New computer for old iPhone

[necigrad]

I would like to use my new computer (Windows 7) with my iPhone 3G S. The iPhone was/is previously synced to my laptop. I simply wish to now use the desktop instead of my laptop. I have the .mp3's on both computers. Is it simplist to just use the registry hack to change the iTunes ID on my desktop to that of my laptop? Start anew, and if then will I lose all my contacts and such? Backup my iPhone to the laptop, copy the backup file to my desktop and the start anew (with the backup for restore) from the desktop? I know this has to be something simple. Apple can't possibly think that computers never fail, get replaced, or have blue whales fallign from the sky onto them.

 

[jennifer_im]

Change ID seems to be impossible. In fact, you don't need to use iTunes on your desktop, to transfer MP3 from iPhone to your Windows, you can use iPhone transfer to transfer everything on your iPhone to computer, including music, video, photo and playlist back to computer. You can use iPhone to computer transfer. It works.

 

[necigrad]

Actually I don't need to transfer anything except for the iPhone to be tied to my desktop instead of my laptop. I have the .mp3s on both computers, but I don't want to have to start anew downloading all the apps, inputing contacts, etc.

 

[dawggg63]

I just did this yesterday, and it was a breeze. I had to copy photos, music, movies, etc to my backup drive (you can take it in smaller chunks w/ a flash drive if you don't have a portable drive), then added them into itunes on my new laptop (file/add to library). I did not copy apps or contacts. I did one final synch to the old computer to make sure I had a fresh copy of everything. I then synched my phone (music and photos only). When my iPhone backed up to the new computer, it backed up the contacts and apps from my phone as well.

 

[Mythico]

Actually there is an even simpler method then hacking the library ID so they are the same. All you have to do is copy 2 files over from your old computer. I apologize if these 2 files are wrong I did this long time ago. Just copy iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml. I did this at work to allow me to play music from my iphone while at work. I dont know if it works for all aspects but I figured I would share it anyway

 

[big9erfan]

You really don't want to copy those files unless the directory structure where you store your music is exactly the same as the old computer.

 

[necigrad]

You really don't want to copy those files unless the directory structure where you store your music is exactly the same as the old computer.

I definatly do NOT want to do this then, the laptop is Win XP and the desktop Win 7.

So it sounds like I can just copy all the media to the new computer, then sync the phone to the new computer. Syncing the phone will NOT DELETE my contacts, calendar, etc. Will it affect playlists? While not preferable, losing them wouldn't be a horiffic world stopping tragedy.

 

[dawggg63]

I did lose my playlists, but like you, it's no big deal. I tend to use Genius more, anyways. I don't know about calendar because I use google calendar along with the pocket informant app (great calendar/ todo, btw) and iCal. Contacts transferred perfectly. Remember, I did not check the box to synch contacts, so I think when my iPhone was backed up to the new macbook, it just backed up my contacts and populated address book. My apps all transferred the same way. It was kinda nice not to have to transfer them over manually, as I had planned to do.