User: iTunes-iPod sync involves "too many processes"

My friend and fellow blogger Chris Pirillo cites a complaint by "Hairgel Addict" that the task of synching up between iTunes and iPod involves "too many processes." Because of these complications, Hairgel Addict considers this task to be a pain in the ...

Here is what Hairgel Addict writes Chris after watching one of Chris' videos on the subject:

In one of Your videos You’ve mentioned the problem with iTunes I have a question about. Well, actually maybe it’s not an actual iTunes “problem”, but It’s a problem for me. Like You’ve said in that video iTunes runs a couple of processes (at least 3) in the background and that annoys the hell out of me. Maybe I’m very picky, but I don’t like when my computer does something I didn’t tell it (or asked or in some cases pleaded) to do. I use iTunes only to sync my iPod and it’s like 2-3 times a month (to sync OR charge). I know that these processes almost don’t use any memory and are there to detect whether iPod is connected and “help” me sync my iPod, which again I don’t like.

Probably most of the people who own an iPod like that when you connect it to a computer automatically iTunes starts and begins syncing their iPod’s brains out. For me it’s very annoying. I’m a Web Developer, so most of the time I have a lot of programs running at the same time, especially when I test websites on different browsers, so when this syncing frenzy starts my computer becomes crippled and I have to wait for iTunes to load and sometimes stop my work and close all the programs so iTunes loads faster and I can close it and let iPod just charge.

Why not use some other program to sync my iPod? That’s the whole reason why I’m writing and complaining (sorry for that) - in real life I like to multitask, but with programs I tend to have 1 program for 1 thing: iTunes for syncing my iPod, Foobar for listening to music, Windows Media Player for watching movies. Cannot really explain why and maybe it’s dumb to be doing that, I guess the only explanation is my impatience and importance of speed in multitasking. How this explains it? Well, it takes me literally 2 clicks to start doing things I’ve mentioned above and continue on working. And it’s kinda kewl to be using Apple Software for Apple Device :) Not to mention that I really to used to iTunes’ and iPod’s “playlist” organization system after switching from CD player to iPod.

Cutting to the chase, the question is: do You know of any way to stop those processes from starting each time? I most probably going to Google the answer myself as soon as I send this email, but I wanted to write and ask You, because You’ve been very helpful before and even though my Google-Fu is pretty good :) I still have found out about many things from Your videos & blog posts (Comodo Firewall, for example. Use it at work). Perhaps there’s some sort of setting that I couldn’t find in iTunes or Windows (I run WinXP) that disables those processes or some application that gets those entries out of my startup list registry. I’m guessing that’s where it stored, because the “Startup” folder is empty. Don’t want to use any “tweaking” utility, because again, like You’ve said in another video (I’m starting to sound like a fanboy) - they often cause more damage than they help, and I had that experience when I had to reinstall Windows after “tweaking” it.

Chris says maybe a more efficient path would be to do as he does- sync all his data to Plaxo and sync the iPhone from my MacBook Pro

Hey readers, does Hairgel Addict have a point, or does he need to count real slowly from 1 to 10, maybe meditate a bit, and then come back to his issue in a more chilled-out state of mind?

[poll id=160]