No manual music management on iPhone?

During CNET's review of the Apple iPhone I found a surprising omission from the iPhone's device tab in iTunes. It seems that there's no way to manually move content between iTunes and the iPhone. Instead, content management relies entirely on automatic syncing preferences. As someone who uses their iPod on multiple computers, I rely on the 'Manage music and videos manually' check box that appears in the device manager tab when I connect my iPod to iTunes. Without it, each time I sync my iPod to a different computer I run the risk of having content overwritten.

Am I the only one who finds this strange? Am I missing something? I suppose it speaks to the fact that the iPhone is only meant to be used with one computer. Otherwise, you run the risk of overwriting crucial phone information like your contacts and calendar. The iPhone's syncing preferences offer a handful of workarounds, but nothing as direct as dragging and dropping content. Anyone else upset to see the manual transfer option excluded?

Did Apple leave off a check box?

[mshidden]

Activation...

It seems so basic, that I suspect it has to do with the activation process of the iphone. BTW this is no small feat I was shocked when I discovered that activation would be through iTunes.

[mshidden]

Activation...

It seems so basic, that I suspect it has to do with the activation process of the iphone. BTW this is no small feat I was shocked when I discovered that activation would be through iTunes.

[maxxwell834]

iPhone on two Mac's

I have two macs, I have found that I can sync music and video on one and contacts/calender and photos with the other. this is useful as I use each mac for different reasons (music is not on my work computer).

[maxxwell834]

iPhone on two Mac's

I have two macs, I have found that I can sync music and video on one and contacts/calender and photos with the other. this is useful as I use each mac for different reasons (music is not on my work computer).

[JinvoX]

I'm shocked!

I'm surprised they left that out for the iPhone, I mean the device only has 8GB worth of space or really 7. But if I had limited space, I would normally do manual music management so I can select exactly what I would want the most, yet a temporary solution would be to make a smart playlist or normal playlist and make it so there's enough room for your contacts and pictures.

[JinvoX]

I'm shocked!

I'm surprised they left that out for the iPhone, I mean the device only has 8GB worth of space or really 7. But if I had limited space, I would normally do manual music management so I can select exactly what I would want the most, yet a temporary solution would be to make a smart playlist or normal playlist and make it so there's enough room for your contacts and pictures.

[morleyds]

Where my manual management?

I hope they fix that in a software update. That's a real bummer for those of us that connect to multiple computers.

[morleyds]

Where my manual management?

I hope they fix that in a software update. That's a real bummer for those of us that connect to multiple computers.

[noservice2001]

are you kidding?

just uncheck automatic.... and go the music tab and check the playlists you
want.... its manual.... i did it.....

[noservice2001]

are you kidding?

just uncheck automatic.... and go the music tab and check the playlists you
want.... its manual.... i did it.....

[cosimoto]

Transferring Individual songs and media

I want the ability to transfer individual songs and other media like i can on my
ipod. I don't want to have to make a playlist every time i want to drag something
over. It's ridiculous that they didn't include this most basic functionality from the
ipod.

[cosimoto]

Transferring Individual songs and media

I want the ability to transfer individual songs and other media like i can on my
ipod. I don't want to have to make a playlist every time i want to drag something
over. It's ridiculous that they didn't include this most basic functionality from the
ipod.

[audiodonald]

Not what I'm talking about

Sure, you can have the iPhone sync to specific playlists. What I'm talking about is the ability to manually drag and drop content within iTunes from your library onto the iPhone's device icon--a feature that's possible (and quite useful) using an iPod. You can work around this on the iPhone by making a specific iPhone playlist in iTunes, set it to sync to the iPhone and then manually manage the playlist content in iTunes, but it's not as straightforward as dragging and dropping content onto the device. I can see the logic behind why Apple chose to do this for the iPhone, but it still stings to have a useful iPod feature taken away.

[audiodonald]

Not what I'm talking about

Sure, you can have the iPhone sync to specific playlists. What I'm talking about is the ability to manually drag and drop content within iTunes from your library onto the iPhone's device icon--a feature that's possible (and quite useful) using an iPod. You can work around this on the iPhone by making a specific iPhone playlist in iTunes, set it to sync to the iPhone and then manually manage the playlist content in iTunes, but it's not as straightforward as dragging and dropping content onto the device. I can see the logic behind why Apple chose to do this for the iPhone, but it still stings to have a useful iPod feature taken away.

[b27theory]

Sync conatcts and calender from one machine and mu

[b27theory]

Sync conatcts and calender seperate from music

Someone wrote that they can sync their contacts and calender from one machine
and music and vids from another.... Is this true? Also ... anyone have any
probelms sending email?

[b27theory]

Sync conatcts and calender seperate from music

Someone wrote that they can sync their contacts and calender from one machine
and music and vids from another.... Is this true? Also ... anyone have any
probelms sending email?

[cmunk]

Mac's big mistake needs to be fixed

It is a horrible system. I just bought a 16GB iPHone today and am very
dissapointed with the music managment features. Here is the link to leave
feedback at apple.com: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Everyone should speak up about this.