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Can I put music on an ipod without installing any software?

PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
I've gotten an ipod nano for free and while I'd like to use it, I'd also like to not install itunes or any other special software if I can avoid it.

I tried to just put an mp3 on it, but that didn't work. I'd love to know why it can't just accept any sound files put on it, like an ordinary portable music player.

EDIT: I guess it might be a good idea to mention that I'm on Windows. 7 to be specific.

Peewi on

Posts

  • ronyaronya Arrrrrf. the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular
    edited July 2009
    Try this? It's the most lightweight iPod manager I know. No installation required, just run the exe.

    You can't just copy music onto the iPod; while many music players do, the iPod does not support this (the devices that do so are actually relatively recent. They're normally labelled as UMS or MSC capable. The third possibility is MTP-capable, using Window's own sync method. These three cover most music players available now; most devices have MTP and UMS support, but iPod support is pretty limited to iPods).

    ronya on
    aRkpc.gif
  • PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    edited July 2009
    It's telling me to plug in my ipod, even though it already is connected.

    I did some googling and apparently an itunesdb file is needed, which is created the first time the ipod is used with itunes. I guess I'll just have to install it if I want to use this thing.

    Peewi on
  • ZyreZyre Registered User regular
    edited July 2009
    Just don't make the same mistake I did. When I was getting ready to format my sister's computer I made sure all of her music was on her Ipod (using Itunes) and I didn't keep back-up's of it any other way. Come to find out after reinstalling Windows on her rig, when I tried to copy the songs off of the Ipod back onto her hard drive, it would not let me do that.

    Most of the music she had was ripped off of CD's she had, so she could create the actual mp3 files again on her hard drive, but it still pissed her off that it was the only way to get her music back on her PC since the Ipod wouldn't transfer her database.

    Zyre on
  • ronyaronya Arrrrrf. the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular
    edited July 2009
    Zyre wrote: »
    Just don't make the same mistake I did. When I was getting ready to format my sister's computer I made sure all of her music was on her Ipod (using Itunes) and I didn't keep back-up's of it any other way. Come to find out after reinstalling Windows on her rig, when I tried to copy the songs off of the Ipod back onto her hard drive, it would not let me do that.

    Most of the music she had was ripped off of CD's she had, so she could create the actual mp3 files again on her hard drive, but it still pissed her off that it was the only way to get her music back on her PC since the Ipod wouldn't transfer her database.

    Tip: next time, open the iPod as a usb drive (connect it, then tell iTunes to ignore it). Show Hidden and System Files, open the relevant directory (can't remember the name, but it'll be the one multiple GBs large :rotate: ), and just import the entire folder into iTunes. They'll all be named ABCD.mp3 or ABCD.m4a and such, but iTunes should recognise the metadata and reconstruct everything in your music folder (if you have enabled "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library", that is. Enabling "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" is good too).

    I'm probably too late now, but oh well :P

    ronya on
    aRkpc.gif
  • MonoxideMonoxide Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2009
    ronya wrote: »
    Zyre wrote: »
    Just don't make the same mistake I did. When I was getting ready to format my sister's computer I made sure all of her music was on her Ipod (using Itunes) and I didn't keep back-up's of it any other way. Come to find out after reinstalling Windows on her rig, when I tried to copy the songs off of the Ipod back onto her hard drive, it would not let me do that.

    Most of the music she had was ripped off of CD's she had, so she could create the actual mp3 files again on her hard drive, but it still pissed her off that it was the only way to get her music back on her PC since the Ipod wouldn't transfer her database.

    Tip: next time, open the iPod as a usb drive (connect it, then tell iTunes to ignore it). Show Hidden and System Files, open the relevant directory (can't remember the name, but it'll be the one multiple GBs large :rotate: ), and just import the entire folder into iTunes. They'll all be named ABCD.mp3 or ABCD.m4a and such, but iTunes should recognise the metadata and reconstruct everything in your music folder (if you have enabled "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library", that is. Enabling "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" is good too).

    I'm probably too late now, but oh well :P

    addendum to this: don't rely on it with large library sizes

    iTunes might not mind importing the folder and metadata on an iPod with ~10GB of music on it, but a full 80GB or 120GB backup will have it choking left and right when trying to import the folders, and because there's no logical filename structure it's very difficult to make sure it imports everything correctly

    Monoxide on
  • Dark ShroudDark Shroud Registered User regular
    edited July 2009
    Check this out.

    http://www.yamipod.com/

    Dark Shroud on
  • AzioAzio Registered User regular
    edited July 2009
    Winamp has ipod support with drag-and-drop functionality

    Azio on
  • DratatooDratatoo Registered User regular
    edited July 2009
    Make sure what generation of iPod you have. If it is one released around the same time as the iPod touch then you are out of luck. The latest versions and most likely a generation before use a non standard syncing protocol and aren't registered/available as removable hard drives.

    Older ipods basically are removable hard drives which contain an (invisible/hidden) folder with the music and databases.
    With these older models, most of the ipod managing software still works.

    If you got an older model, make sure, the firmware update for windows is being used. The mac firmware will format the ipod's HD with a HTFS+ filesystem which Windows OSs can't read/write to by default.

    Dratatoo on
  • TL DRTL DR Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
    edited July 2009
    Zyre wrote: »
    Just don't make the same mistake I did. When I was getting ready to format my sister's computer I made sure all of her music was on her Ipod (using Itunes) and I didn't keep back-up's of it any other way. Come to find out after reinstalling Windows on her rig, when I tried to copy the songs off of the Ipod back onto her hard drive, it would not let me do that.

    Most of the music she had was ripped off of CD's she had, so she could create the actual mp3 files again on her hard drive, but it still pissed her off that it was the only way to get her music back on her PC since the Ipod wouldn't transfer her database.

    Gotta love DRM. I just spent a few hours last week investigating why my friend's music collection wouldn't play on his ancient Mac after his PC died. It was giving an incorrect file name/path error, but it turned out that all the files were DRM'd WMAs. That required reactivating all the licenses (downloading some Microsoft plugin or something) and recoding them all as mp3s, which fucked up the whole folder organization structure.

    Easier to just pirate the music and send your favorite artists a check in the mail.

    TL DR on
  • EgoEgo Registered User regular
    edited July 2009
    Monoxide wrote: »
    ronya wrote: »
    Zyre wrote: »
    Just don't make the same mistake I did. When I was getting ready to format my sister's computer I made sure all of her music was on her Ipod (using Itunes) and I didn't keep back-up's of it any other way. Come to find out after reinstalling Windows on her rig, when I tried to copy the songs off of the Ipod back onto her hard drive, it would not let me do that.

    Most of the music she had was ripped off of CD's she had, so she could create the actual mp3 files again on her hard drive, but it still pissed her off that it was the only way to get her music back on her PC since the Ipod wouldn't transfer her database.

    Tip: next time, open the iPod as a usb drive (connect it, then tell iTunes to ignore it). Show Hidden and System Files, open the relevant directory (can't remember the name, but it'll be the one multiple GBs large :rotate: ), and just import the entire folder into iTunes. They'll all be named ABCD.mp3 or ABCD.m4a and such, but iTunes should recognise the metadata and reconstruct everything in your music folder (if you have enabled "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library", that is. Enabling "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" is good too).

    I'm probably too late now, but oh well :P

    addendum to this: don't rely on it with large library sizes

    iTunes might not mind importing the folder and metadata on an iPod with ~10GB of music on it, but a full 80GB or 120GB backup will have it choking left and right when trying to import the folders, and because there's no logical filename structure it's very difficult to make sure it imports everything correctly

    Is it still a problem, or just an occassional one? I used this method on a 60 or 80 gig model to transfer a library to an aver aspire one netbook and it all got in there ok.

    Ego on
    Erik
  • VistiVisti Registered User regular
    edited July 2009
    You could also go against the flow and put the Rockbox software on your pod. Makes it play a bunch more files and adds a whole host of features and basically makes it like a regular USB drive when plugged in. Done.

    Visti on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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