Comments on: Tiger iSync Madness

By: Chris Holland

Chris Holland — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 18:11:31 +0000

arivd: eh! a fellow earthlink member woohoo
Yeah i hear you. I’ve learned to make peace with this, all in all, it works well.

By: arivd

arivd — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 15:30:40 +0000

After just upgrading to tiger, i mourn the loss of iPod syncing with iSync. My iPod is as much a handheld calendar/addressbook as it is a music player, and I liked just having iSync pop up - I didnt always want to use itunes, and iSync launches much quicker and probably uses less RAM. Oh well.

By: Chris Holland

Chris Holland — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 18:56:57 +0000

jerrya: you might consider an Archive Install from the Tiger DVD of your current system, and tell it to keep your accounts, settings and network preferences.

It tends to fix obscure issues, while losing virtually none of your customizations. The old system will be backed-up in a folder called “Previous System” at the root of your HD. Some 3rd-party applications store installation configuration and license stuff in /Library/Preferences/ , so you might selectively copy stuff over from Previous System.

By: JerryA

JerryA — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 16:49:24 +0000

The problem I have is that iSync keeps quitting since I upgraded to 10.4.3 from 10.2.8. Even when trying to ope preferecnes of iSync, it quits. When try to add devices, it quits, Any suggestion?

By: Bruce H

Bruce H — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 01:11:59 +0000

Anyone: I run OS 10.3.9 on an iMac. I have no use for iSync, so I would like to preserve HD space. Any reason why I should not trash iSynch? If not, can I simply drag it to Trash, or must I uninstall it somehow?

Thnx,

Bruce@Hoornstra.com

By: Baglan

Baglan — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:57:05 +0000

.Mac is not an issue with me too but I’ve noticed some less-than-inspiring changes. Firstly now it installs an iSync agent running on a phone (Nokia 6600), which is probably a good thing in the end, allowing for a wider and better device support. It re-synchronized all my calendars and contacts couple of times before it settled with exchanging just updates.

And another thing I noticed just a couple of days ago - at least newly added contacts can’t be sync’ed while Address Book is open.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:46:38 +0000

I went through this mess myself a month or so ago .. couldn’t figure out why my phone wasnt’ syncing since I was using the correct UI (from before SyncNow).

Long story, but this experience forced me to learn a little more AppleScript. Used Prefab UI Browser (http://www.prefab.com/uibrowser/) to get to the “Sync Now” button of iSycn since the damned thing isn’t scriptable.

While it wasn’t a ton of fun, now with a iCal event to open the AppleScript each day at 2pm life is actually better - and in Sync.

By: Nigel Hughes

Nigel Hughes — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 11:38:03 +0000

As a new Mac user who purchased their Mac at 10.3.9 and has since upgraded to 10.4 (OK maybe I’m not _that_ new anymore, but I was using PCs for a long time before), I find the Tiger Sync features no worse than Windows.

I don’t see anywhere in the market place a good solution that meets all needs (iPods, PDAs, Phones, Memory Sticks). For me, the MP3 player (iPod) integration and sync is fantastic, my file and settings sync is done by scripts and although not easy for every user it is certainly easier than it was on Windows.

Address book and Calendar…. I’m also in a lot of different time zones, and every solution has screwed something up at some point. OS X doesn’t do anything to improve that, but I didn’t see it get worse at 10.4.

Any how, I’d still upgrade in a heart-beat, and although it’s no defense for Apple, _I_ still feel pretty silly moaning about smaller features when using a computer suddenly became pleasurable for me again last April.

And PNG is clearly the right format for screen-shots you fools

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:58:13 +0000

Tiger also introduced a new problem: correctly remembering a .Mac password when connecting via System Preferences. Every time it is corrupted. If you try to connect to your iDisk via the Finder, the mouse cursor turns into a perpetual spinning ballon and you must restart the Finder. The only solution is to type in your correct .Mac password via System Prefs and then immediately click the iDisk tab, then connect to your iDisk via the Finder. However, next time it will not work! Well done Apple! Has anyone discovered this and found a better solution???

By: Jason Terhorst

Jason Terhorst — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:04:05 +0000

I would agree with Kevin. This isn’t a big deal if you only have an iPod and only sync that. Having it all in one spot is nice. However, if Apple is crippling iSync in the process, and killing features that people liked before, without offering something better and more obvious, then I would be worried.

By: Walt French

Walt French — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:44:02 +0000

Synch has been a mess for me for some time. Every month I travel thru multiple time zones, and have found myself “synchronizing” more than 10,000 events as my PDA, iCal, iPod, etc., got confused. Takes hours and I risk losing info from hangs, “memory full” errors on my phone, etc.

Looks to me as if Apple is moving towards making synchronization a utility feature of the OS instead of a standalone app. That could mean better ability to coordinate actions on multiple devices, to update different types of data that an app (think, a shared project manager) requires, etc. For now, however, it still suffers from disturbingly not-quite-there-ness. For a firm that thinks its products are “digital hubs,” Apple offers shockingly jumbled synch.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 15:23:56 +0000

It’s not just a minor change in the UI. What used to be a one-stop shop for syncing needs, is now split into three different places: the .mac syncing pane in the System Prefrences, iPod syncing in iTunes, and iSync for everything else. This is one of my pet peeves with Tiger, as this is a change that really doesn’t make much sense.

When you make an UI change, you would want to change it for the better - now, you have a more complicated situation than before (unless, of course, you just used iSync to sync your contacts with your iPod).

By: swissfondue

swissfondue — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 15:23:51 +0000

Ben wrote “It’s really reports like these that prevents me from switching to the 10.4 tiger goodness.”

Spotlight is the main reason I upgraded. Also smart folders are a fantastic time saver/organisational tool.

I agree with Kevin that the iTunes synching to my iPod is more user friendly.

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 12:09:48 +0000

It’s really reports like these that prevents me from switching to the 10.4 tiger goodness. I love 10.3.9, it’s running perfectly for me in almost every single little detail, and I’m really afraid for it to be broken by the upgrade.

I’ve never loved an OS so much that I’m afraid of changes, even if they’re possibly for the better.

By: Josh Pigford

Josh Pigford — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 04:20:54 +0000

Hi Jeff, “this site” has 12+ authors. So there are quite a few opinions expressed by different people, all of which exist to spark thought and discussion. If you disagree with a statement that is made you are encouraged to post stating your own view.

By: Jeff Harrell

Jeff Harrell — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 04:11:01 +0000

You know, the other day this site asserted without argument that PNG is the wrong format for screen shots. Now this site asserts that a simple and minor change to the user interface is a “travesty.”

Senseless negative hyperbole is not endearing. I’m unsubscribing from this site’s feed.

By: Kevin Ballard

Kevin Ballard — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 03:53:40 +0000

I don’t use .Mac so that stuff doesn’t bother me, but I do prefer having all iPod-related syncing done with iTunes. It used to really bug me that every time I plugged in my iPod, iSync would launch and I’d have to quit it manually. But now that iTunes does it all, since I always have iTunes open it’s a cinch.