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?
I can think of a couple of ways to tackle this one.
The first is to leave iTunes running in both accounts at all times. That way, when you switch, iTunes pops up a simple warning saying that the iPod is being used by another user and will refuse to update the iPod.
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.
