# iPhone sync with iTunes- help

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-sync-with-itunes-help/455231>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 3, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-sync-with-itunes-help/455231 "2008-07-03T21:41:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-sync-with-itunes-help/455231/1 "2008-07-03T21:41:26Z")

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OK- here’s a question for all the Mac gurus out there.

You may recall that I posted that my Mac died a few weeks ago. Well, the upshot is that we had to get the hard drive replaced and lost everything.

So we opened up iTunes and my son synced his iPod. As the first one synced, the program copied all the data from his Library to iTunes. Now I step up with my iPhone- here’s the problem:

I can’t sync it without losing my playlists! If I sync it, it will replace my music with my son’s (gah! not that). Plus, my daughter and husband have their iPods as well.

So- the question-- is there a way to to “reverse sync” a iPhone/iPod-- add my music to the library (not even replace my music on to the existing library) rather than replace my music?

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-sync-with-itunes-help/455231/2 "2008-07-03T21:57:12Z")

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See if these links help:

[http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495](http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495)

> **[Is It Possible To Use Multiple IPods On One ITunes Account?](https://methodshop.com/use-multiple-ipods-on-one-itunes-account/)**
>
> Can you use multiple iPods on one iTunes account? You sent us your questions and we answered them.

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

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**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-sync-with-itunes-help/455231/3 "2008-07-03T22:00:30Z")

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[QUOTE=xash]  
See if these links help:

[http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495](http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495)

[http://www.methodshop.com/gadgets/ipodsupport/multipleipods/index.shtml](http://www.methodshop.com/gadgets/ipodsupport/multipleipods/index.shtml)

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

Thanks- I’ll check it out-- I didn’t find these in my searching!

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-sync-with-itunes-help/455231/4 "2008-07-03T22:41:31Z")

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The answer is NO, at least not with Apple’s tools. They do this to reduce music piracy.  
There are tools out there that will allow you to copy music directly off of the iPod, and then you can import that into iTunes.  
Try something like: [http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29287](http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29287)