iTunes 11.0 available to download

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Well I just did this and it was not a FULL backup. Seems like it should be, but afterwards when I went into Movies in iTunes I didn't see my side-loaded videos, and the same goes for books, music, etc. I might have done something wrong, but I don't think so. The side loaded items are still on my iPod, they just didn't get backed up.

Items side-loaded into third-party applications get backed up (unless the app chooses for them not to be), items loaded into the built-in Music, Video, Books categories do not, because it is assumed that these already sit in your iTunes library on the computer, so the iThing version is just a copy.
(Not justifying the distinction, just explaining it.)

[louwin]

Thanks for ALL your replies

But they only serve to further frighten me with the whole "wipe and re-sync" concept

Why doesn't the iPad (Apple) detect that two different computers were used at some time and just give one the option to sync ALL THREE!?

Okay, I suppose there is the possibility of things being deleted....

Sync or swim

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Well I just did this and it was not a FULL backup. Seems like it should be, but afterwards when I went into Movies in iTunes I didn't see my side-loaded videos, and the same goes for books, music, etc. I might have done something wrong, but I don't think so. The side loaded items are still on my iPod, they just didn't get backed up.

Thank you for correcting me! I really thought iTunes backups were complete backups. Though now that you mention it, I did have to resync my Kndle books. Sorry for my misleading statement.

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Items side-loaded into third-party applications get backed up (unless the app chooses for them not to be), items loaded into the built-in Music, Video, Books categories do not, because it is assumed that these already sit in your iTunes library on the computer, so the iThing version is just a copy.
(Not justifying the distinction, just explaining it.)

The part about apps choosing not to backup is the part that worries me. Items that are saved in the iTunes library I can understand, and I only have to resync to get them back. But app data, that's scary. It means a badly conceived app, or an app that assumes I make separate backups on THEIR cloud (which I don't always do, and much less frequently than I back up on iTunes) can lead to a loss of my data. I don't like it. There should be an option to make a full backup of an iThingie, at least manually.

[jswinden]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Thank you for correcting me! I really thought iTunes backups were complete backups. Though now that you mention it, I did have to resync my Kndle books. Sorry for my misleading statement.



The part about apps choosing not to backup is the part that worries me. Items that are saved in the iTunes library I can understand, and I only have to resync to get them back. But app data, that's scary. It means a badly conceived app, or an app that assumes I make separate backups on THEIR cloud (which I don't always do, and much less frequently than I back up on iTunes) can lead to a loss of my data. I don't like it. There should be an option to make a full backup of an iThingie, at least manually.

Yes there should be such an option. And there should be an option to transfer all iThingie items to a new computer as well. Since it only allowed me to transfer Apple Store purchased items to the new computer, if I were to chose to sync videos, books, music, etc. it would quite possibly delete my side loaded items off of my iPod. I'm not sure it would, but I'm very concerned it will. The list of items that will get synced do not include any side loaded items even if they were added via iTunes on the other computer. Since the other computer has died, it would be very nice to have iTunes back up these items!

BTW, I'm doing my trial tests with transferring/syncing on the new computer using only my fairly new iPod touch 5 because it contains very few side loaded items and nothing that it isn't also on my iPad 3. I want to get the kinks figured out before I attempt to transfer/sync my iPad 3 because it has a lot more iThingie items which might get lost!

A word about software simplicity. I do NOT find iTunes as easy and intuitive to use as it should be. The whole transfer/sync part can be rather complicated and you have to do a lot of searching in the Help to ensure you don't screw up, at least initially. I'm still trying to figure out their iCloud sync as well as I'm paranoid about what it syncs and how. They really need to get better software writers to help them design an interface that is intuitive and clear. The same with Apple TV. I purchased an Apple TV yesterday and set it up. The instructions said absolutely nothing about using it with iPods/iPads. I had to Google doing so to find those instructions on the web. I finally got everything to work with my computer, iPod, and iPad, but I had to search for the info and that is a major issue with their documentation. They only needed to add another few paragraphs to the tiny installation booklet but chose not to!

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

The part about apps choosing not to backup is the part that worries me. Items that are saved in the iTunes library I can understand, and I only have to resync to get them back. But app data, that's scary. It means a badly conceived app, or an app that assumes I make separate backups on THEIR cloud (which I don't always do, and much less frequently than I back up on iTunes) can lead to a loss of my data. I don't like it. There should be an option to make a full backup of an iThingie, at least manually.

As an example where this is used sensibly:
When Zinio for the iPad was first released, it caused backups to take forever to complete, as it was backing each page of each magazine up. All Zinio magazines are available to redownload whenever you want through the Zinio app, so it greatly speeded up backups (and reduced backup size) to store the magazines in a non-backed-up area. Similarly with the Kindle app, for non-sideloaded books. They are available in your Archive anyway, to redownload if needed, so why back them up?
That is the rationale for splitting app storage into three portions:
- Permanent + backed up (eg, sideloaded documents)
- Permanent + not backed up (eg, Kindle eBooks)
- Temporary (the system can automatically recover this space if needed, used just for temporary working files)

[jswinden]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

As an example where this is used sensibly:
When Zinio for the iPad was first released, it caused backups to take forever to complete, as it was backing each page of each magazine up. All Zinio magazines are available to redownload whenever you want through the Zinio app, so it greatly speeded up backups (and reduced backup size) to store the magazines in a non-backed-up area. Similarly with the Kindle app, for non-sideloaded books. They are available in your Archive anyway, to redownload if needed, so why back them up?
That is the rationale for splitting app storage into three portions:
- Permanent + backed up (eg, sideloaded documents)
- Permanent + not backed up (eg, Kindle eBooks)
- Temporary (the system can automatically recover this space if needed, used just for temporary working files)

I understand what you are saying and agree in principle. However, I see no iTunes options for backup, unless they are hidden away. Like I said iTunes was not well designed interface-wise. And even backing up just the Apple files takes forever as iTunes is excruciatingly slow at backing up and syncing.

[shanghaichica]

I'm still getting used to it as I only updated it last week. One thing I did notice is that the option to add a folder to your library seems to be gone. I can only add individual files.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by jswinden

However, I see no iTunes options for backup, unless they are hidden away.

On Mac, at least, attach a device then Right-click it and "Back Up" or select it then File/Devices/"Back Up".

[JoeD]

I don't mind the new UI since the old side bar can still be enabled which is what I use the most. However, they removed the remote DJ feature and that was an awesome feature. Was really handy at parties for anyone with an iphone to be able to request songs, up vote existing requests or see what was coming next.

Hopefully they'll add the feature back in before long, but it likely annoyed everyone who used it and couldn't continue to do so over the new year without messing around reverting their library to a backup. Assuming they noticed it was missing early enough.

[Ravensknight]

I am with Joe. I just upgraded this evening and was EXTREMELY disappointed to see the random DJ was gone.
I find the best way to listen to my music is to just put it on random, because how am I supposed to know what I'm in the mood to listen too?

[louwin]

Just played around with iBooks and worked out how to change titles to my heart's content.

In "List" view, touch "Edit", select the book whose title you want to change, touch the title and up pops a keyboard to change the title to whatever you want

I have no idea how this reacts with iTunes syncing etc but it acheives what I want - a fully meaningful list of titles instead of, for example, KALED553BXZ_A or 7814-741352 or wid_manual

Yeah!

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by louwin

Just played around with iBooks and worked out how to change titles to my heart's content.

In "List" view, touch "Edit", select the book whose title you want to change, touch the title and up pops a keyboard to change the title to whatever you want

I have no idea how this reacts with iTunes syncing etc but it acheives what I want - a fully meaningful list of titles instead of, for example, KALED553BXZ_A or 7814-741352 or wid_manual

Yeah!

Cool! I'm sure the title would be synced and updated in iTunes. I have already noticed that books I add to iBooks on my iPad are synced to iTunes, and from there to my iPhone.