunes to get ur own songz.
Follow dis plan and i GUARANTEE it’ll work. It’ll do most of the work in half that time. Ak thanx for the info, but does syncing my ipod to say my friend’s computer affect his ipod syncing to his computer? I know my ipod will be recognized by these 2 machines, but I don’t want to screw up the actual owner’s computer so that they can’t sync their own ipod.
It’s a cool feature, but It still looks sketchy to me and Apple should quit supporting what idiotic artists have to say and cut to the chase. As if they never reproduced tapes or cds in their life time, which is technically according to their idea, illegal. So yeah, thanks for the details, I appreciate it very much! Ak Ok I downloaded all the applications required for Mac users. However under where you mention configuring the iPod for use as an external storage device, step 2 and 3 lost me totally. I cannot find an “iPod tab” or the checkbox “Enable disk use” anywhere in the iTunes preferences. I have my iPod connected to my Mac.
I don’t know if the versions matter, but my iTunes version is 8.2.1, one of the latest if not up to date, and my iPod is a 2nd gen nano 8Gig. Can someone help me out here please? Am I missing something?
I use xplay and the original usb cable as it created a drive letter with usb access. Alls i do is drag my music off to a folder use itunes to import purchaced products (for the applications) and drag the music to the itunes folder this way if i want something i dont have alls i have to do is the above to the persons computer in question, and sync up and when im home drag what i recieved to itunes after to a folder and resync. The small snag is xplay isnt free.
But the plus is, its HASTLE free. No wireless or bluetooth needs, usb and bingo direct connection. Hope this helps if jen’s solution is awkward to implement on your computer or your friends computer.
Im not saying my way is better, but it is less steps and doesnt require internet if u have the requirements on disk or usb requirements: xp needs windows media player 11 (xplay requires this to install) vista will have this. Any iphone ready itunes will work i would suggest 8.x or higher for newer iphones thats all i needed and it worked. Linux support is harder and requires wireless atm checkout ubuntu forums for this if u need it (it is based on the gnome way) laters, supermorph.
Ted I am assuming this is for people that also want those library items (music/podcasts/videos, etc.) available to use ON the iPhone, not just for transferring them between computers. Just checked out SwapTunes on Cydia if freakin’ rules! No hex edit, etc.
Just install on your jailbroken iphone, and walla! 2 libraries on 1 phone:) Personally running an app off a jump drive that copies music files seems rediculous, but I suppose that may be necessary for people that actually BUY music of iTunes. This seems like a lot of work. When I want to transfer music off of another computer, I simply use an external USB hard drive. In Vista: Go to iTunes, select a play list. When the play list is open, hit shit, and press the down arrow key, until all of the songs that you want are highlighted. If you have only one monitor, you need to have your iTunes window minimized somewhat, so that you can see your desktop.
Create an iTunes folder on your desktop, and drag the highlighted songs into the folder. Next, go to “computer,” find the icon for your USB drive, and open it, then drag the contents of the folder on your desktop into it. Once it’s copied the songs, plug the USB hard drive into the other computer, go to the “file” tab in iTunes, and select “add file to library.” Navigate to the USB drive, select the songs, and you are done. It sounds like a lot of steps but it only takes about two minutes.