What takes precedence: iTunes or iCloud

[afoessel]

I have iPad and iPhone with Wi-Fi sync turned on against iTunes on iMac. What takes precedence in defining the content on the iOS devices: iTunes settings for each device, or the selections made on iCloud?

In the case of iTunes, both devices show up under "DEVICES", and allow selection of rules of what content has to be sync'ed front the iMac iTunes library.

In the case of iCloud, I can select things from iTunes on iOS 5 directly.

So, what takes precedence. I am puzzled because the content selection appears to be erratic. I have the suspicion that there are songs that are also duplicated (because they have been purchases from the cloud, as well as present on iTunes).

 

[Weaselboy]

Neither really takes precedence, but if they are both on with contacts for example, you will see duplicates. You only want to sync from one or the other in each data category. If you have iCloud enabled on the computer and the iPad, that is the more transparent solution.

 

[afoessel]

Thanks a lot, Weaselboy. I realize I am not providing enough information. In this case, I am referring to only music, podcasts, apps, etc. (Contacts, emails, calendar, etc. are managed by Exchange server connections.)

For example, what defines that a song is on the iPad:
- That I selected it from my iMac iTunes.
- That I downloaded through iCloud.

Thanks for trying to clarify my confusion.