# iPod Shuffle Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-shuffle-question/321142 "2005-09-11T21:09:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-shuffle-question/321142/1 "2005-09-11T21:09:56Z")
My iPod’s battery is giving out, and it no longer holds enough charge to get me through my bus commute. An iPod shuffle seems like a good cheap replacement. The only problem is that I don’t have a computer with enough hard drive space for my music collection, and it only lives on the iPod right now. Will I be able to get music off of the iPod and on to the shuffle with any sort of ease? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody\_Special](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nobody\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody_Special)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-shuffle-question/321142/2 "2005-09-11T21:24:30Z")
Short answer: No. There is no way to network an iPod with a shuffle directly. Your music must be imported into iTunes which you’d then use to manage your Shuffle’s playlist. Even getting your music off of your iPod and onto you computer will require jumping through some hoops since Apple wants to discourage piracy by preventing people from using an iPod to transport music from one computer to another. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-shuffle-question/321142/3 "2005-09-11T21:25:08Z")
[http://www.ipodbattery.com/](http://www.ipodbattery.com/) An iPod battery would probably be even cheaper, and that website includes installation instructions for the internal batteries. ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-shuffle-question/321142/4 "2005-09-11T21:50:17Z")
Or you can do [this](http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/service/battery/), but keep in mind that your files will be all gone and that > [@](#): > > Replacement iPods may be new, used or refurbished They call it a “battery replacement service,” but apparently they just give you another iPod…hmm. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Ian\_Morningwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sir\_Ian\_Morningwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Ian_Morningwood)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-shuffle-question/321142/5 "2005-09-11T23:46:52Z")
> [@even sven](#): > > My iPod’s battery is giving out, and it no longer holds enough charge to get me through my bus commute. An iPod shuffle seems like a good cheap replacement. > > The only problem is that I don’t have a computer with enough hard drive space for my music collection, and it only lives on the iPod right now. Will I be able to get music off of the iPod and on to the shuffle with any sort of ease? Its easy to get your music off your ipod, well, as long as it’s in unprotected MP3 format. Using your ipod as a hard drive, just go into it, click the ‘ipod control’ folder, then click on the ‘music’ folder. All your tunes should be contained in the folders you’ll find there. You’ll have to re-name them since the Ipod changes the filename, but the ID tags should stay the same. Just copy songs to your hard drive and then put them on the shuffle. Easy as pie. Of course, I’m assuming you’re using a windows formatted Ipod. Things might be completely different with a Mac. \My ipod quit working Tuesday afternoon. I called Apple, they had a delivery service deliver a box for me to send it back in which i did Tuesday afternoon (at no cost to me. The delivery service, DHL, picked it up later that day. I didn’t even have to leave my house.), and I got it back(well, not IT… they sent me a new one) saturday morning. Thats some good fucking customer service! ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-shuffle-question/321142/6 "2005-09-12T00:41:08Z")
You can get a 1GB Shuffle for $129 or a 2GB iPod Nano for $199. In addition to doubling the storage capacity, the Nano has a screen so you can see what you’re scrolling through. If you can afford it, it might be worth the extra. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-shuffle-question/321142/7 "2005-09-12T02:10:16Z")
> [@cazzle](#): > > You can get a 1GB Shuffle for $129 or a 2GB iPod Nano for $199. In addition to doubling the storage capacity, the Nano has a screen so you can see what you’re scrolling through. If you can afford it, it might be worth the extra. From what I can see, the Nano is the first iPod that I’d seriously consider buying. That said, I’m probably gonna still stick with Minidisc players. Whoop for MP3 players that use rechargable AA batteries and $2 media. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-shuffle-question/321142/8 "2005-09-12T02:52:14Z")
> [@Sir\_Ian\_Morningwood](#): > > Of course, I’m assuming you’re using a windows formatted Ipod. Things might be completely different with a Mac. They are, a little. I just plugged my iPod into my PowerBook and I’ll write what I do. First of all, opening the iPod in the Finder doesn’t show music. Figures it’s in a hidden folder. Terminal to the rescue. In the root directory (/) I see a directory called Volumes, and in there I see the iPod. Cool. Inside that, the most likely directory is one called “iPod Control”, and under that is Music. So, open terminal and type cd “/Volumes/\/iPod Control/Music” Okay, here you’ll find a bunch of directories, each called “Fnn”, where nn is a two-digit number. Change directory into any of them, it doesn’t really matter which. Now I see a bunch of files called “xxxx.mp3”, where xxxx is a four-letter name. I pick one and copy it to my desktop… Playing it, I find that since it’s identical to a file already in iTunes it just played that one. Copying _that_ file and playing the random one I copied from the iPod… Okay, the ID3 tag wasn’t altered on the iPod. In fact, since I keep the tags updated and have iTunes organize the music for me, it renamed the file automatically, and put it in the directory where it belongs. The upshot is that if you’ve got good ID3 tagging you just have to copy the files off the iPod’s hard drive and drop them into iTunes. If not, you have to listen and relabel them yourself. If you’ve got a lot of mixes, or two mixes of one song from different mix albums, you’re pretty much shot without good tagging. Ultimately, though, the hardest part is finding the songs in that hidden folder.