iTunes help--transferring files without syncing?

[Fenris]

I just got an iPad and I'm in iTunes hell. I love the hardware of the iPad, but iTunes is making me nuts.

I have two computer: home and laptop.

Currently my iPad is "synced" to my home computer. I have media (eBooks, etc) on my laptop that I want to put on my iPad. If I try to use the iTunes on my laptop, I get a happy little note about how I can only be synced to one computer at a time and if I sync to my laptop, I'll flush all my data from my iPad.

Obviously I can transfer the files from the laptop->home computer and then from there to iTunes and then to the iPad.....but that strikes me as being a really stoopid way to have to do it.

There has to be a way to upload media from my laptop directly or to sync the iPad to both machines.

Any help?

Thanx!

[Munch]

That's the way it works with my iPhone. I have NO idea why they did it that way, but that's the way they did it. Regular ipods work the way you'd want them to.

[beowulff]

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1202

[control-z]

Can you get the eBooks onto the desktop? That's probably the simplest way, although I understand your frustration.

There is software like CopyTrans Manager to let you move data to/from an iPad, but not sure if it supports eBooks in a way that will let the iPad read them.

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by beowulff

hXXp://support.apple.com/kb/ht1202

That was exactly what I needed. Thanks beowulff and everyone else.

One other question. How do I control the direction of the sync?

If I have files on my iPad placed there by the method above, and I go to sync it with my desktop, I get a scary message about how it's syncing my iPad to the Desktop, not the Desktop to the iPad and I'll lose anything on the iPad that's not on the Desktop.

There has to be a way to tell iTunes "Dude--the iPad is updated, the desktop is wrong"

[Squink]

Originally Posted by beowulff

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1202

Does that mean there are people who DON'T "Manually Manage Music"?

[Pork Rind]

Originally Posted by Squink

Does that mean there are people who DON'T "Manually Manage Music"?

I don't. I have a series of smart playlists that automatically sync. One playlist grabs all the most recently added music of any genre. Another grabs highly rated, non-classical music with no plays in the last six months. There are a few other genre-related playlists along those lines as well. It's brilliant.