[Tfug] iPods

[Don Freeman]

Bex -
I believe the answer is yes. When I plug it in it looks like any other USB
drive. I seem to remember that there is a configuration setting that you
have to set to enable this but its been a couple of years since I got it and
I don't remember the specifics. But I can run it without iTunes, although
iTunes is installed. I don't have access to a PC without it. 



-----Original Message-----
From: tfug-bounces at tfug.org [mailto:tfug-bounces at tfug.org] On Behalf Of
Bexley Hall
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 9:00 AM
To: Tucson Free Unix Group
Subject: Re: [Tfug] iPods

Hi Don,

--- On Tue, 9/1/09, Don Freeman <DFreeman at pagnet.org> wrote:

> I spent some time last night playing
> with the file system on my 30gig iPod.
> You CAN copy files to it via drag and drop BUT it appears the iPod 
> software uses some kind of database to manage them.

Yes.  It is fairly trivial to hack together a new "database"
to represent what you have now loaded onto the iPod; or, in my case, to
select among those things that are present on the iPod that you would like
to now hear (the Shuffle has no user interface, per se).

> So the bad news is that while you
> can copy them, you probably can't play them. However, if

But, did you connect the iPod to a machine that doesn't have iTunes (or any
other iPod specific software -- even Linux variants)?  I.e., does it *look*
like a "USB mass storage device" or does it havesome other interface
protocol (e.g., many cell phones -- motogorilla being a prime candidate --
do not *just* look like a disk drive but, instead, have an active
interface).

In other words, could you plug *you* iPod into *any* USB enabled computer
and "see" it as a disk?  (I can with the shuffle but haven't yet played with
the "mini")

> you are willing to
> tolerate windows, there are many alternate desktop softwares available 
> to manage the files other than iTunes. Just Google iPod software. I 
> wasn't able to find any Linux versions though. :(

Ideally, I want something *small* that can reside *on* my iPod that I can
invoke once the iPod is installed in a USB computer without having to
require *any* software on that computer!
I.e., I can do this with the shuffle, currently.  E.g., I can walk up to
someone else's computer, plug it in and manage the tunes on the shuffle
without requiring anything of that computer besides CPU cycles.



      

_______________________________________________
Tucson Free Unix Group - tfug at tfug.org
Subscription Options:
http://www.tfug.org/mailman/listinfo/tfug_tfug.org