Ipad transfer question

[Paul_Sengupta]

That (and all the other tools) will only copy music from the device though, not to it though...

I did so once, on my work laptop, and it brought the whole thing to a grinding crawl and caused all sorts of issues.

It might have got better since, but I can't afford to take the chance on my work PC. We're not supposed to install anything non work on it really, and itunes causes far too much "damage" to the PC. Or did last time I tried it.

I don't install free anti-virus software on my work PC either.

[Flyingfemme]

Like Paul, I installed iTunes on my desktop and all sorts of other stuff quit working. I had to roll back and haven't dared install it again.
Some of my employees have installed iTunes on Win 7 machines and only one caused problems......his Bonjour module caused the office network to stop working every time it did something (I have no clue what Bonjour actually does). We uninstalled from his machine and productivity reigned once more.
I'm sure that Apple stuff is very good but it doesn't always play well with Windows stuff..........some Windows stuff doesn't play well with Windows stuff but we won't get started on that here.

[Keef]

I use iTunes to back up, update, and do the music for iPad, iPod and iPhone, but it's one of the worst-behaved programmes on my PC.

One example of several: I couldn't work out why my C drive was almost full, until I got stuck in and found that iTunes had created itself a hidden directory, deep in the bowels of "User", with many, many gigabytes of stuff in it. I had told it to put everything on a different drive, which was where it put the music, but it insisted on C for this stuff. In the end, I had to set up a "spoof" to redirect stuff away from C: it thinks it's putting it on C, but it's actually on an external USB drive. I've got it corralled now, but it was a faff.

Bonjour seems to use a lot of CPU time, but however often I knock it on the head, it's back again after a day or so. I don't know what it does, but clearly it thinks I need it done.

[peterh337]

Thanks Paul, unfortunately it needs itunes or bits of it in the background. Just tried it and it said "please install itunes"

Yes; the very handy Macroplant.com products (I use Iexplorer) need the Apple libraries, without which they cannot communicate with the device. They cannot ship those drivers with their products, due to Apple legal restrictions.

But you don't need Itunes installed. Install Itunes and then uninstall Itunes

The Apple junkware leaves the requires parts behind

I find Iexplorer works pretty well for the stuff I need i.e. dropping documents into Goodreader's Documents directory, dropping QCT maps into Memory Map's Documents directory (old QCT support now finally (again) works; they hacked the prog to stop it but evidently enough people complained) and similar stuff.

Apple's own apps are rarely accessible in that way. I think one can just about transfer a ringtone to an Iphone.....

[stevelup]

It's weird how people have different experiences. Just about all of my friends, family and colleagues rely on me for 'IT helpdesk' services and I've never once had to fix a problem caused by iTunes.

[peterh337]

The cynic in me wonders if it's programmed to cause Windows PC's lots of problems to accelerate a Mac sale....!!!

I know a number of very experienced PC programmers and even though it's hard to believe Apple would do that deliberately, they tend to agree with that view. Itunes is a terribly incompetently written piece of junkware and obviously Apple have better resources.

[stevelup]

Itunes is a terribly incompetently written piece of junkware and obviously Apple have better resources.

Can you -actually- quantify that in any way? What specifically is wrong with it?

[Ian Melville]

As a long term windowz user with iTunes installed for buying music, I have had no issues.

However I have acquired an iPad mini over Christmas, and I really cannot get my head around Photostream. I just cannot move photos around like I think I should between Photosream, Photo Albums, and between iPad and PC. I want to persist with the tools provided, but a quick Google shows that I am not alone in not understanding what I can and cannot do.

[stevelup]

Photos are handled pretty badly on the PC. iPhoto takes care of everything on a Mac but there is no real PC equivalent.

I've got iTunes on one of my work PCs - will have a tinker tomorrow because I don't off the top of my head know the best way to deal with it.

[Ian Melville]

Hi Steve,
It not just Photo stream on the PC. It's on the iPad as well.

I have five folders in Photo stream(shared by me), the only one that I can copy photos out of is the original Apple one. As photo stream content only last 30 days, I am keen to move them to an album.

Also there seems to be no way of renaming or editing any photo, folder or album in the ipad, unless they are in some specific folders.

[stevelup]

I don't think Photo Stream will satisfy your requirements to be honest.

It is really just meant as a way of sharing stuff on the hoof and making recently shot photos available on all your devices.

[stevelup]

Out of interest, do you work for Apple?

I'm not young enough or trendy enough... Not too keen on Levis and black turtle neck jumpers either...