Anyone still able to use iPods? (Classics, Shuffles, Nanos, etc)

Factual Questions
1

I don’t believe in throwing away good technology that still works . . . Case in point, I have a 2005-era iPod Shuffle that still plays music, fitting into my pocket perfectly on my runs. I also have a 2006 iPod Classic, with 6000+ songs on there, USB’d into the truck console, for a li’l Led zeppelin on the morning commute. Both worked fine, and I had been updating playlists (albeit w/some hardware settings ‘tweaks’ for awhile until around last November.

Since then, the Apple iPods are no longer recognized by iTunes, and no matter how many times I follow instructions from Apple (sample), follow homespun advice (sample), remove Bonjour, change USB or Device settings, download or install iTunes, etc. . . something has happened that I can no longer get these devices to work in my Win 10 enviironment. So:

  1. Do you have an iPod device that still works?
  2. Are you able to update/change playlists on it it?
  3. How do you do it?
  4. If not, have you used third party software to keep it alive and functional?

Apple makes good stuff–for some of this hardware to last twenty-plus years to all of a sudden become useless seems a serious waste . . .

Running in the morning to the same playlist for the past 12 months is annoying. “I can only listen to the same AC/DC track so many times!” is a phrase that should not be in my lexicon.

Tripler
Please help me spice up my cardio with my good, stalwart tech.

2

I use one in my car and occasionally if running.

3

I’ve been wrenching on bikes in the garage lately. My iPod (Gen 3) Nano sits in one of these and sounds awesome:

I’ve changed nothing on the songlist since the iPod was basically new, and I like it that way :wink:

4

I had a really early iPod which finally just crapped out some years ago. I still have my 2010 iPad. It still works, but I have no use for it. I used to use it for the GPS capability, but my phone does all that, so it’s been sitting on a shelf, battery dead, for a few years now. I’m not sure what to do with it.

5

Take it to Best Buy for their free electronics recycling. It can no longer download software updates that enable it to do anything. I have one of those paperweighs myself, in my case a very early iPad.

6

By “still works” I guess you mean more than is able to play the sound files that are already on it. You also mean is able to load new files (and delete existing files). Just to be clear.

I think my old iPod is still able to play sound files that are already on it. I haven’t been interested in changing any of those since I loaded it with the huge number of songs that I had had on CD and had since extracted into computer files. I was just considering moving it into my workshop so I could listen to that music down there. As for the other part, I’ll take your word for it.

I also haven’t tried playing the same files that are still on my hard drive. I wonder if that still works.

7

So it has no value as an antique, I’m guessing. 2010 was the first year of issue for the iPad.

8

I have a couple of iPod classics that still work. The main one is used regularly with a couple of players, one of which I take outdoors to blast music when working in the garden. The players were obtained in the past year or so from eBay sellers after my old one stopped working - apparently no new players accepting iPods are being made anymore. Another recent thread mentioned that used, functional players are still sold at secondhand outlets like Goodwill.

I haven’t tried to add to the iPods on my Mac using the iTunes library in a long time, so don’t know if the system is still functional.

9

I have a 3rd generation iPod Touch that had it’s last update many years ago. It still works as a music player through headphones or an external speaker with the songs and audiobooks loaded on it (from a dozen years ago) but that’s it. I don’t see any reason to get rid of it, I suppose like it more as a museum piece more than anything else.

10

If you’re technically-minded, you may be able to jailbreak some of the older iPods (pre-Touch) with third-party firmware. See freemyipod.org and https://www.rockbox.org/

The supported models:

  • Apple: iPod 1g through 6g (Classic), iPod Mini, iPod Nano 1g, iPod Nano 2g

Edit: Actually, apparently Rockbox comes with its own installer now. Just follow the instructions for your specific model: Rockbox - Daily Built Manuals

11

I had a music player that I used at work from, I wanna say, 2012-2015. When it stopped working, I couldn’t bring it back to life for love nor money. Possibly, that’s what happened to the OP’s iPod, and it’s time to move on.

12

Yes, I want to continue to build custom playlists, and listen to different mixes through all of my iPods–starting with the Shuffle.

And apparently this is not the first time I’ve had this issue. But I have not exhausted all of that old threads recommendations, so, I’ve got some work to do…

Tripler
ITunes on the desktop works great, so at least I can rock on while working…

13

Is this your only/main issue? That you’ve lost the ability to customize a playlist? If so, I will try to find how I addressed this a couple years ago–but I’ll need some time…

If not, sorry to misunderstand.

14

I’ve lost the ability for iTunes to recognize an iPod is plugged in, which prevents me from uploading new files and playlists.

I will gladly pay you two filet mignons next Tuesday for anything you can pull up that’ll help.

Tripler
Hamburgers are wimpy. Your level of help is Olympian strength.

15

My personal solution involved futzing around wth a text file (and I am Windows-based) so please don’t get your hopes too high.

16

Loved my Nano. The radio still works, and I have quite a few books and albums on it. No, Apple, I do not want a huge music player, or to have my phone dragging my pocket down. The iPod was perfect, and you destroyed it.

17

I have an old Logitech portable stereo with a slot for an iPod, which is where my old iPod Nano currently resides. But I don’t use it much anymore, for three reasons.

  1. I found the iTunes software to be increasingly difficult to use.
  2. My laptop with my iTunes library on it died about a year ago.
  3. Since I got hearing aids that can Bluetooth to my phone, I mostly just listen to music that way.

So yeah, it’s pretty much just a relic now, sitting on my shelf.

18

My old iPod classic still works and I can still update it on iTunes. It stays mainly in my car where it gets regular use, mainly in listening to old podcasts from ‘A Way with Words’

19

Odd. I decided to see if my wife’s old Nano still worked. I plugged it into the old computer (Win10) and fired up iTunes. (says version 12.13.7.1)

It asked me if I wanted to download iPod support, and I said yes. It downloaded some software and now the Nano appears in Itunes; so I copied a song onto it and it appears to have loaded successfully. (It also now wants to update the iTunes version)

I then plug it into my iTunes (version 12.13.9.1) on Win 11 and it shows up, I can click on it, see the list of songs.

I would suggest looking for iPod Support from Apple on their website? My PC downloaded it automatically when it detected the iPod.

My biggest complaint is that the Windows 11 does not talk to my AirPort Express downstairs, so I can’t make iTunes play from Win 11 on my house sound system. Win 10 iTunes still connects.

I also have a really old iPod 30GB (the first one with a colour screen). It still works, someday I’ll move the cable from the charger (old wide plug) to my PC and see if it is recognized too.

20

I see some suggestions to getting to your iPod. I hope that works, because my iPod still powers up on Win 11. That means I can create a playlist there. The rest of this post deals with working with that playlist.

If you want to create a playlist to put into iTunes, you need a text editor and patience.

Using a text editor, create a list of the songs you want in the playlist with their full filename. I created a two song playlist to test this. It looks like this (because my music is already in the iTunes library. You will have to substitute your own file path):

D:\Lare\Music\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\The Allman Brothers Band\Hittin’ The Note\01 Firing Line.m4a
D:\Lare\Music\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\Annie Lennox\Diva\01 Why.m4a

Save this file as an .m3u. Then go into iTunes and select File / Library /Import Playlist. Navigate to the location where you saved this file and import it. It should show up in your library and work–it did for me.

If, on the other hand, you have an iTunes playlist you want to put on a USB stick, this is what I did:

In iTunes, music menu, select the playlist
Select File / Library / Export Playlist
When prompted, export the playlist as .m3u file type
Edit the exported playlist using Notepad (or a text editor of your choice)

There will be a line at the top of the playlist. On mine it said #EXTM3U

Ignore this top line. Each song is represented by two lines, for example:

#EXTINF:317,Firing Line - The Allman Brothers Band (first line)
D:\Lare\Music\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\The Allman Brothers Band\Hittin’ The Note\01 Firing Line.m4a (This is actually still the second line but I got word-wrapped)

For each song, on that second line, remove the entire part of the pathname up to the first \ that has the artist name
For example on the lines above, change it to \The Allman Brothers Band\Hittin’ The Note\01 Firing Line.m4a (removing D:\Lare\Music\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music)

#EXTINF:317,Firing Line - The Allman Brothers Band
\The Allman Brothers Band\Hittin’ The Note\01 Firing Line.m4a

Save this file and put it in the root directory of the USB stick.

Re-reading your follow-up post I am not sure if I understood what you were initially asking so I hope that this (and prior posts) have helped.