Is there a way that I can transfer songs to my iphone from different computers...without losing the songs I already have?

No…the set up is intended to “deter” piracy, that is, if you don’t own the license to the music, you can’t download it from (another person’s) computer to your iPhone. This was a deal Apple made with major record labels back when the iTunes Store first opened (and a way to establish Digital Rights Management system that would satisfy the major labels).

The only way I know of to circumvent would be to burn the music to an Audio CD first, then re-rip it onto your host computer (the computer that hosts your library). Then, you would be able to add it to your playlist(s) from inside your iTunes.

These are the steps I would take using OS X and iTunes version 9.02. If you are using Windows than the menu names might differ a little but you should be able to figure out how to get around based on these steps:

-Before plugging into your friend’s computer be sure to open up the iTunes Preferences of that computer. Now at the top there should be eight menus. The one to click would be the second-last one. Our OS X Macbook runs in Canadian French and says ’‘Appareils’’ so in English the menu is probably called ’‘Devices’’.

-Make sure the first check box under that menu is left unchecked and should say something like ’‘Prevent automatic synchronization of iPod and iPhone.’’ Click OK.

Now you can plug your iPhone into your friend’s computer.

-Next click on your iPhone device in the left column of iTunes and make sure that when a new set of menus pops up in iTunes you are on the left-most menu. Then you should see a category called ’‘Options’’.

Should be self-explanatory from there.
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@rMacker83 I tried that as you have stated, and it still gives the prompt that syncing to the 2nd computer deletes all the songs from the previous library/sync (the original computer)...what am I missing?

Okay, that’s a shame. You could always copy over the mp3s from the remote PC onto your USB stick as opposed to wasting plastic CDs. Cheerio.

Yeah…it kinda sucks what they did when iPhone was introduced…they essentially broke that function you were describing (iPods (all except the Shuffle) used to be able to swap music freely).

You might be able to just cancel that nagging pop-up screen and manually drag the songs from your friend’s iTunes onto your device, but do step 1 first.

@rMacker83 Sorry, the iPhone’s Menu List (the list of media under the icon) is greyed out…so that’s a no-go.

Another way to “copy” the files onto the iPhone is to use an app like “mbDrive Free”, which will enable you to use your iPhone like an external hard drive/flash drive. Here’s a link to the app fyi:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/mbpowertools/id291212805

That way, you would be able to copy files to your iPhone like a flash drive (wireless one at that), then download that media to your home computer, then import into iTunes. That option would save you the hassle of burning discs from your friends computer (tedious especially if we’re talking hundreds of files).