Filed under: iPod Family, Software, Productivity, Tips and tricks, iTunes, TUAW Tips
TUAW Tip: temporarily prevent your iPod from syncing
Out of the box, the iPod is designed to work seamlessly with iTunes, so the system automatically syncs (by default) when you connect your iPod. This is typically fine for most users, but what about those times when you don't want this tag team to kick into gear for one reason or another? Perhaps you just had a library goof-up, and you need to use iPodRip to recover some playlists or media files before iTunes syncs and blows either away, or perhaps you're just in a hurry and don't have time to sync down that new 1.5GB movie you just bought, though you you still need to dump some files over for work or class. Whatever the scenario, there are a couple of simple ways to arbitrarily prevent iTunes from working its magic on a case-by-case basis.The first method, I feel, is the least intrusive and most useful: assuming iTunes is running, all you need to do is hold down cmd+opt (possibly ctrl+alt on Windows, though I don't have a machine to test that on) when connecting your iPod to make iTunes look the other way and not begin a sync. The iPod should mount on your desktop and even appear in iTunes, but it simply won't sync. You're free to go about your business and eject the iPod as quickly as it mounted, with no argument from iTunes.
The second method assumes that you have enabled hard drive use for your iPod, and you don't have iTunes set to automatically start when you plug the 'pod in. In this case, simply quitting iTunes when plugging in your iPod will solve your problem altogether. Simply do your business and eject to get on your way quickly.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeremy said 5:48PM on 3-30-2007
What if you want to delete a TV show from your itunes library (to save hard drive space)... but still keep it on your ipod.... how do you do THAT??
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wok said 6:08PM on 3-30-2007
awesome tip, and a quick typo fix "The iPod should mount on your desktop and even appear in iTunes, --bit/but-- it simply won't sync."
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Dave Chartier said 8:16PM on 3-30-2007
#1: The only way to do that is to select the option to manage your library manually from the iPod's main preference screen in iTunes. Then you can dump whatever media you want to the iPod and have complete control over which media is on which device (your Mac/PC and iPod). The only problem is this means it won't automatically sync new content - you'll have to move that all over yourself.
It certainly isn't ideal, but it's about the only way allows us to manage our content.
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Eric said 11:26PM on 3-30-2007
On Windows, it's Control-Shift, if anyone's wondering.
Not that anyone on TUAW is wondering, but using Windows on a regular basis I like to know these things.
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lancs said 8:24AM on 4-12-2007
I dont think it is Control+Shift on windows. If you open keyboard shortcuts up in itunes it says it is Control+Alt. I have tried both keyboard shortcuts but they don't seem to work. I have seen a few other webistes say the shortcut is Control+alt+shift.
What the hell is it?
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