Two Ipods, One Computer-how To Make Your Computer Recognize Both Of Them
January 7th, 2009

Become An Ipod Expert

If you and your spouse, sibling, or roommates have tried to share a computer and you both have iPods, you may have encountered a technical dilemma. Fortunately, there is a way both of you can enjoy your gadgets without having to have two PCs. The popularity of the iPod means that the practice of using two iPods on one computer is much more common than before. The computer will generally mount any iPod connected to it. You will only have the "overwriting" problem if your iPod is set to the Auto Sync setting. On the bottom right hand corner there are two small symbols. The right one will eject and the left will open the options window. Play around with these and learn how each operates. You will need to turn off Auto Music Sync.

The kicker is that you will manually have to add music to each separate iPod. The system will not allow Auto Sync to be done to more than one iPod on one computer. It might work best, as experts recommend making a playlist of songs and drag that list to each iPod. If you are sharing a computer with someone, both parties need to log in as separate users. With this accomplished, you both can have separate song and video libraries. This is doable on both Macs and PCs.

First, install all of your desired iPods. To install the iPods, follow the manufacturer's directions. Now, pick out your favorite songs and decide which ones you have to have to make up some playlists. The trick to getting two iPods on one PC is to create a playlist for each one. Click on the plus sign on the left-hand corner of iTunes to create a playlist. You should name the playlist with the same name as your iPod, or the iPod's user so you can know whose is whose. Now you are ready to add some music to your playlists. Once you have your completed playlists, you will be ready to add your favorite music you want into each one. It is good ideas to make sure those songs are checked or they won't sync with your iPod! To get iPod sync options, you will need to get it to sync with the right playlist. In order to get the iPod to sync with the proper playlist, connect it to your computer, right-click on it, and choose iPod Options. When the options window opens up, click on "Automatically update selected playlists only" and check your preferred playlist. Repeat this process for each iPod. Now, every time you sync your media library with your iPod, you will only get those songs that you want.

For detailed step-by-step instructions, please see below. When Manually manage songs and playlists has been enabled, you'll want to create a dedicated playlist for each iPod. Each dedicated playlist serves as a ‘virtual iPod' within iTunes. To do this click on "Library" in the iTunes left panel. Now choose "File - New Playlist". You will want to give your new playlist a name that you will easily associate with the particular iPod (for example, pink nano iPod ). Create a new playlist in this same manner for each separate iPod. Now, drag the songs you have chosen that you want from the iTunes library into the playlists you just created for each iPod.

If you prefer to update your iPods manually, you can leave the settings as Manually manage songs and playlists and manually update each iPod as desired.

If you want each iPod to update automatically, you'll need to attach each iPod to its dedicated playlist. Right-click on the iPod in the iTunes left pane and click on iPod Options. In the pop-up window the iPod - Music tab will already be chosen, so all you need to do is click to select Automatically update selected playlists only (if the automatic update alert appears, click on OK) and then click to check the dedicated playlist you created for that iPod. Click on OK. Attach each iPod to its dedicated playlist this way. Every time you connect an iPod it will now auto sync to its dedicated playlist making the process virtually painless

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