iTunes sync stupidity

[Mattus]

So I'm just trying to sync my iPhone with my Windows laptop, the only computer I've synced it with.

As if the random crashes and plain refusals to sync aren't enough, iTunes has now decided of its own accord to deselect the 'sync music' option. When I try to reactivate it, iTunes kindly informs me that syncing music will now delete all existing songs from my iPhone.

What's more, the simple act of adding a video to my iPhone now apparently means that ALL the content currently on my iPhone must be deleted (the same goes for ringtones):

Aaargh. Why does this program have to be so unremittingly awful? Why can iTunes decide on a whim whether uploading one song to my iPhone requires me to upload all 2000 again? Why the hell should syncing my videos have anything to do with the songs on my iPhone?

I love my iPhone. But this is the second time this month I've been forced to re-upload 12GB of content to it because iTunes says so, and I'm hacked off. Now I have to wait for two hours whilst my music re-uploads if I want to add anything new. For goodness sake, if you can't write a half-decent piece of sync software, just let me manage the damn thing through Windows Explorer and avoid this abomination.

</rant>

 

[Mattus]

And have fewer alternatives to Apple's awful software than I do now? I don't think so

 

[Mattus]

Tried a iTunes re-install? Got the latest version? 8.0.1 iirc.

Yep, just installed the latest 8.0.2 but making no difference. Still crashing randomly and wanting to overwrite all my music

I'm sure iTunes is better on Mac. But most people who buy an iPhone are going to have a Windows PC, so surely Apple's Windows software should be reasonably competent?

 

[Mattus]

Go back to 8.0.0 or 8.0.1? Have you had the problems since you first got the phone? Obviously something has changed.

That's the thing - nothing has changed that I know of. Nothing had changed the last time either. One minute it works fine, and the next - boosh - resync all your songs, please!

As far as I can see, the problem is nothing to do with Windows - only to do with Apple being unable to write a decent Windows version of iTunes. Doesn't exactly inspire my confidence in Apple software.

 

[Mattus]

So does it happen on every sync? I've got a feeling the phone is telling the computer the wrong information. Can you try it on another computer?

Away at Uni now, so this laptop is the only computer I can use. Right now it's not letting me sync the iPhone at all, even if I choose to overwrite my songs. It just keeps looping the same dialog boxes and eventually hangs up. Reckon I'm gonna have to create a new library.

 

[Mattus]

Tried deleting my artwork, no-go. In the end I just told it to delete all my songs. I then had to wait whilst it locked solid for 10 minutes before coming back to life. Now I'm uploading my 2000 songs back to the iPhone. Amazing hardware, terrible software

 

[Mattus]

Nah, that's a different problem. The problem is that iTunes had 'forgotten' completely that I wanted to manually sync music with the iPhone. When I ticked the box in the screenshots, for some ridiculous reason it wanted to 'start again', deleting all my current content.