Is my IPod kaput?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have an IPod Shuffle (I thinkit’s a Shuffle; that’s how ignorant I am about these things)and I can’t seem to download to it. I’m totally open to the notion that it’s simply operator error but I don’t really want to *look anyone in the eye *and ask :frowning:

I don’t even know what details you would need to answer my question so I’ll provide the following:

It’s a 2005 model, has had very limited use and had a very small number of songs on it. Not realizing that I would lose said songs by trying to download from another computer, I wiped them all out. It turned out I couldn’t download songs from other computer so I tried to put all the old songs from my original computer back on it and am now unable. I have read the manual but it doesn’t seem to address my particular problem. I have recharged it and also reloaded the software. Does it sound like it’s simply taken a powder? It had stopped playing but I assumed that was battery related. Unfortunately I recharged it just before the great download debacle so I can’t tell what the problem was.

I know a new, no frills one wouldn’t be too expensive but I hate to bother if it’s just me having teh stoopid. Anyone have a clue what the problem might be (besides my being a complete Luddite)?

Thanks in advance for not pointing and laughing at me!

2

I have an iPod nano and iTunes give you an option to restore the iPod to factory settings.

On the nano you can also hit the center button and the menu button together and hold and that will reset the iPod.

3

Ta-da! Identifying iPod models

Shuffles don’t have a screen of any kind.

ETA: Are you using iTunes or some other program?

4

It’s a shuffle, as numbered 2005-01 in the link. I am trying to use iTunes and when I plug it in to the computer it tells me it’s synching, then tells me it’s finished, then. . . nothing :frowning: Seems I must be missing a step but I can’t imagine what that is. I did it once before with seeming ease but it’s been a long time and don’t remember doing anything else but the above.

5

You might need to tell it WHAT to sync. In the tabs for the device, you can specify whether to sync all songs, or just some, or just certain playlists, etc. It might have none of those checked, so when it syncs it has nothing selected.

6

Hmmmm. . . .I tried the “select all” command and also tried it putting a check mark in all of the boxes next to the songs. But, I didn’t do anything in the tabs (I don’t remember seeing that option there, though I’m sure it is).

7

Here’s how it works from me (I don’t have iTunes in front of me right now)

  1. Connect iPod to Macintosh using USB cable
  2. iTunes starts up automatically
  3. On left-hand menu bar of iTunes, the iPod shows
  4. Select the iPod in the menu bar on the left. In the right pane (main window) of iTunes, I see different tabs showing the kinds of things I can sync with my iPod, e.g. music, photos, games, movies, etc. With an iPod shuffle I don’t know if you have any choices besides music. I have the same one as you, but I haven’t synched it in a long time; I’ll try it when I get home tonight.
  5. In the right pane (main window) of iTunes, click on the Music tab, choose which songs I will sync with the iPod.
  6. Once synching is done, you can see *in the left-hand navigation bar, by expanding the iPod view in the left, what music is on the iPod. You can see two things related to music when you see the iPod in iTunes: one view shows what you have chosen to synchronize with the iPod, one view shows what music is currently on the iPod.

I have the latest iTunes (7.0 something), and I have my iPods to sync manually, so your experience could be different.

Apple has a tutorial here:
iTunes Featured Tutorials, look for : Sync to your iPod or iPhone

8

Thanks so much for this. I don’t have my IPod with me right now, as this is the computer I tried to download with and it didn’t work (cause you know, there’s no software on this one:smack: ). I don’t seem to see the same thing as you’ve described , i.e. the tabs above, however I could be misremembering it. I’ll check at home tonight. Unfortunately I’m not online at home and so can’t come here and tell you what I’m seeing. It’s very frustrating to be stymied by what should be a mindless task :frowning:

Thanks also to Markxxx and JSexton. If you or anyone else has any other ideas I’m all ears!

9

Do you have more songs in memory than the shuffle will hold? I think you’d get some kind of message if that were true, but maybe worth trying.

I have an iPod 160 gig, and it appeared to have stopped working. I took it to an apple retailer, and they couldn’t get it to sync either. So I bought a new iPod. It didn’t sync either. So I deleted the iTunes software and then reinstalled it. Both iPods synced after that. So if all else fails, try deleting and reinstalling iTunes. You shouldn’t have to worry about losing music: only the application deletes.