When I first got an ipod a couple years ago, I posted my thoughts on the itunes s/w, which were not very favorable then, and which have not improved since.

Couple days ago, I decided it was time to just wipe my ipod (30 gig video model) clean and reload it. So, in I go to itunes, click "Restore" and the s/w dutifully wipes the thing clean and updates the firmware to the latest version (1.3), Cool- once again, I have a blank canvas to sling twangy aural paint on.

In the process of doing all that, itunes updated itself to the latest version, whatever that is, and lo and be damned- forgot everything it had known about my entire music library. No huge deal, just something else to waste time fixing. Spent about an hour adding the contents of 2 external hard drives back into itunes, letting it go out and get album art all over again (a process that seems to be about 20% successful for me), and then "analyzing for gapless playback information", something I STILL don't understand, but whatever.

OK- eventually, I'm ready to start dragging music back onto the ipod, which goes fine until I get bored with it after about 17 gigs.

Fast forward to this AM- I go to add more music onto the ipod and itunes won't let me. The hardware configuration is identical to yesterday, the software configuration is identical to yesterday, in other words, NOTHING has changed, yet when I try to grab songs onto the ipod, the universal sign for "Hell No, You Ain't Doing That" rules the day. Any suggestions from the digital mavens here?

The ipod is a cool little gadget, but I still loathe the clumsy, wonky software that manages it.

You know you can manage it with Winamp?

The USB chipset on my AMD ASUS board just doesn't like my G3 or G4 Ipods, even though it works perfectly with the keyboard, mouse, UPS, camera and external HD. firewire works perfectly.

Do you properly eject the Ipod through Itunes?

Does it recognize the Ipod's insertion? Can you create playlists or delete tracks?

Can you post the exact error?

You know you can manage it with Winamp?

Never tried it.

Do you properly eject the Ipod through Itunes?

Does it recognize the Ipod's insertion? Can you create playlists or delete tracks?

Yes, yes, and yes.

Can you post the exact error?

There is no "Error", per se. It simply will not allow me to drag files from the library onto the ipod.

There's something weird about album view in the newest version of iTunes, at least for me. I got around it by displaying in list view and sorting by album. Then mark all of the tracks on the album and drag the group to the iPod. Don't know if that's the same issue you're having, but it might be worth a try.

No matter how I sort the library, I cannot drag any selection(s) to the ipod.

Normally I like Apple software, but iTunes is the most non-intuitive piece of software I own. When we got the new(ish) iMac, an iPod came bundled with it. I figured it'd be relatively easy to set up; but once I got it loaded I've not bothered with it since.

Well, I'll be switched. drknstrmyknight, you are correct about Winamp being able to manage the ipod.

1) When did Winamp get that functionality?
2) Why didn't you tell me about it the day it happened?
3) How did the Apple Mafia let this happen?

Never used Winamp as anything but a player until just now. I let it load up my files into its library and started dragging files with no problem. The interface is a bit funky with all those different windows open (I have the same comment about itunes), but it appears to be configurable once I snoop around enough to set it up the way I want.

Thanks for the tip. Screw itunes- DELETE.

The nice thing is when you shut it down nothing's running, Itunes has a bunch of services going all the time. You do still need it if you ever have to reinitialize, but Winamp handles flac and alac as well as mp3 and is just plain fast.

Got a link on how to do this??
I'm still quite a noob at this and just dump CDs at 320 or .wav into iTunes right now.

Got a link on how to do this??
I'm still quite a noob at this and just dump CDs at 320 or .wav into iTunes right now.

Gaaah........it was pretty easy, but detailed instructions, step-by-step, no I don't gots. In Winamp, under "file" pull-down, I selected "Add To Media Library", then selected the music folders I wanted it to be aware of- it adds them pretty much the way itunes does. With the ipod plugged into the computer, you just select the files you want to throw on the ipd, right click and select "send to", then the ipod.

Can you set it to sync to the entire library (even if you know it won't fit) ?
If it won't fit, it may come up with a message like "There is not enough space on your iPod for your library, may we with our wisdom choose a selection of it to transfer?"
Then see if any go across.
If that's successful, set back to manually manage it.
Just an idea.
Or call the Apple tech people.

Rather than wav - you can use apple lossless.
There is an alac codec for Itunes, it'll save you have half the space and has internal tagging. EAC will rip to alac with the codec installed - pretty simple stuff. You can batch convert with DB Power Amp Batch Converter. If you stay with lossless you can transcode back and forth with full fidelity - and they're all freeware.

i lost 80 gb songs on an update 2 years ago glad i got a backup
i switched syncronice off and use only drag and drop with my ipod now
no problems now :banana:

I never use the syncronize button any more. I too lost all my music since I had pulled it from my laptop to save space. It then synced and only left the 5 songs I had in a different folder. I still haven't found some of the cd's I lost the copies of.

Rather than wav - you can use apple lossless.
There is an alac codec for Itunes, it'll save you have half the space and has internal tagging. EAC will rip to alac with the codec installed - pretty simple stuff. You can batch convert with DB Power Amp Batch Converter. If you stay with lossless you can transcode back and forth with full fidelity - and they're all freeware.

Sorry Frank, but you're sounding like Pakkie here. Got something for a 5th Grader :D

ok! WAV's are bit perfect copies. They are big and don't have metadata - that's room inside the file that has the track, album and other info, knows as TAGS.

flac, ape, apple lossless are formats that are about half the size of wav files but are still bit perfect copies. They also support TAGS.

You can play apple lossless files, on your ipod. there is 3rd party firmware like rockbox that will play flac files, but I haven't had good luck with it.

So - you can convert your wav's to alac (apple lossless) play them with winamp, and use winamp to manage your ipod.

Sorry you guys are having problems with iTunes. I'm on a Mac and never once had a problem with it.

Yeah, I've never had a problem with iTunes, but its TERRIBLE on Windows! I personally don't like the whole syncing thing...

A pox on i-tunes,if you have an older i-pod try Songbird.
Songbird will connect to most ipods,manage your music,play shout cast radio and you can surf AK all in the same software.Oh it also downloads MP3's straight off web pages into your library.
It has parts of Firefox in it :)
It is free and open source with no corporate BS so give it a shot.Hope it connects to the i-pod.
Grab it here: http://getsongbird.com/
Hope it works out for you.
:music:

Hi,

New iPods will not run RockBox or Songbird. iPhones will not run it. If you attempt it, you risk bricking it. One reason why I like the older models. I have had good success with iTunes on my earlier model iPod Nano. If ever there was a music player which needed RockBox, it is the Microsoft Zunes. Now that's clunky software!