My old computer broke and I just got a brand new computer and bought MC12 and my 60GB iPod Photo broke, so I also got a brand new 5.5G 80GB iPod Video and, as my old computer ran Windows98, I have zero experience with iTunes, and judging from everyone else's experience, I have no desire to use it at all. I've used my new iPod with MC12 and I can confirm that gapless playback works right out of the box. I've tested using mp3s of live concerts, and I even rip as one big file and cut out bits for little pieces between songs so the songs are more iPod-friendly and also so I can listen to a whole show if I wanted to. It sounds seamless. Even at parts where it seemed like it didn't sound seamless, I question my audio files instead of the iPod. Although I still have this occassional problem that existed on my 4g iPod Photo where a song played for two seconds, hung for another 2 seconds, then played as normally. That's really annoying. It didn't happen with my first few days of use, but it happened today. Also, firewire does not work anymore. I tried using my old 3g dock as usual with the firewire connection and the screen said something like, "Firewire not supported. Please use the cable supplied with your iPod."