Even though iTunes worked fine the day before when all I had was a tiny Shuffle, plugging in my new iPad it plunged me into a roller coaster ride that was so disorienting that I actually complimented Bill Gates before regaining my balance.

My big honkin’ desktop PC recognized the iPad promptly, but iTunes demanded an upgrade from 9.1 to 10.1. I complied while the iPad was still plugged in. I had to close iTunes and Safari partway through the software upgrade. Next time, I will unplug and close everything before upgrading because I learned that iTunes copies everything from the external Apple device to the PC, uses the PC to upgrade all the software, then re-installs it on the device. Lots can go wrong.

iTunes 10.1 kept crashing and removed the new $10 app I had just installed on the iPad the day before in the Apple store. Here’s what finally worked.

With no devices attached, open iTunes. Edit > Preferences > Devices. CHECK THE TOP BOX Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically. Notice the time and date of the last backup. Never restore from a corrupted backup, that is, something with time unknown or some other odd notation.

Next, plug in the device and MANUALLY transfer purchases from the device to iTunes. File > Transfer purchases. Now Sync the device to iTunes by clicking on the device name in the left column clicking the Sync button in the main frame on the right. After successfully syncing the current condition, only then do you ADD new material.

Adding photos: create separate iPad folders so that your original photo files cannot be seen or corrupted by iTunes. Keep each folder’s total below 40mb. If the transfer is balky, try smaller transfers. Small batches of photos on the iPad still can be accessed for an “all photos” slideshow.

Other notes Edit > Preferences > Advanced Tab > Keep iTunes Media folder organized

What are your iPad tips?