[kman42]

This problem has been driving me bat-sh@t insane for several years now. I have posted about it multiple times on these and other forums and finally someone has an answer. I'm not at home so I can't try it out, but it sounds like a great solution.

http://playlistmag.com/weblogs/ipodb...unts/index.php

Reader Chet Hardcastle is having a hard time with a shared Mac and multiple iPods. He muses:


My wife and I use the same Mac, each with our own user accounts and our own iTunes music libraries. We both have our own iPods and like to sync them automatically to their respective libraries. The problem is this. If my iPod is plugged into the Mac with iTunes not open and my wife logs in to her account and opens iTunes, it will automatically start updating my iPod. The same is true in reverse with her iPod and my account. Shouldn’t iTunes ask before it erases and updates from a different library? The only solution I can come up with is for us to make sure that my iPod isn’t plugged in while using her account and vice versa. Any suggestions?

...


If you’d like to leave iTunes off, plug in the iPod and switch accounts. If iTunes begins to update the iPod, click the X button in the iTunes status window to stop the update. Control-click (Right-Click on Windows boxes) on the iPod and choose Reset Warnings from the contextual menu. Unmount the iPod by clicking the Eject icon that appears next to it in the Source list.


Now plug the iPod back in and wait for the warning that tells you that the iPod is linked to another iTunes music library. When it appears, enable the Do Not Ask Me Again option and click No. From now on, though the iPod will appear in this account, iTunes will accede to your wishes and won’t update the iPod.

[kman42]

Bummer, doesn't work...

[ghporter]

Log into your account, open iTunes and plug in your iPod. On the iPod menu tell iTunes NOT to automatically sync when an iPod is plugged in. Have your wife repeat the process with her account and her iPod. Now it doesn't matter whether either iPod is plugged into the Mac...

You do have to manually sync your iPod to your library, but unless you make changes every time you use your computer that shouldn't be a major issue.

[kman42]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Log into your account, open iTunes and plug in your iPod. On the iPod menu tell iTunes NOT to automatically sync when an iPod is plugged in. Have your wife repeat the process with her account and her iPod. Now it doesn't matter whether either iPod is plugged into the Mac...

You do have to manually sync your iPod to your library, but unless you make changes every time you use your computer that shouldn't be a major issue.

Yes, that is the standard answer that people provide, but it is not very satisfactory. My wife and I both make extensive use of Smart Playlists to mix things up and manually syncing is a clutch. This is a no brainer feature that Apple should have fixed long ago. If iPods are smart enough not to sync to a new computer when plugged in then they should be smart enough not to sync to a new account.

Back on the original suggestion. I can't even get that nifty dialog to pop up. Anyone have any more success than I?

kman

[mduell]

I ran into this same annoyance with two iPods at home... the manual syncing workaround is alright, but Apple really should let you associate one or more iPods with a specific user account.