Some iPad Help Please

I want to upgrade my original iPad's system software from 3.2 to 4.0. I've recently added some apps that don't run on 3.2.

The problem is I have no idea what mac laptop I used to setup that iPad. I think it may be gone to be honest. But the iPad wants me to connect it to the laptop that was used to set it up so it can do a software upgrade.

What is the best and fastest way to solve this problem? Should I do a factory reset on the iPad? If I do that will I lose all the apps I've got installed on the iPad? Is there another option?

I'm so confused why I need to connect an iPad to a laptop in the first place. Since that first setup, I've never connected the iPad to a laptop. I just download apps over the air and use them. Why can't an iPad do an over the air software upgrade like Android? Ugh.

#Random Posts

Comments (Archived):

  1. itamarl

    It’s a strange issue, I often sync my ipad with various computers without any problem.When you plug your iPad, do you see it appearing in iTunes at all?

    1. fredwilson

      nope. it doesn’t recognize my iPad

      1. Jwerbell

        what version of itunes are you running?  might be out of date.

      2. Aaron Kulbe

        When you have your iPad connected, can you see it listed on the left, under DEVICES?Alt-click and you should see an option to Transfer Purchases. That will copy your stuff off, and add it to iTunes.Do this *before* you try to sync it, then when you do sync, all your stuff will be there.

      3. msitarzewski

        Try a different USB port? Reboot, try again. Uninstall/reinstall iTunes? If iTunes doesn’t just pop open and see the iPad, then there’s a system issue.What a PITA. Thankfully all of this goes away soon with iOS 5. Speaking of, do you have access to the dev release? Maybe that beta is the way to go, instead of 4.3.3? :)Don’t forget to Transfer purchases. You should also be able to transfer photos if you have any.

  2. Michael Prassel

    First, iOS 5.0 will solve the update problem and you will no longer need a computer at all.You can update from any computer, you just won’t be able to sync without losing your ipad’s content. When you plug it in to a different computer, it will tell you it’s already synced to another computer and ask if you want to sync to the new computer. If you say ok, your music, apps, etc. will be wiped from the ipad. Just say no, then click update in the summary tab.

    1. rogersdc

      This is the way to go. You can update from any computer without an issue. Remember: it’s Apple, so if it seems difficult, you are probably thinking too hard about the solution.

      1. fredwilson

        i can’t wrap my head around iTunes. never have understood that product.

        1. JamesHRH

          You are a focus group of one for iCloud.

          1. ErikSchwartz

            Which will hopefully work better than the last 10 online/cloud services Apple has tried to build.

          2. Mark Essel

            if they screw this up (again), no doubt they’ll be seen like Google and social apps.

          3. ShanaC

            I’m hedging that the chromeos model is going to be the one that works…

        2. Carl Rahn Griffith

          I think it’s all explained in the 37 page licensing agreement you have to read before installing/upgrading it, Fred.:-)

        3. Yalim K. Gerger

          Fred, that’s normal. It is one of the worst products in the history of software development. It is an embarrassment to Design, Architecture and pretty much every other aspect of software development.

        4. Alan Sanders

          i hear that! itunes is horrible on many levels. may be the the best example yet of marketing trumping quality when it come to technology 

        5. matthughes

          I think we’ll look back on iTunes some day and realize how awful it was. Last Tuesday seems about right.  

        6. Prokofy

          It’s a great concept. You pay for music so that musicians and companies that distribute music can get paid. Works great.Many people only have one i-pod. That’s all we have in our family. One i-pod. And an old Sony walkman.

        7. spek

          I thought it was just me…

        8. Abhishek

          I hear this from “n” number of people and in spite of being an apple fan boy, I agree. iTunes if probably the most pathetic software of our times especially when it comes to syncing etc.

    2. fredwilson

      i will try that. i did connect it to a laptop yesterday and itunes did not recognize the iPad. 

      1. johnnyinnyc

        If all you want is to get the update I’ve found that the following works for me:1. Find a PC (not a mac) that’s never had iTunes installed.2. Install the latest version of iTunes.3. Plugin your iPadIf the PCs usb connection is working properly iTunes should immediately detect that an update for you iPad is available.Yes a pain, but it’s worked for me for several times.

  3. Guest

    You can always take it to an Apple store and have them update the software for you. 

  4. Dave W Baldwin

    Go to the store… at least you’ll have someone to blame if something is missing afterward.

  5. Ketan Anjaria

    Fred,If it’s only apps you have on your iPad, if you do a reset, you can download them again from the app store without being charged. But I agree right now it’s kind of annoying that you have to have 1 single access point for software updates. I think that’s the whole reason for Apple rolling out iCloud.

  6. Jan Schultink

    First, sync with your new laptop (don’t upgrade iOS), check in iTunes whether all apps are sitting on your laptop, then reset [I THINK]Before resetting, please can someone confirm whether this also stores the DATA of the apps on the laptop

  7. Jwerbell

    Fred – I would suggest that you a) transfer purchases to the new laptop (in itunes, right click on your device and then transfer purchases) and b) make a backup of the iPad.  After that you can upgrade the device OS easily and then restore from the old backup.  I’ve done the OS upgrade many times (and in the same scenario of an original sync on one computer and the OS upgrade on another computer) and these work fine.  If something goes wrong, you can always restore the old image.  Do you have music or movies on the iPad or just apps?  Is the itunes account the same on the new laptop?Note – upgrades from iPad 1 to iPad 2 are really painful.

    1. fredwilson

      just appsmy music is in the cloud!!!

      1. Jwerbell

        If you do a backup and transfer purchases you should be set.  some settings for apps don’t carry over (logins, etc) – but I can’t figure out why since its inconsistent.  If you have lots of apps you might want to take a snapshot of how you have them organized since I have seen this get disjointed in upgrades too.

      2. Guest

        A little off-topic but where you do store your music and how do you play it on your iPad (and other connected devices)?

        1. Aaron Klein

          I’ve been inspired by Fred’s music in the cloud posts and buy DRM-free music from Amazon anyway, so I’ve switched entirely from iTunes to Amazon Cloud Player.I can play all of my music in the browser on almost any device and the app on my new Android absolutely rocks. I downloaded a few albums to the device for when I’m offline or in the air.

          1. Mark Foundos

            Thanks for the reply, Aaron. (that was me as “guest” before)I’ve tried the Amazon Cloud Player and more recently Google Music.  I need to spend more time with them.  I’ll need a good way to play them on iOS though.

          2. Aaron Klein

            Amazon Cloud Player does play on iOS devices now in the browser, even in multitasking to another app. It may tell you the browser isn’t fully supported, but you tap Continue and it works great on my iPad.

      3. Rickshaw

        Aren’t your apps in the cloud too?I’m not sure how this works in the iPad, but on my iPhone if I go to the App Store now and go to Updates, there’s a header that appears that says “Purchased”. When I click on that it shows all the apps I’ve ever owned, whether or not they are on the device. If they are on the device, it says Installed. If not, there’s a pic of a cloud with a down arrow in it (to download to the device). I’m sure you can probably download all at once. You should really have the same option once you have the latest iOS (I don’t have 5, just the latest one out now).Same with music in iTunes. Of course if its an actual upgrade, as opposed to reinstalling from scratch, none of this should matter. I’m not sure why the mac doesn’t recognize your iPad, and don’t know if this will work, but maybe you could try to deauthorize one of your older devices via iTunes. 

    2. Mark Essel

      what he said.

    3. Jonathan Balkin

      I just did an upgrade from iPad 1 to iPad 2 – just plugged it in and voila.  Had all o f my apps, settings, and files (music, pictures, docs, etc..) synced almost automatically.  

  8. William Mougayar

    I think u can authorize the new pc for that iPad, then back it up, then transfer Apps that you downloaded over the air, then upgrade. I’ve done this before. Isn’t iTunes guiding you?

    1. fredwilson

      iTunes sucks. second worst software ever after microsoft outlook

      1. William Mougayar

        True, it is convoluted. It needs a major overhaul, but it’s the gatekeeperfor the apple mobile devices, unfortunately.

      2. Mark Essel

        It is the devil.I hate it, but sometimes I have to use it to grab specific albums that aren’t available on amazon mp3s.

      3. RichardF

        iTunes is way worse than outlook imo.  It’s a piece of crap.

      4. Carl Rahn Griffith

        Have to say latest MS Office 2011 for Mac and the move from Entourage to Outlook is pretty cool – and quick/stable, thus far. As are all the other components in MS Office – Word especially seems a lot more coherent.I’d propose iTunes is closely followed by The App Store in my opinion/experience re: a sledgehammer to crack a nut approach to software. I fear for a future where my devices may have to rely on Apple’s cloud and such apps…

      5. Yalim K. Gerger

        We at least had options for Outlook. We are stuck with iTunes if we want to use an iPad. I cannot believe a company that can design so beautiful products is capable of creating such a shitty software.

      6. calabs

        iTunes is a bad piece of software, but with a little thought it can be a lot better. The central realization is that iTunes generates and maintains links to files on your hard drive. In that sense, iTunes is just a fancy file-system browser that allows the user to manage gigabytes of data and adds powerful metadata that file-systems don’t support.Apple chose iTunes to manage their iDevices because a) iTunes already existed, and b) iTunes already knows about most of the artifacts (music, apps) you’ll want to move on and off your devices, putting it in a natural position to manage the subset of your data you want to copy to your devices.The advent of fast wireless networks and streaming media services creates an alternative to moving large gigabyte batches of media between devices. Of course, this is not without a serious cost: carriers charge a premium for fast wireless bandwidth, there are plenty of situations where a connection will not be available, and there are autonomy/control/privacy issues. There is no doubt that if you can afford it, and if it is available and you feel you can trust the cloud provider, that it is the more convenient solution *by far*. Basically you give up the burden of managing your gigabytes at the cost of having to ask someone to use those bytes every time you want to access them.Personally, I am content. I enjoy the slow savoring of new music, listening to the radio to discover new bands (shout out to kcrw.com), the purchase of physical CDs at my local, independently-owned record store–where I can meet people and talk about music. I take the CDs home and listen to them on my stereo, and I’ve burned a few hundred of the best albums to my Mac and iPhone, which is really more than enough. I think it is a cultural mistake to sacrifice an *experience* to improve *efficiency*.

        1. Tony Alva

          Calabs,Holy crap!  I finally found ONE guy in the AVC universe who feels the same way as I do on this topic. Frankly, sans the 5 computer limit iTunes imposes on you, I’ve never had a problem using it.  I have four Mac’s, hosting two iPhones, the kid’s iTouch, and my newly purchased iPad 2 with thousands of songs in the library.  No fanboy by any stretch, I use it to rip, listen, manage my music library and devices, not launch space shuttles I guess…Cheers!Tony Alva

          1. calabs

            I didn’t say I didn’t have a problem using it, it’s just that I spent anafternoon to really explore what it can do, what it does, and why I was sodamn confused by it. The core problem is a blurring between data andmetadata: iTunes UI is mostly oriented around manipulating views ofmeta-data (meta-meta-data? playlists are definitely meta-meta-data, which ofcourse makes lists of playlists meta-meta-meta-data, but I digress…) butit also can change file itself. Further, it imposes arbitrary, hardcategories to your artifacts that you cannot ignore and cannot override(music, video, apps, books, etc) which has a ripple effect throughout theUI, which is particularly confusing when selecting data subsets for devices(e.g. you have to select subsets of each hard category).It’s a UI that is heterogenous, hacky, and arbitarily restrictive, but whichis, in the end, understandable. It’s also something that can and should beimproved upon.

  9. Khoi

    It’s a total headache, I agree, and I’m not sure there’s an easy solution to your dilemma. I can’t wait for it to be fixed in iOS 5. Anyway, sorry you’re having to deal with this!

  10. andyswan

    Take it to their spaceship.

    1. Tom Labus

      “close encounters with an iPad”

      1. ShanaC

        what are the ipad kind like?

        1. andyswan

          They only have one button, but if you push it, you’re golden

    2. Mark Essel

      Thanks.Now I’ve got this image of Fred holding up his iPad shouting in a big empty soon to be flattened orchard stuck in my head.

    3. Hrishi Mittal

      You mean iShip.(shipping puns intended)

  11. Tommy Chen

    iOS 5 will bring an end to this madness but for the time being I agree with @9bf262beb255108a4453c31a093785c1:disqus. Transfer your purchases (apps/media) to a new pc and backup. Then upgrade to iOS 4.3.3 and restore backup data.

  12. Fernando Gutierrez

    Others seem to have solved your issue, so I’ll just add a thought. Android has always had over-the-air updates and nobody cared. Now Apple anounces exactly that and the same people who didn’t care are in ecstasy. It’s really a religion!

    1. Michael Szymanski

      It is truly a religion. People had been surfing the web and taking pictures and listening to music and surfing the web on smartphones like the Treo years before the iPhone. Somehow, though when the iPhone came out people were amazed at what it could do.

  13. jfccohen

    I had this same initial reaction.  When my computer broke, I wanted to toss it, buy an iPad, docking station and wireless keyboard/mouse but they told me I couldn’t set it up without a computer.  While I understand the importance of backup and connecting to a central system, I am pretty sure those functionalities are available over a wireless connection.  I hope iOS 5.0 will do this better.That, or should be able to fly with Branson to Jobs new home.

  14. John Frankel

    First, iOS 5.0 will solve the update problem and you will no longer need a computer at all.Second, all you need to do is take screenshot pictures of your screens so you can remember what apps you have and where they are located and then sync to any computer.  If it is the wrong one you will ‘lose’ your apps, but rebuy them from the app store at $0 cost as you already purchased them.   I have had to do this a number of times.  Really.  Twice replaced my iPad overseas – gratis by Apple! – and it took me all of 20 minutes to re-setup everything.  iOS5 will make this even snappier. 

    1. fredwilson

      thanks. i will give this a shot.

      1. Mark Essel

        It’s still a needless time sync.Looking forward to the iCloud iOS 5 release to break the chains.I’m still not sure Apple can really provide a shackle-less experience.You stream everywhere so it should work, but I’m often offline so I need local cached versions of media or data.

    2. thedavidlewis

      Is there a good screenshot app for the iPad or do you use your phone for that? 😉

      1. Aaron Klein

        Press the home and sleep buttons simultaneously and check your photo roll. 🙂

        1. thedavidlewis

          That was easy. Thanks, Aaron!

    3. Andrew

      They silently added a new feature to the App Store after the keynote – now if you go to the Upgrades tab there’s an entry up top that will show you all the apps you’ve bought with that Apple ID in the past and you can download from there. It also shows every every free app you’ve downloaded  (unfortunate if you’ve installed and deleted hundreds of them).

  15. joemccann

    If only there was a way to sync wirelessly…

  16. Ivan Vecchiato

    Something is telling me that you are fishing… 🙂

    1. fredwilson

      fishing for what?

      1. Mark Essel

        this

        1. Dave W Baldwin

          javascript:void(0)

          1. Mark Essel

            🙂

          2. Dave W Baldwin

            My computer is slowing down and I’m on run. It was supposed to be a shark. Couldn’t get one of dark haired guy (Fred) surrounded by sharks…..

          3. ShanaC

            Must avoid fish jokes (you would too if your last name was Carp)

      2. Ivan Vecchiato

        for Apple fanboys

  17. Mike Lorey

    To just update the iPad software on a different computer, here is the best process I have found:Plug the iPad into a different computer, it will tell you that it is already synced to another computer and ask if you want to sync to the new computer. Just say NO, saying yes will wipe out your music, apps, etc. Then click update in the summary tab. That should do it.

    1. fredwilson

      i tried that yesterday but did not get the dialog you mention. i will try again. thanks!

  18. tomwatson

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the iPad a computer – what’s this strange “you need a computer” to use it syndrome?Corresponding movie quote – “Correct me if I’m wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they’re gonna lock me up and throw away the key.”

  19. paramendra

    Major design glitch. 

  20. Mark Essel

    I had the same issue.I was able to transfer purchased content over to a new (prison) iTunes.You can read more about it here.”An exception to this is the transfer purchases feature which allows you to restore purchased iTunescontent to your computer from your iPod. Additionally, if you legally are allowed to copy music or other media files, you can configure your iPod as a storage drive to move media files.The higher version of iTunes allow one to use an iPod to transfer songs purchased through iTunes to as many as five authorized computers. This only works for songs purchased through iTunes, not those ripped from CDs or downloaded from other sources, which are much more common.”

  21. Mark Essel

    Wait, you have kids. Just point to the device and say “I’m old, fix it.”

    1. Laurent Boncenne

      priceless!

    2. William Mougayar

      Very good Mark !

  22. Charlie Crystle

    rtfm

  23. Ciaran

    I have to say that when I bought my girlfriend an iPad I was amazed that I had to sync it to anything, other than itself. Can someone, please, explain why on earth that should be? I guess Apple see iPads as being secondary devices, but surely they should allow people with no other technology to use one?

    1. msitarzewski

      Like previous posters have said, that requirement is going away with iOS 5. 🙂

  24. thesis help

    fianlly) thanks!!!!

  25. Kevin Stecko

    I had this exact same issue with an iPod where my laptop died.  I kept good backups of my files but didn’t do a true iTunes backup.  I just backed up the files by dragging and dropping.  Then I made the mistake of syncing to the new device (I wasn’t worried about it because I had all the files), and then I lost all my iTunes purchases.  Since I didn’t back up the way iTunes wanted me to I no longer have access to my old purchases on iTunes.  It was probably only 30 songs at the max so I gave up after fruitlessly trying to contact Apple for a few days.  I learned my lesson and vowed to give up all “i” products.  iTunes is the worst.

    1. msitarzewski

      You have access to all of those purchases now, for what it’s worth. There’s a link in the iTunes Store.

  26. Jesse

    The apps should be available to you on any computer that is authorized/signed into your iTunes account. You can re-download apps to any computer and then sync the iPad. Old photos/music are another issue though.

  27. Conrad Ross Schulman

    Fred,Can you write a post on how stupid apple is for making an internal battery for the iPhone and iPad. If you write a post…apple will implement the new changes into ios6. (couch, couch: notifications into ios5)

    1. Aaron Klein

      I remember Fred already writing this post about Android’s capability in this regard.

      1. Conrad Ross Schulman

        A fully dedicated blog post by Fred Wilson will get apple to switch to an external battery for ios6…

        1. Aaron Klein

          Now that’s a great bet. Do I want to bet on the power of AVC or do I want tobet on Steve Jobs’ stubbornness? Tough one.

          1. Conrad Ross Schulman

            Tough indeed. Here is how I see it…Fred Wilson is the ultimate ‘Josh Baskin’ (aka Tom Hanks in Big). Instead of playing and improving toys, Fred reviews and improves all the apps/games/anything internet.  Steve Jobs makes hardware/software for the entire world. Steve needs Fred to review and improve his products.Therefore, if Fred writes a dedicated blog post addressing the issue, Steve will probably listen and implement the change. 

  28. Brad

    With the integration of twitter in to ios5, I would have thought you would come out swinging with the praise for all things Apple. I am willing to bet that when her Iphone is upgraded to this ios5, my wife will take on twitter. I will bet that you will see a big surge in twitter numbers due to the integration.That being said, I have done what you are trying to do a couple times with a new computer, etc. I have never had a problem, but just make an appointment at the Apple store and they will walk you through it. 

  29. Randall NOVAL

    I think this will work. Worst case, you have a backup of everything now. Best case, you have everything upgraded. For some reason, I have never had good luck with updating iOS devices on Windows boxes, so I’d recommend finding a Mac somewhere. This requires the iPad show up in iTunes as well, so if it’s not, you’ll have to troubleshoot that (restart both device and the Mac, verify the services are running, make sure you have all OS & iTunes updates installed, etc.).http://support.apple.com/kb…Once it does appear, the first thing you’ll want to do is say No or cancel out of any of the automated processes iTunes prompts you to do, these are all destructive and not what you want. Then, right-click on the iPad on the left side and choose backup. You can backup and restore from any computer even if it’s not the one you sync with.Once you’ve done that, update the software to the latest version and answer yes to all the questions.This will update the OS and wipe the device. Once that’s done, right-click on the device in iTunes and Restore from your backup. I apologize, but my memory is fuzzy. I believe that this will restore all your content from the backup, but not overwrite the OS. As I said, worst case, you’re only back where you started from and haven’t lost anything.You can also request a call back from an Apple Genius here (they just need your serial number):https://expresslane.apple.c…HTH,Randall

  30. writing jobs

    Good article! Thanks.

  31. OurielOhayon

    Fred, would be great to update your post with the solution that worked for you, if you found oneall i can sync is 1. do a backup of your ipad on any computer2. right click on the ipad icon from itunes and chose “transfer purchases to this computer”then update your ipad with the new OS – it will wipe your ipad then do a restore from backup – choosing your backup session.Should work ok.

  32. Elie Seidman

    Common problem and incredible that it still exists vs being able to do over the air updates. What happens to people who get an iPad and do NOT own a PC/Mac at all? It would seem that’s a big part of their market. I would connect the device to any PC or Mac and click on “transfer purchases”. that will then get your apps onto iTunes on the PC/Mac. Then tell the PC/Mac to sync with the iPad which will wipe out the sync that the iPad did with a previous PC/Mac and you should be good to go. Within the Apps section of sync you should be able to tell iTunes to put all those apps on your iPad. Good luck. I would NOT wipe the iPad until you’ve transferred the apps to iTunes (iTunes which is logged into your Apple account). If you do, you’ll likely lose all of them. 

  33. gglockner

    First, fix the issue where iTunes isn’t recognizing the iPad. For iTunes Mac, see http://support.apple.com/kb… and for iTunes Windows, see http://support.apple.com/kb…. Next, you should see the prompts to upgrade iOS for your iPad.All the other comments about how iOS 5 will fix this are irrelevant because you have an issue here and now, and iOS 5 is unavailable to the general public.

  34. markslater

    i tried downloading the HULU app. you should see the hoops they make you go through to get that on your IPAD. I had the same problem – my ipad was config’d in miami at our office – god knows who’s computer. solution:turntable.fm – group listening and discoveryamazon cloud – library listeningPandora – mobile listeningshazam – realtime discovery.Total cost? gear needed? browser. job done.

  35. jonsteinberg

    You need to completely reinstall the ios.  I’d urged you to jump right to the ios5 beta as long as your doing it.  You need the Developer Program for $99, or have someone ad your udid to one of their 100 slots.  

  36. David Chen

    I had the same experience – iTunes not recognizing iPad.  Then I realized my iTunes was out-dated.  I upgraded iTunes and it worked.

  37. Rohan

    Hi Fred. iTunes and the whole shabang can get annoying. The best way out of it that comes to mind is to do a hard reset and connect to a new laptop (I see from the comments that it is not recognized in other computers).But, yes, that is true – you will lose all the apps. Not sure if there’s any way around that. I may be wrong..

  38. Vasudev Ram

    After reading through this post, unless Fred is kidding about the problem (which some of the comments seem to indicate), I’m thinking that this may a good market opportunity for a product that does semi-automated software / OS / hardware troubleshooting and problem resolution (assisted by individual experts and by crowd-sourcing – that’s why I said semi). Of course there must be some existing right now, but they can’t be that good or generic, AFAIK, or they would be well known.After all, there are really too many variables – related to many computer issues (even for a Google :-), what with a bazillion different hardware (and versions), firmware (and versions), operating systems (and versions), infrastructure software (and versions), application software (and versions), and the permutations and combinations of them all. That’s why it may be a good target for (partial) automation, considering the rule of 7:http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…John Gage of Sun – http://en.wikipedia.org/wik… – said in an article I read a while ago, that “ease of use” is the next big thing in computers / software, or words to that effect. Still hasn’t happened …- Vasudev

    1. ShanaC

      I was having a conversation with someone – he made the excellent point that the more we use computers, the more tasks we come up with that we use them for, so we always need the extra processing power.  I’m not totally sure if I agree with him that the processing power should be in my hands as opposed to the cloud, however I think his point about our uses getting more complex still stands.

      1. Vasudev Ram

        True. Reminds me of the Pinball Rule in The Soul of a New Machine. Great book.About the bookhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wik…Pinball Rule is explained in this review of the bookhttp://people.csail.mit.edu…Wow, after googling those two links for you, I just saw in the 2nd link that the book was “Winner of the Pulitzer prize for non-fiction “. Deserved, IMO.It’s on my list of favorite books – along with “Hackers: heroes of the computer revolution”  by Steven Levy – as one of the best books (non-fiction but non-technical, even laymen can read and enjoy) about the computer field that I’ve ever read.

        1. Vasudev Ram

          >the book was “Winner of the Pulitzer prize for non-fiction “And an American Book Award (didn’t know that either when I read it, only now :-)http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…

    2. fredwilson

      i am not joking about my problem. you are right that this stuff is too hard

    3. Dave W Baldwin

      @fredwilson:disqus On the money… if Apple requires closure (you have to do everything their way) then they should already have the built-in ease of use.It is mind boggling how something like this isn’t already taken care of… especially since it is controlled by the self ordained masters of mobile. This is connected to the big hole related to the entire experience.   At this point, it is like, “Buy our iOS whatever and/or iPad whichever, though upgrading later will entail big risk!”Still say you need to go to Apple store so you can have someone to blame… much less it is their product.Last- funny how one of your bigger blogs re replies is one on how to use Apple. Hopefully you get it fixed so you can laugh.

  39. Sebastian Wain

    Sorry Fred, in a similar situation with the iPhone I found http://www.getsharepod.com/ useful to upload/download music/videos from any computer without iTunes. But there are reports that using sharepod with the iPad have some problems, just try if it’s your last resource. But I don’t think you can see the apps.There is another software that I found but neved used it: http://www.copytrans.net/Next time I think jailbreaking the iPad will be a good idea.

  40. Ithrowsthisaway

    I would suggest first ensuring that you are logged into the iTunes account you used to purchase the software on your preferred Mac.  Then under the Store menu, authorizing your preferred Mac (assuming you haven’t willy nilly authorized more than 5 devices).  Then cable your iPad to the preferred Mac and go ahead and upgrade. If the problematic apps have some inputted or stored data, I would suggest doing a back up of the data before doing any of this.If after upgrade, the apps are missing or something, then redownload them from the iTunes store and reinstall.  iTunes will not (99.9% sure on this) charge you a second time for the new install.If you lost your data from inside the application, go to the back up you took before all this rigormarole, and restore.

  41. Got Yo Ride

    You need to connect the ipad to your adam computer or a cammodore 64 PC. no other way.better yet get you a galaxy tablet.

  42. Prokofy

    the air?! is that what the cool kids call it now…

  43. Jurrie Hobers

    The fact that after 104 comments from generally smart & tech savvy people (as per while I am typing this) the things is still not solved show how extremely bad the upgrade experience actually is.Apple HELP! 🙂

  44. andPOP

    Open iTunes, authorize that computer to have access to your iTunes account.Connect the iPad and select it from the left side, then select Check for Update to update to 4.x. If you don’t care about losing all the music/videos, you can download all your paid apps automatically now with the new iCloud updates in iTunes/App Store, since you’ve authorized the computer. iTunes should also do a backup so it can restore it before it does the update. I love iTunes. Never had any issue with it and I’ve gone through 5 iOS devices and 4 Macs in that time. 

  45. Roger Ellman

    FredI have also been looking into this.This article for iPhone applies to the iPad as well and covers the “how to” for much of what you want to do http://www.everythingicafe….Nexus S – I cannot find an IMAP client which allows use of folders/filing emails – any ideas?Best wishes 

    1. fredwilson

      i’m not aware of an imap client for android that does what you are looking for

    2. Fernando Gutierrez

      I haven’t tried it because I get all my email through Gmail or Google Apps and I like how Android works with them, but I know someone who is quite satisfied with K-9 Mail for Android. I’ve checked the description and I think it does what you ask for.

      1. Roger Ellman

        Thanks – i have tried K-9 but it did not work well with folders either as far as I could discern

  46. BuyGiftsItems

    your music, apps, etc. will be wiped from the ipad. say no, then click update in the summary tab.Kamagra

  47. Erich Wood

    I noticed that the App Store on my iPhone now has a history of my downloads, even from other devices. Perhaps if you do wipe your iPad clean to install iOS 4 then you could re-download all your apps this way. I believe it is part of the cloud that they have implemented already.But if this does work, be sure to back up all of your app-related docs first, like Pages, Numbers, Notes, etc. Maybe just email them to yourself. I’m not sure that those are saved anywhere else.

  48. Tony Hue

    Just buy an iPad 2!