And Apple tells me it’s a “vintage” product they don’t provide service or support for anymore. :mad:
It worked quite fine for well over a decade, until a week ago, when it wouldn’t take new podcast episodes. The iPod indicated it was syncing with iTunes, but old podcasts remained on it, and new ones didn’t load.
The iTunes diagnostic tool indicated it didn’t see the iPod. I followed all the trouble-shooting tips it gave me, such as updating iTunes, rebooting the iPod and the computer, trying different USB ports, trying it on a different computer, and whatever else their automatic ‘help’ suggestion recommended.
After exhausting those tips, I went to their live support, which is where they told me
So from there I queried the internet in general, found a couple of sites suggesting I do pretty much what I’d already done. The only thing I haven’t done is get a new cable for it, as I figured that since whenever I plug the damn thing in, it actives the iTunes program, and the iPod says it’s syncing. Seems like the device and the computer/iTunes program are at least recognizing each other to some extent.
The damn thing isn’t even half full yet, despite me shoving my entire lifetime music collection onto it, plus a ton of podcasts and misc. memorabilia. It plays what is on it just fine.
Any suggestions as to other things I might try? Anybody know a reputable 3rd party repair service for such work?
Thanks in advance for any clue you can throw my way.
It’s the best thing they’ve made, shame that people prefer flashy but limited storage.
No specific website to recommend, but 3rd party repair is the way to go, unless you want to get parts and try yourself. You’d have to diagnose it of course.
Does the computer see it as a drive? Right click computer / manage in Windows, applications / utilities / disk management in Mac. Not sure how that works if you use the auto sync mode though.
Maybe try turning off automatic syncing and switch to manual syncing in iTunes, restart iTunes then manually load a single song/podcast and see what happens.
The most likely culprit is the connector. The actual port on the ipod that you plug into. It’s the old style, right, where it’s extremely wide, with about 30 pins?
Most likely what happened was one of the tiny solder connections to the mainboard cracked, and so your computer can’t talk to the ipod because of a lack of physical connection.
It’s also possible that one of the circuit board components went bad.
It can be repaired. You can find repair services online you could mail it to. However, it’s going to cost you, probably more than the device is worth. Your best way to ‘repair’ it is to just pick up someone else’s used ipod in good condition on ebay. Probably cheaper. You do have your music collection stored elsewhere, right?
I’d try this. Lots cheaper than sending the thing off to a repair service (there are probably online reviews for third-party fixit businesses, if indeed costs of repair/mailing etc. are cheaper than buying a used one - or getting a non-Apple device compatible with your iTunes library.
I have no idea why Apple decided to discontinue its one iPod that’s capable of handling a sizable music library, unless it was part of a devious, sleazy plan to promote cloud services or some other inferior product/service.
It does see it as my iPod, and it recognizes that it’s nearly half full, but it doesn’t see the contents at all.
That’s it all right.
HEY THAT WORKED!!!. Thanks!!!
(Actually I didn’t turn off syncing or restart it, I just tried dragging each item over separately, then in batches from iTunes to iPod, and it worked)
But now what? Move everything manually? I can do that, I suppose. Does that mean my cable’s just fine?
I have a 160gb iPod Classic and have been having similar issues. iTunes will no longer acknowledge its existence when I hook it up to the computer. I tested it on another computer, which saw it just fine, so I don’t think it’s the iPod or the connecter (also, an icon for it shows up on the desktop when it’s connected to my own computer). I tried reinstalling iTunes, resetting the iPod, and anything else I could think of, to no avail.
Have you tried any of the iTunes alternatives like Clementine, Floola, or Sharepod? Clementine seems to be the most popular, but although it will recognize my iPod and show it as synced, when I unhook it the iPod says there aren’t any files on it.
I can’t understand why Apple would stop making such a great product. Did people stop listening to their own music? Most of what I listen to isn’t found on streaming services, and it twists my knickers to pay for storage when my thousands of actual CDs are sitting contentedly on shelves at home [insert “old man yells at cloud” Simpsons gif].
You’re welcome. If the data is actually transferring then the cable should be fine. It’s possible what happened is the sync preferences got corrupted somehow. If that is what happened, changing them even briefly should fix it. (Or it might not. This is all voodoo, really.) So unless you’re fine to just drag and drop from now on, you can change the sync setting to manual, then back to automatic and see what happens.
