Syncing your iPhone with multiple iTunes 10 libraries (updated)

Update (May 27th, 2014): 
Since many people seem to try this with iTunes 11, please be advised: I have not tried this with anything else than iTunes 10. Apple tends to change the internal workings of iTunes, especially between major releases. So don't expect this to work on any other version than 10.

Many people commented it doesn't work on 11 anymore. I couldn't test this since I'm not using this hack anymore nowadays, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is indeed so.

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After getting a MacBook Air recently, I wanted to use my iPhone with iTunes on that machine. But when you try to sync an iPhone that has been synced with another iTunes-installation, you get an error and are only given the option to clear the library on your iPhone.

I remembered hacks for older versions of iTunes that let you clone the unique ID of one media library to another iTunes installation. The trick was to read the ID from the "iTunes Music Library.xml" of one iTunes-Installation and apply that to both the "iTunes Music Library.xml" and "iTunes Library.itl" (binary) of another installation. Newer iTunes-Versions (v10.4 at least, not sure when it was introduced) were changed to not make it as easy anymore by adding some sort of checksum to the binary file.

To get to the point: it's still possible, by doing the following steps:

1. On source-machibe: get your ID you want to clone (existing iTunes, with which your iPhone is synced)

• go to your Home-directory -> Music/iTunes
• open "iTunes Music Library.xml", the ID is in the <string>-tag after the "Library Peristent ID"-<key>.

2. On target-machine: clone ID to another iTunes installation

• first, close and exit iTunes if it's still running
• go to your Home-directory -> Music/iTunes
• open "iTunes Music Library.xml" and overwrite the ID with the one you got from the other library in step 1
• delete the file "sentinel". It might be hidden, so make sure you have your system set to show hidden files
• now we need to "corrupt" the "iTunes Library.itl" file. Do this any way you want, I simply did a echo "junk" > iTunes Library.itl but whatever works for you. Deleting it and recreating a text-file with the same name will probably work as well.

3. have iTunes recreate the library

• now restart iTunes. It should detect that the library is corrupted and will ask you if you want to have iTunes rebuild it. Say yes.
• Done! Now you should be able to sync your iPhone with iTunes

no new iPhone for me yet

Today I checked with the T-Mobile store to see if I can get my hands on one of the new iPhone 4 models. Sadly, there weren't any more available. I thought I did make the reservation quite early but I guess it wasn't early enough.

It's strange how things go: My first iPhone I got without prior planning or anything. Until the day it was released here, I wondered and pondered if I should get one myself, and then on a whim I simply decided to head to the T-Mobile store on that day in the afternoon (!) and I actually managed to get my hands on one of the last 16GB 3G models they had available. So no prior planning, no early reservation, nothing. And I got lucky.

This time, I actually informed myself and tried to get a reservation early - to no avail it seems. "We'll call you when the iPhone for your reservation arrives", I got told. Fair enough. I can survive alittle longer with my old one - the only hard part will be trying to avoid all the hype out there atm. I'm still curious what's different this time. Maybe the hype over the new model is bigger than the one over the first iPhone? Hard to believe. Perhaps it's because this time, we really got the iPhone 4 very early here in Germany - the first one took a while to reach us.

Perhaps I'll try another store later today - probably in the afternoon hehe - and simply ask them if they have any iPhones left. Maybe I do get as lucky as 2 years ago.

How to use your iPhone media library on 2 comps simultaneously

And yet another post in the "why can't things simply work" category. I should probably add that category officially... Again I wanted some very special, exotic functionality from a software. This time it was iTunes (again) and the rediculous thing I wanted was to manage my iPhone music files manually from 2 comps. So I installed iTunes on a second comp and even unlocked it. 2 of 5 activations left, that's fine with me.

But as I tried to access the iPhone's music library, I got a message from iTunes telling me that the iPhone can only be synched to one Music Library at a time and if I wanted to sync it with this "new one", then all Media on the phone will be removed first. WTF?

I get the idea behind the iTunes Media Libraries and the approach they've chosen. But honestly, is it really that extraodinary to want to use your iPhone from 2 comps at the same time? Usually I just wanna copy over the one or the other file, song, video or delete some media files on the phone that I don't really need. I see why iTunes would complain if I had set it to keep the whole library synched, but if I check the "manage manually" option in iTunes, I don't wanna see a limitation like that.

After googling, I saw that I'm not the only one who would like to use that feature. And I stumbled over a solution too. It's quite easy and cheap:

http://www.andrewgrant.org/2008/03/30/how-to-sync-an-iphone-with-two-or-more-computers.html

Seems like every iTunes-installation creates a unique key for its media-library. If an iPhone is connected, it checks if that ID is equal to the one of the media library on the iPhone. If it's not, it won't allow you to modify the library on the phone. So all you need to do is to find 2 specific files and to replace the ID contained in those with the one of your previous installation. So then both iTunes Libraries have the same ID and voila, it works. It doesn't matter that the libraries don't contain the same files, but that's alright since all it does is to check the ID. And since I don't want to sync my whole library that way on two comps (since they are in different places and can't access the same files), I'm good.

Hmm, and just as a thought: By actually copying over those two files from one installation, you could probably duplicate your library on two iTunes installations easily - you just gotta make sure that the paths associated for the files themselves are identical on both machines. There might be additional files needed, like the CD-covers downloaded or so, but that's easy to figure out. Note to self: try this out one day.

Thanks go to "A blog by Andrew Grant", where I found the original idea (see the link above)

iGotItBack!

I actually got my iPhone back today! Yay! Or to be more exact: I got a replacement, since the other one had a hardware-defect. I thought so already, since I doubted they would actually bother trying to repair something that delicate. Much cheaper to send out a new one instead. The display works fine now and I really hope it'll stay like that. Next up I will be buying a few things for the iPhone: a docking-station (if it's actually available now) and a protective coating of some sort for the display. If the display actually works now, the last thing I would want is that the display itself would get scratched or damaged physically from the outside. I'm not too careful with my electronic gadgets and I know I'll carry the iPhone around alot. My old phone didn't get a single scratch during the last 1 1/2 years of intense use, but I fear Murphy's Law too much to try the same stunt with my iPhone.

One big question remains: To jailbreak or not to jailbreak? Those who know me can probably imagine I'm always curious and I love open, free software. But I have to admit that for now, I have all the functionality and applications that I need atm... and after this last incident, I rather not void my warranty...

iAmSurprised

Ok, after being quite annoyed and restless yesterday, I feel the better today. Reason: My provider actually did surprise me positively! This morning I got an SMS notifying me that my iPhone repair is completed and that they sent it back to me.  So it seems like hopefully by tomorrow, I'll have my iPhone back. Now I just hope the problem is actually fixed.

there's always something

Ok, today was the day when I was official supposed to get my defect iPhone replaced. To not much of a surprise, I didn't get it. After all the bad news concerning the availability-problems everywhere due to the huge demand, I am really worried by now that I might not be able to get an iPhone anytime soon. One news-entry even stated that it might take as long as october (!) until new iPhones are available again.

The biggest problem for me is not to be without my iPhone, but rather that I simply don't know when I'll get it at all! It really makes me nervous and very impatient. I feel helpless, and hoping day by day won't do any good...

The thing that annoys me most about this is that I actually was just fast enough to get an iPhone! The day it came out I was in the store and lucky enough to get their last one! I even signed a new contract with a different provider for it and that even though my old contract still has to run out. I was willing to pay extra to have the iPhone as soon as possible, and now if I have bad luck, I might not even have one until my old contract ran out anyway! What a waste of money, time and nerves...

Tomorrow if I don't get my promised iPhone, I'll pay my provider a visit and ask for the status of the repair/replacement. I fear I already know what they will tell me: "sorry, but we can't say for sure when there will be any new iPhones available". Which sucks worse in my case, since I already had one and now I have to wait neverthless! If a possible new customer interested in the iPhone comes to the store and hears these news, he/she will decide to simply wait... but I already got the contract now but no phone! What a stupid situation! Couldn't have been plotted any meaner! Someone up there must not like me... there's always something not working right away with the things I get. Something is always wrong or needs tweaking and takes time for me to set up correctly and to bugfix. But hardware-errors like the one of my iPhone are out of my powers.

I got one last hope though: Since my old iPhone did work ok and just had an annoying display-error that definitely should be fixed, I could still ask to have it back until they have replacement devices available. It's not that unreasonable for me to ask for that, since the only reason I got the contract was to use it with an iPhone... and not to be without one for like 3 months! I might aswell retreat from the new contract again and re-apply once new iPhones are available again. Will save me money... money I'm not willing to pay if I don't get anything from it!

iPhone - iHadBadLuck

Ok, after all the hype about the new iPhone 3G coming out, I gave in to the temptation last weekend and got one of the new iPhones myself. Even the 16G version. Well, the choice was easy since it was the very last one they had in the store at the time I got there. Was a quite impulsive decision from my side, but after chatting with a friend who got the 8G version and geeking out about it, I wanted one too.



First Impression

I have to say I'm impressed by the device. It's definitely well-done, looks stylish and has a usability that I've never seen before! The new GPS and UMTS support surely is a plus, and with the right mobile contract, I can actually get online and check e-mail, chat and surf the web pretty much everywhere I am... and with the iPhone, surfing on a mobile phone is actually working and fun!

The iPod itself is nice too. I don't wanna go too much into the features and what I thought of them, let me just say that I was very happy and pleased with the device and it's features. I'm having my difficulties trying to get myself acquainted to the iTunes-Software - that you sadly are forced to use if you wanna do anything with your iPhone. But I can live with that.


First Problem

It all could've been perfect. I could still sit here writing this happily with my iPhone next to me, listening to music. But sadly, I had back luck: On the same day I got the iPhone, it started showing bright spots/areas on the left side of the display. Wasn't that noticeable in the beginning but it kept getting worse - up to a point where it really annoyed me. So I returned the faulty device today. So until the device is sent back to Apple and I get a replacement from them next week, I will have to live without an iPhone - kinda disappointing. The fact that according to the T-Mobile employee, I am the very first customer they know with this specific problem doesn't really cheer me up either. At least they were really nice in the store and took the device back without any discussion and were really helpful. I just hope they will work as reliable getting my replacement - and that that one will be flawless... at least for the upcoming 2 years that I have warranty for it.

I don't regret my decision to get the new iPhone at all. I really like it and I think it has the potential to become a steady "companion" that I will always carry with me, and I will finally have everything I need with me: cellphone, music-player, web-browser, e-mail client, IM and even games and a few other gimmicks.

So even though I categorized this under "rants", I am not in a bad, "ranting" mood. I'm looking forward to getting a perfectly working device very soon. If I won't, THEN you will definitely read the one or the other rant here.