Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Geeky stuff
Original poster

Can I use my i-tunes account on more than one computer?

19 replies

carpwidow · 06/09/2011 20:27

I use i-tunes to download music and this is stored on my pc. I now have a worklap top. Can I have my i-tunes music on both computers?

OP posts:
picnicbasketcase · 06/09/2011 20:29

Yes, you can go onto your itunes account settings on your laptop and authorise it to be used on itunes as well. I think you can have up to four computers authorised.

Original poster
carpwidow · 06/09/2011 20:42

Thank you picnicbasketcase from a very grateful technophobe :)

OP posts:
CookieMonster · 06/09/2011 20:46

Sorry to hijack your thread carpwidow, but can somebody tell me the easiest way to migrate my itunes library to another computer? I have been using it on my work laptop, but now work have clamped down on doing personal stuff so I need to copy it all to the new laptop I have just bought.

Can I just sync all the music onto the ipod (it will just about fit on) and then simply plug the ipod into the new computer - having installed itunes of course?

BadgersPaws · 06/09/2011 23:21

Yes you can authorise more than one computer to the same account (I think the limit is 5 computers) but that won't move the music that you've bought with that account.

Which in a way rolls on to this...

"Can I just sync all the music onto the ipod (it will just about fit on) and then simply plug the ipod into the new computer - having installed itunes of course?"

No. And if you plug that iPod full of your music into your empty iTunes at home then if you just select the default options (automatically sync/manage the iPod) it's going to loose everything.

The reason for this is that iTunes tries to make things very easy for you. So you plug an automatically managed iPod into iTunes and it sees that there's an album on there. It also sees that that album doesn't exist in your iTunes library. "Ah-ha" thinks iTunes, you must have deleted that album from iTunes, and you've told me to automatically sync that iPod, so I'm going to automatically delete it from the iPod too.

In short if music is on your iPod and not in iTunes then you need to manually manage the iPod. Instructions for this are here:
support.apple.com/kb/ht1535

But you can move music from one iTunes to the other, so if you have all your music in iTunes then nothing will get deleted from the iPod.

To do this you need to get the music from your work PC onto your own PC, and this is pretty simply, especially if you've got an external disk drive. Simply fire up up iTunes on your work computer and drag the music off onto the drive, then plug the same drive into your home computer and drag the music from the drive into iTunes.

If you don't have an external hard disk drive then there are other ways, but using one is by far the easiest.

CookieMonster · 07/09/2011 10:27

Badgerpaws, thanks for that information. I've changed the ipod to be managed manually via my work laptop, opened up itunes on my new laptop and plugged in the ipod. Now what I get is 'Device driver software not successfully installed' and 'USB device not recognised'. So the new laptop is not recognising the ipod at all as a device .. any ideas??

BadgersPaws · 07/09/2011 10:35

Have you ever used an iPod off of that laptop?

Have you tried uninstalling and then reinstalling iTunes?

Beyond that I'll need some more information on exactly what Operating System your computer is using (XP? Windows 7?)

Also is your laptop running a 64 bit version of Windows? You can find this out by following the "How can I tell if my computer is running a 32-bit or a 64-bit version of Windows?" instructions here:
windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/32-bit-and-64-bit-Windows-frequently-asked-questions

CookieMonster · 07/09/2011 11:45

No, this is the first time I have tried to use an ipod with this laptop.

Yes, I have uninstalled and reinstalled itunes.

I have tried using the ipod as an external disk i.e. simply dragging my itunes libary to it and I have also now tried using manual management.

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, it is 64 bit.

BadgersPaws · 07/09/2011 12:22

If you're getting driver errors then the iPod just isn't going to work, so we need to get those fixed.

Have you download the 64 bit version of iTunes? The usual Windows iTunes page doesn't, I believe, detect if you're running a 64-bit OS and there's a tiny link on the left hand side telling you where to get it.

So grab it from here, uninstall you're current version and reinstall this:
support.apple.com/kb/DL1427

CookieMonster · 07/09/2011 13:08

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the version from your link, so now I definitely have the 64 bit version. However, I am still getting the error messages from the device when I plug in the ipod.

Could it be that this version of the ipod (old 3rd generation Shuffle) works quite happily on my work laptop (XP Pro) but is not compatible with Windows 7? I don't use it that much so not keen on upgrading to a 'proper' ipod, but if that's the only solution ...

BadgersPaws · 07/09/2011 13:28

OK can you give the make and model of the laptop?

It might also be worth double checking this:
support.apple.com/kb/TS1401

CookieMonster · 07/09/2011 13:38

The laptop is a Packard Bell EasyNote TS44HR.

I had already seen that note about power management on USB devices and checked it out.

(Many thanks, by the way, for your time on this ... are you meant to be working like me??)

BadgersPaws · 07/09/2011 13:47

Can you check this out...

Click Start then Run and enter:
services.msc

On the list that pops up look for "Apple Mobile Device", is it on there?

It might also be worth checking the Packard Bell support site to see if there are any updates for your motherboard/chipset/BIOS as that can help these sorts of problems out.

Me? I'm waiting for things to run and/or meetings today...

CookieMonster · 07/09/2011 13:55

Yes, I have 'Apple Mobile Device' on the list of services - it has a status of 'Started'.

Will go and check out the PB support site - I only bought the flaming thing on Saturday, so surely it can't be out of date already??

Original poster
carpwidow · 07/09/2011 17:27

I'm delighted you highjacked my thread cookie as this is all very useful information. Thanks BadgersPaws :)

OP posts:
BadgersPaws · 07/09/2011 23:34

Computers can sit on shelves for a while, so it's possible.

Check PB for any updates and also make sure that Windows itself is completely up to date.

CookieMonster · 08/09/2011 13:14

Hi BadgersPaws, i can't find anything on the PB website to suggest that I need updates and I'm pretty sure Windows is up to date - it seems to spend a hell of a lot of time applying updates.

So I've emailed PB Technical Support and will wait with bated breath to see what they say.

(DH has a newish Acer laptop (Acer and PB now the same company) and the iPod works fine on there so I'm hopeful of getting a solution).

Thanks for your interest and input so far .. will let you know what happens!

titchy · 08/09/2011 13:45

On a related question to the OP - can one iTunes account (shared between two laptops) be used on two iPods? ds has an iPod, and is sharing dds iTunes account so they don't pay twice for the same track, but dd now wants an iPod as apparetnly her non-Apple MP3 player is getting old....Hmm

BadgersPaws · 08/09/2011 14:08

Titchy, in short yes. I've got three running off of my iTunes account.

titchy · 09/09/2011 10:04

Thanks Badger - that's dd's birthday present sorted then!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page