MobileMe & newbie

[Leboyd]

Okay. I'm an experienced pc user, but not apple.

I bought the iPad and generally love it. So, I thought, "hey, what if I buy an iPhone and use MobileMe to keep everything in sync (without a computer)."

So, I signed up for a MobileMe account and bought the iPhone (long time MS smart phone user).

I first wanted to set up the iPad. Went through set up and ... Can't see anything happening. I have a lot of entries on my iPad calendar and hoped to see something on me.com. I have it set to "merge". When I go to me.com on the iPad it gives me what I would call the setup screen. I can't see anything or tell whether anything is happening.

I want (need) this first step to get my calendar and contacts to my iPhone.

I'm sure I'm missing something simple.

Any thought?

Thanks,

 

[King Hal]

You first need to get all your calendar and contacts data from your PC to your MobileMe account. If you have all this in MS Outlook it's very straightforward as all you do is install the MobileMe client on your PC (go to the Apple website - support -to do this) set the sync options, and hey presto it's done.

When settiing up the iPad don't set it to sync twice with Outlook (that's when you connect to your PC via iTunes or you'll duplicate everything). MobileMe takes care of everything wirelessly. You'll have everything nicely in sync.

MobileMe is a good choice.

 

[Leboyd]

You first need to get all your calendar and contacts data from your PC to your MobileMe account. If you have all this in MS Outlook it's very straightforward as all you do is install the MobileMe client on your PC (go to the Apple website - support -to do this) set the sync options, and hey presto it's done.

When settiing up the iPad don't set it to sync twice with Outlook (that's when you connect to your PC via iTunes or you'll duplicate everything). MobileMe takes care of everything wirelessly. You'll have everything nicely in sync.

Great! I appreciate the help!

 

[Leboyd]

Now, here's a little more details and questions.

I have Win7PC and OL07, iPad and iPhone4. I want to wirelessly synce between MM, iPad and iPhone, and then iTunes sync between OL and iPad. Based on my research, the contacts won't sync with MM to OL with Win7PC. So, iTunes seems to be the solution (?).

I had the MM syncing between iPhone4 and iPad and the calendar with OL, but because of the contact issue, I changed MM on the PC to *not* sync either.

However, only MM to the iPad seems to work. I have the mail, calendar, contacts setting to "push" on the iPhone4, but it doesn't seem to work. Also, the iTunes sync between the iPad and OL doesn't seem to work.

Any suggestions or help is great appreciated.

 

[Leboyd]

And some more information.

I am able to get the iPhone4 to sync with MM now. So, the only problem I have is iTunes syncing between the PC and iPad.

Thanks.

 

[Leboyd]

I'm getting very confused.

If I add an event in OL, iTunes does sync it to the iPad. But if I add one on the iPad, it does not sync the other direction.

 

[King Hal]

I suggest you avoid syncing iPad via iTunes. Do it wirelessly with MM. Use MM as the 'hub' so OL syncs to MM not MM to OL. With MM always up to date you will always be up to date on iPhone and iPad. Go to settings in iPad and set up your MM account but, I repeat, don't set iTunes & iPad to sync contacts/calendar. Again, to be clear, your Apple devices will automatically stay synced with the MM 'server'.

 

[Leboyd]

I suggest you avoid syncing iPad via iTunes. Do it wirelessly with MM. Use MM as the 'hub' so OL syncs to MM not MM to OL. With MM always up to date you will always be up to date on iPhone and iPad. Go to settings in iPad and set up your MM account but, I repeat, don't set iTunes & iPad to sync contacts/calendar. Again, to be clear, your Apple devices will automatically stay synced with the MM 'server'.

My only question is about photos and other files. I love the idea of not using iTunes, but how do my photos or other files get synced from the PC to the iPad? (Not being "tethered" would be great!)

 

[King Hal]

You'll still need iTunes to sync music, videos, photos, iBooks and pdf's

 

[Leboyd]

You'll still need iTunes to sync music, videos, photos, iBooks and pdf's

And, unfortunately, I set up the MM without OL/iTunes sync and remember the problem. Apparently (from the research I did) MM doesn't work correctly with MM on Win7-64. The contacts won't sync because of a problem that causes an error.

It looks like I have to use iTunes. I'll have to keep working with it to figure out what to do.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[King Hal]

I've been on Win7-64 (before I bought a MacBook Pro) without any problem, but I understand there's a problem with OL 2010.

 

[Nick Martin]

The Apple help desk is available to all iPad purchasers for free for 90 days from the day you buy it. They are very knowledgable and have helped me on MobileMe, iTunes synching and even with the amazon/kindle books that I downloaded.