Sr. Citizen (Very Basic) Questions

[Robert11]

Hello,

First, a most sincere thanks for all the previous help with my dumb questions.
Am in my 70's now, so will just blame it on old age, which I've discovered is a great excuse for most anything.
Have a brand new iPad3. Wow ! What a toy.
Lots to learn, but am sincerely trying to.

Anyway,

a. I went to iTunes, and turned on "Home Sharing". This seems to be (only) for the PC. True ?

But, I understand that I should also do this for the iPad proper.

Can't see how to do it from iTunes, or the iPad unit itself.
How do I do it, please ?

b. I noticed under the iPad General Setting the "iTunes wi-fi Sync" option.
Does this have anything to do with Home Sharing ?

Apparently this Sync can only be done when the unit is plugged into a PC (Windows7 for me) USB Port.
True ?

c. in iTunes, when I first plug the unit into the PC with USB, "DEVICES" comes up on the left.
If I press something like the round small button there, it disappears.
How do I get it back ? What are the 2 small icons there for ?

Is something here in Devices used for "Home Sharing" or "Sync" ? What and how ?

d. What's the "best" APP I should get to enable me to Upload photos from the iPad to the PC ?
Any that will also allow just looking at pix on the PC from the iPad ?

Again, much thanks for the help; much appreciated.
BTW: anything else I should Sync, or make sure has been set up, or..., etc. ?

Bob

 

[petermillard]

Bob.

First of all, congratulations on your new iPad; I passed along my original iPad 1 to my father (86) and he's having a great time exploring all the functionality!

In response to your questions:-

a/ Home Sharing is a way for you to stream content (music or video, say) from the iTunes library on your PC to your iPad - or iPod Touch, iPhone etc… To use the feature, as well as enabling 'Home Sharing' on your PC (which you've already done) your iPad and the PC need to be on the same WiFi network, and you need to make sure that your iPad is also signed into the same iTunes account as your PC.

With all these in place, open the Music App on your iPad and along the bottom, where it says 'Playlist, Songs, Artist etc…" touch the "More" button. In the pop-up window that opens, you'll see an option for "Shared" - like this:-



and if you select that, the pop-up will change to show any shared iTunes libraries that are available on your network - in my case it's called "iMac Library" :-



Your PC iTunes library should be listed there, and if you select it it will load - be aware that this can take a few minutes depending on the size of the library!

b/ iTunes WiFi Sync has nothing to do with Home Sharing - it's a way to Sync your iPad to your iTunes library without plugging it in with the USB cable.

c/ Your iPad will be listed in the 'Devices' section of iTunes whenever it's connected. The "round small button" there to the right of the device name is actually an eject button, to remove the iPad from the devices list! To reinstate it, just unplug the cable, then reconnect it. If you click on the little triangle to the left of your iPad name (called a 'delta') this will show the contents of your iPad but divided into categories - music, movies, TV shows etc… It's another way of displaying the content of your iPad before or after syncing.

d/ I must admit I've become a big fan of iCloud and Photo Stream for importing photos - totally painless and automatic. I'm not a Windows user, but I'm pretty sure any photos on your iPad will download automatically to your photos folder (My Pictures??) when you sync your iPad.

Hope this helps, Pete

 

[michali]

That is a great response, Pete! However, not sure of the last answer re photos. If the photo were taken by iPad, they will be stored in the Camera Roll. Those will not sync with the photos folder on the desktop, or wherever photos are kept on PC. If I am wrong, I am happy to be corrected! Any photos I have on my camera roll that I want to save on my PC, I email to myself and save. If there is a better way, I would be happy to hear it!

To the OP, I know you will enjoy your iPad! My husband and I are both senior citizens and we both use the iPad all the time...so much to explore, so much at which to be amazed!

 

[Robert11]

From OP: For Pete et al

Hi,

Just a quick thanks for taking all the time to help me out.

Great, clear, explanations.

Much apprecated.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[col.bris]

I agree the response was excellent. I can assure you we can make your life easier with your new iPad. Oh I am 67 and 70 is not old. Lol

Sent from my iPhone using iPF

 

[petermillard]

Hi. Glad to have been of help.

If the photo were taken by iPad, they will be stored in the Camera Roll. Those will not sync with the photos folder on the desktop, or wherever photos are kept on PC.

As I say, I'm not a Windows user, but if that's your direct experience of it then it's completely at odds with all other iOS devices' sync behaviour. Certainly, with iCloud and Photo Stream, all photos on a device download automatically whenever you're in WiFi range, and are automatically pushed to all your other devices that have Photo Stream enabled e.g. the screen grabs I posted above were taken on my iPad but were on my laptop within seconds (no cables, no wifi sync, no action required by me) ready to post here. Highly recommended!

Cheers, Pete (a comparative youngster at 52!)

 

[leelai]

I'd also like to say that was a very good response indeed and much appreciated!

Thank you!