Managing and sharing stuff on multiple iThingies

[Buela]

I have a personal iTunes account that I use for my personal iPad1, iTouch4, and the iPhone 4S or 5 that is in my future.

I also just set up a work iTunes account that I will use for the iPad2 that I just received at work.

I have three questions:

Can you manage a device from more than one iTunes account? There are some things (apps, files, music, vids, etc.) that I've put onto my personal devices that I'd like to put onto the work iPad.

What's the best way to manage multiple devices from the same iTunes account? There are some things that I'd like to have on both the iPad1 and my iTouch, but other things that I'd prefer to have only on one or the other, mostly because of storage limitations (for example, more music on my iTouch, but more movies on the iPad).

How does iCloud factor into this? I've never used it, so I'm not sure if that would help or not. Note though that I don't want to just access most of my stuff from the cloud because I don't want to be dependent on an internet connection to get to my stuff.

If there are existing things that I can/should read that answer these questions, please point me in the right direction -- and please be kind, patient, and detailed in your answer, because even though I'm an old-school geek with regards to the Windows/Linux worlds, I'm a total neophyte with only the most basic end-user level skills when it comes to any of the iStuff or Apple in general.

Thanks!

 

[lkilgore]

As I understand it, you can sync up to 5 devices on one iTunes account. I use one account to keep my iPad1, iPad2, and two iPhones sync'd. I have only had to buy/download apps and download free apps once, and then everything sets up on all of my devices via an iTunes sync. Your new iPad2 won't sync with more than one iTunes account (I don't think... others should offer their views). Having more than one iTunes account will add a level of complication to what you do - you can't mix and match apps from more than one iTunes account on the same device, but perhaps a Jailbroken device can do more, I'm not familiar with such things.

 

[Kaykaykay]

You can have up to 10 iDevices on one iTunes account. I have eight on my account. Each one has a different profile and name, so each has only what I want synched. You can use multiple iTunes accounts on one device, but you have to track which account you used to buy which app, so you can update. People do this when they want to use more than one country's app store, for example. No jailbreaking needed.

 

[col.bris]

I have 7 devices on my iTunes account and 5 are in fact on additional 2 other accounts ( 1 USA and 1 English) I can switch on the fly between accounts with out issue as all accounts are authorized. When I down load an app or take a picture or down load music on the iPhone it is available on 3 other the devices almost immediately using iCloud. It just works. All idevices sync with a MacBook via wifi. Each phone and iPod plus the iPads have different playlists to satisfy each user. Hope that helps.

 

[Buela]

Thank you! Now that I know that it *can* be done, I just have to get in there and figure out *how* to do it.

The one question I have for now on that is about this:
> Each one has a different profile and name, so each has only what I want synched.

How do you set up different profiles for different devices, so that different things are synched automatically to those devices? When I go into iTunes and search Help for "profile" I only get a few hits on the Ping feature, which isn't what I'm looking for. Help?

 

[lkilgore]

Col.bris,

Has it always been possible to have two accounts on one device? I remember having problems with my iPhone 2G, back a few years. Has this ability been added since the introduction of iPhone or did I just not know how to do it all this time. I appreciate the information... this is the reason why I came to this forum, to erase some of my misperceptions and improve my skills. Thank you.

 

[nitzan]

as far as i know you need to seperate two things:
1. the apple ID account that will enable you to online sync and share your app store purchases (apps) between the devices. this is a no brainer and if you configure several decives against the same apple ID user it will be done. so once you purchase in one device the other devices configured/logged in with the same ID will recieve notification or autmoatically recieve the app (depends on the configuration you made).

2. the itunes managing the library on your computer here the account/apple ID itself is less important but the important thing is the actual library file. you can share the same library with different devices, meaning you work with one library and the itunes software will sync it with any device you will connect to it. the problem here is that it will sync all devices against the same files, so if you want all devices be identical this is the way to go.

the other option you have is to have muliple library files, this you can do in the following way:
- when opening the itunes software press "shift" and a pop up will come asking you either to choose the library file or create one, so basically you can create a seperate library per device or per several devices.
- then add files to this library
- then connect the devices you want and sync.


this is how i do it, so currently each device i have has its onw library and when i open itunes on my laptop i choose the proper library based on the device i want to work with.

the only problem i have with this approach is the duplication of the files in case some of them are the same, i need to evaluate what are the options to avoid that each library will have its own version of the file. if someone knows let me know.

thanks.