I have been debating about getting a new iPod touch. The built in two way camera that takes stills and videos really appeals to me. I plan to go to Comic-Con again this year and would like to have a camera that would fit into my pocket. A camera is something that my current iPod touch does not have. I am sure most people would just tell me to get an iPhone but I am just not ready for a smart phone with that extra monthly charge for a data plan. I was also hoping to download app versions of Pages and Keynote to my old iPod touch. The Apple App Store said these programs were compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. When I tried to purchase them I was given a message that my iPod touch was too old and not compatible with this software. So either I live without these features or buy a new iPod touch. Basically the typical Apple approach to legacy support and the mindset of forcing consumers to buy new hardware if they want up to date software. Well, we all tend to forget that Apple is primarily a Hardware company in their approach and not a Software company like Microsoft. If you want to play with Apple expect to upgrade hardware at least every two years. My iPod touch is over three years old so I am "due" for an upgrade. I want the new bells and whistles so now is the time to learn before I shop.
I decided that it was time to learn a little more about iTunes. I set up a One to One session with the Apple store to spend an hour learning iTunes. I have been fumbling around with iTunes now for several years but I never really mastered it. I figured that since I will now be syncing two iPods and possibly an iPad or an iPhone in the future it was time to really learn iTunes before I started on a spending spree. iTunes is a program that iPods, iPhones and iPad rely on. It doesn't matter if you load iTunes on a PC or Mac but you have to have a regular "PC" to connect and update/maintain any of these "smart" devices. The regular PC is not being replaced by any of these smart devices yet. They all rely on a standard PC in order to function. Will the "cloud" save them? Not right now but soon I am sure. I am glad though that I went to "school" first. My iPod purchase will go on hold for at least a short while until at least one question gets answered first.
One of the first problems I am going to have is "synching" two installations of iTunes on two different computers. Currently I have iTunes installed on my MacBook Pro and a PC at home. The MacBook actually has a copy of my music from my PC that I fumbled copying on my own. One Apple and PC compatible memory stick and a copy and paste job got me through adding my music to my MacBook. But how do I sync my iPod between two machines? That is the first question I need answered before I make an iPod touch. Well, it looks like it is going to take a little bit of research to get an answer. My session tutor explained that syncing the iPod between two machines one after the other will take a lot of time and that I should really only sync with one machine. He did show me a feature called, "Home Sharing." With that feature I would be able to "sync" iTunes paid music and it did "sync" a video/slide show I made with iPhoto. What Home Sharing didn't do was sync my apps on the iPod. Only the PC install of iTunes has my apps copied to it. I will have to do some research in order to find out how I can keep my iPod completely in sync with two different installations of iTunes. I like having two installations of iTunes because I want a backup. Hard drives die and operating systems die too. I know this isn't supposed to ever happen in the Apple world but I feel much better knowing that things are backed up. My session tutor didn't know the answer to how you would back up two installations of iTunes with each other. The whole session was very well done and I don't expect everyone to know everything so I wasn't disappointed. He did point me in a direction for help that other session tutors have done in the past. It was Apple's Support page.
Several times session tutors for One to One training have used this site. You can reach it either by going directly to it at http://www.apple.com/support/ or you can go to http://www.apple.com/ and choose Support from the links at the top of the page. The One to One session got me through a lot of the iTunes program but special questions like this will require me to do some research at Apple's support page or go to Google's search engine for answers. First I need to find out how to sync two installations of iTunes. Next I will have to find out how to back up two different iPods from different generations on two different installations of iTunes. Then maybe I can think about an iPad or iPhone and adding them to the iTunes sync mix that I will have going on. Will I ever get an iPhone? I'll wait for the new model to come out and decide then but I think I have some studying to do first with iTunes. Study first and then spend money.
