I don’t understand. How do you use iTunes as a conduit if you don’t add the files to iTunes in order to transfer them?
If you keep the songs in iTunes (and stored on the external hard drive), when you do have problems with the iPod and need to restore it (erasing the files), you have the backup handy and ready to go, organized by playlist the way you originally had it.
I’ve always been deathly afraid to do this, since I heard or read or dreamt somewhere that accessing the ipod like a regualr external drive would corrupt the ipod. Is this totally bunk?
Hm, I hadn’t heard that. I’ve done it maybe four or five times w/ my iPod (mainly to load all my songs onto my hard drive at work) and it still works as good as it did when I bought it over two years ago (knock on wood)
Pretty much. I mean, it’s always possible that you might corrupt the iPod, but I don’t think the chances are any higher than using any other external hard drive. Just make sure you unmount it, just to be safe.
And, anyways, you aren’t going to have to worry about corruption if you’re just going to reset the iPod anyways.