My girlfriend acquired an iPod from her father. He upgraded and got something bigger, she inherited a 2GB Nano. I have a first gen Nano which I use frequently (though I will never buy another piece of Apple crap again, but that is another story). Anyway, she asked me to fill up her Nano for her as she also inherited a collection of music straight from… I can’t even describe it.
Sure, I agree. I connect her iPod to my laptop and presto, it won’t let me do anything to her music. First it wouldn’t let me access it to delete it. All the songs appeared there, but they were all grey and wouldn’t let me move or delete them. (I did manage to empty the iPod by pretending to Synch the iPod with my music, but my library is far to big for the Nano.) With the iPod deleted, I figured I could drag and drop new music into it. Nope. Nothing. (Connecting my old iPod, everything works fine.)
Why can’t I move songs to the new iPod? What do I have to do in order to just add music to this iPod?!
You should be shot because you are the first responder, but you chose a joke rather than help.
To the OP:
Have you registered the new ipon on the machine you are trying to sync it from?
Is the ipod registered on too many machines? i.e. Is it still registered to your girlfriends fathers PC?
Do you have to deregister it there before you can use it on yourown PC?
You should be able to “initialize” the iPod to clear it off and format it for your system. Look for the option in iTunes after you plug the iPod in. Make sure you have the latest iTunes BTW.
Thanks everybody. All I apparently had to do was click “Manage Own Music” and it let me mess around with it. I thought it had something to do with “Registering” or “Initializing” the iPod myself, and since I have no idea about that, nor where to even find those options, since they are hidden so well, I asked here. This thread can be closed.
(And really, it is an iPod, an electronic device purchased to play music, why the $#@! would I have to change a preference to “add/delete songs”?!?! Why would that even be an option?! Of course I want to add/delete songs!)
You can use it as a storage device. You can use it to play music. What you CAN’T do is just drop MP3s on it and expect it to play them. They must be managed by iTunes (or some other software that performs a similar function.)
I use a program called Anapod Explorer to manage my 40GB (3G?) iPod. It’s a commercial program that is tied to one iPod when you buy it. You can freely drag and drop music to and from the iPod, I don’t even have iTunes installed. If you drag a folder it offers to create a playlist from it.
I’ve also used a free program called YamiPod. For a second-generation Nano YamiPod didn’t work, Apple has done something different with the newer iPods. I found a program called Poddox that works with 2g Nanos.
I’m glad you got it figured out because IME multiple Ipods to the same library is a royal pita and IIRC supposed to be to avoid sharing files between multiple people.
The other option, (i.e. the way it works when you have “Manage my own music” turned off) is that the management of the music on your iPod is done automatically by iTunes. You can have it either mirror your entire iTunes library onto your iPod (if the entire library will fit), or you can designate certain playlists to be mirrored to the iPod. Those playlists can be either manual (in which case it’s a lot like the way you’re apparently doing it now), or smart playlist(s). Using playlists is, to some people, a lot easier than doing everything manually.
As a simple example, suppose you have 10 gigs in your iTunes library. You could set up a smart playlist with the “choose songs at random” option, and set it’s maximum size to 2 gigs (ok, 1.6 or whatever the 2 gig iPod will actually hold). Now when you sync your iPod, you automatically get some random selection of your whole iTunes library. Sync again and you get some different random selection.
Or set up a smart playlist for just the artists you want on the iPod. Then, again, it syncs that playlist automatically.
That’s why it’s even an option. Some people don’t want to have to drag each and every individual song to the iPod, and then delete each and every individual song when they decide they want some different music on the iPod.
I haven’t had any trouble with two iPods on my (Windows) computer. I plug my 60GB biggun in and it syncs everything, and my shuffle in to sync certain playlists. Apple themselves say:
From here. The only time I’ve seen iTunes hesitate about transferring music to a new iPod was when the device had previously been synced to another system, at which point iTunes just asks if you’re sure you know what you’re doing (rightfully so, as you probably don’t want to do a full sync on the new system and erase what was on there).
I presume iTunes (or one of the other management apps) puts the files into a directory structure the iPod is expecting and updates a database with the pertinent information about the files. The iPod then uses the database to build its playlists, etc. Even if you suss out the directory structure and place your MP3s in it by hand, the iPod won’t know they’re there and won’t play them.
It’s plenty good, just that the tangible benefits aren’t for the purchaser.
I received an iPod nano as a gift a few years back - was pleased with it as it had 8 times more storage than my old mp3 player. Not so pleased when I realized that it was deliberately hobbled.
I replaced it with a SanDisk Sansa - similar design, but allows me to do everything I want to with my music, without installing 30mb of Bloatware on my PC that only makes it more difficult to access my music. Wow, I can put music directly from my library of .mp3 cds (or a USB key, or somewhere on my home network) onto my .mp3 player and get out the door, without having to go through a bunch of intermediary steps.
At first I thought that the less sleek and stylish appearance of the Sansa was a compromise that I was willing to make in order to avoid the pain-in-the-ass of iTunes - until I realized that the “designy” elements of the iPod only interfered with my ability to use it. (I had to take the iPod out of my pocket to adjust the volume - because the capacitance-sensing thumbwheel meant that it had to be locked in order to play in my pocket stabley - and even if left unlocked, the totally flat surface offered no tactile feedback, you need your eyes to use it.
iPod. Ftttttt.
I’m glad Apple hasn’t thought to market eating utensils.
