Comments on: Making your computer recognize your iPod

By: Monimonika

Monimonika — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:46:14 +0000

I got a 120GB iPod and eventually found my way out of using iTunes (and its non-existant video file management) by installing Floola into the iPod and using iPodMe (free!) video converter on my PC to make my own video files compatible (at near-high-quality!).

Although the process is kind of a pain, at least with Floola I can specify whether my converted video files are “Movie”, “TV Show”, or “Music Video”, as well as entering other appropriate info before and after adding them to my iPod. (The pain part is that, although I can specify the TV Show name for a bunch of files at once, I have to edit each one individually to assign them episode numbers. Grrr… Plus, there seems to be no way to search through the files.)

Another thing I like about Floola is that I can connect my iPod to another PC (never tried this on a Mac) and copy my music/video files from my iPod to the PC.

There might be other free programs out there that may do better than Floola or iPodMe (if there is, please tell me!), but they’re serving me well for now. And I am extremely glad to have 120GB instead of a paltry 8GB or so to work with.

Also, a word of caution. Unless you have an early version of iPod, do not buy those $1 chargers. They were incompatible with mine.

By: Wayne Robinson

Wayne Robinson — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:54:34 +0000

I love my iPod(s). I bought a different brand of mp3 player once (to play an audiobook I had inadvertently bought not realising that it was a Windows only audiofile, and got rid of it because the player was so cheap and nasty. I have the new 120GB iPod, and it works with the old USB cable, so it sounds as though your cable might be broken. iTunes accepts audiofiles from other sites, so you aren’t just restricted to the iTunes store and your own CDs. And iTunes is very flexible in allowing you to rearrange your audio (I wish the Kindle could be as flexible). If 120 GB is too much storage, you can also use the excess as a convenient extra external hard drive.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:47:39 +0000

I definitely have a charger that charges only one type of iPod and not another (and the instructions indicate this). So the iPod end of the iPod cable must vary from case to case at least somewhat (the other end … the end that plugs into the wall … would not vary). I’ll have to see if the “broken” cable works on any of the other iPods that are newer … I’ll keep you’all posted.

By: Minneapolis Photographer

Minneapolis Photographer — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:21:42 +0000

There are some differences in the cables, and the original iPods used a 6-pin firewire cable that I doubt you could even plug into your computer, but all USB cables should be pretty much the same. The biggest difference should be the support of video-out on the newer ones. I suspect you just had a broken wire.

By: Alcari

Alcari — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:36:51 +0000

Yes, I was fully aware of the irony of that statement. Still, the vast majority of people who get an iPod, will never use anything over a few GB worth of storage, or watch a movie on it. To those people, I can recomend a 30 dollar no-name mp3 player from the supermarket.

“I have never bought an iPod, alcari. People give them to me.”

Ah, well then, gift horses and all that 😉

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:12:18 +0000

You had what is commonly called in the hi-tech world, a broken wire. And I love my Ipod touch coz it has a neat touch screen and wireless internet capability. So what if it uses Itunes? I can save the songs in mp3 format and convert. Is that really so hard? I had a Mobiblu Cube but the sound level was horrible, it was too low so I sold it. On paper it did more things than the Ipod Touch, it had a radio, but the volume was so low you could hardly hear it.

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 02:28:54 +0000

Orac, brilliant as usual, calls out the “Why would anyone want to do that?” meme. Personally, I don’t want to carry around that much disk either, but hey, I’m sure someone does and I won’t presume my mostly-arbitrary opinion is anything more than personal preference.

By: Eee

Eee — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:41:53 +0000

My 12 year old niece uses multiple iPods (Touch and a nano) with a PC with absolutely no problems whatsoever. Just sayin’

I should send her a link to this page. Imagine a 12 year old girl laughing at the collective tech skills of you sorry lot. 😀 Seriously, guys, find a tar pit to walk into already. Hey, I kid.

By: Orac

Orac — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:34:47 +0000

Yes, it stores less data than an iPod, but seriously, who actually needs 120 gb on his mp3/mp4 player?

I do. In fact, I have a 160 GB iPod Classic, and it’s nearly filled. I like having my entire music collection, all my photos, and several videos all on one iPod–so much so that I’m bummed that Apple has given up on the iPod Classic an it appears that there will never be a 240 GB version.

By: DuWayne

DuWayne — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:36:54 +0000

I will go with the “fuck ipod” crowd. I despise itunes and despise anything that’s not drop and play. I fucking HATE the notion of needing proprietary software, to use something I bought to play media on. I just want to drop my files in there and be done.

I have been tasked with managing my parent’s ipods and that is enough stress for my life. I am happy with the four gig, thirty dollar mp3 player I use and my son is happy with his sixty dollar, eight gig walkman. Though I am looking into a shelftop media player shell, as I have a 120gig hd that is aching to fill one…A friend sent me seventy+ gigs of Nova and we also have all of the BBC’s Walking With series and given the twenty month old’s fascination with Walking With Cavemen, never mind the dinosaurs, beasts and sea monsters – it would be nice to be able to watch them on an actual tee vee and I have a friend with a fucking huge one…But I digress…

Fuck ipods.