I'll bump this one, just to say how happy I am to see that quite a few items on this wishlist can already be crossed. Many thanks to Steve for his hard work.
Now, I think we must be getting close to the final list of iPod features that will make it into MC 11. If iPod management is going to be, as I believe it is, one of the strong points of 11, I think that MC should offer features iTunes lacks (and it's now definitely the case with for instance a much better support for multiple iPods than iTunes'), but also, and I guess this is very important if you plan on converting iTunes users to MC, have all the features, transparency and simplicity that iTunes has.
In that respect, there still are two important features lacking in MC.
1) full iPod photo support, but I realize this one is complex to implement and might only appear in MC12.
2) auto-mount and auto-eject. This is still one of the great assets of iTunes for people who are looking for simplicity. I think quite a few people just want to plug-in their iPod, forget about it, and take the player back, already synchronized, a couple minutes later.
From what I can see with the latest betas, it seems to me that it would be quite possible to have MC just do this. MC can already auto-eject the iPod when closing the program and I guess it would be possible to have it auto-eject after a sync. I guess it should also be possible to have MC start-up when you plug-in your iPod: I've seen a few programs besides iTunes that can do just that (anapod, realplayer, etc.). Still in the same area, iTunes has the ability to mount the iPod with just a couple click in the navigation tree and I can see two ways MC could do this. The first option is very similar to iTunes: you'd have to go in the navigation tree, find your iPod in the 'drives & devices' section, and the right click menu on the iPod could have a 'mount iPod' option. The problem with that solution is that right now, when you eject the iPod the device disappears from the tree. The second option would be through the AW. At the moment, if your iPod is plugged in but ejected, when you click 'handheld player' in the AW you receive this message:
No handheld available
1) Connect your handheld to the computer.
2) Turn your handheld on.
3) Ensure the proper plugin is installed.
Maybe MC could try and mount the iPod before displaying this message?
Sorry for being so long, but I'm trying to not have only wishes but also ideas
On a side note, about this:
Addition to the wishlist: while I'm not a hardcore iPod fan-boy, it would be nice if you could change this icon:
I've figured since then that you can use your own picture. Just save the picture you want as a .png file, rename it to ViewHeaderHandheld.png and copy it to MC's /data/custom art/ directory.
If any one wants my iPod photo icon: