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[jgreen]

This all sounds really nice, but how do I connect my ipod to MC11?  Nothing sems to work.

[pank2002]

Initialize it with the official Apple software. Go to Options > Handheld > Reset. It should ask you to initialize it by MC, and how to sync.

[jgreen]

Nothing works.  I tried reflashing the firmware, and still nothing  The ipod functions on it's own, but MC11 won't recognize it.  I'm worried there's a minimum version number or IQ level required for this.

[pank2002]

Does it show up in 'My Computer'? Can you connect to it with alternative software as ephPod or YamiPod?

Is your statement true for MC10 as well as MC11 (ie did it used to work in MC10)?

[tlongacre]

Try this:

1.  Reformat the iPod with the Apple software.
2.  Open iTunes and transfer 1 song to the iPod.
3.  While you have iTunes open, make sure you deselect the option to open iTunes whenever the iPod connects.
4.  Close iTunes (always make sure iTunes is closed before you connect the iPod and open MC).
5.  Open MC.
6.  Click on the Devices tab. This should bring up a box that says "Initializing Devices or something like that."
7.  If you now see your iPod listed there, you are in business! Right click on your iPod in the tree under Devices and choose "Initialize". From there, you should be able to sync with MC.

[jgreen]

Ipod does show up as a device under My Computer.  Don't know what EphPod is.  Never tried it with mc10, don't use Itunes.

[pank2002]

Well, I'm not certain whether or not you have done this, but get the latest firmware off Apple's site. Flash the darn things and see if MC will recognize it.

iTunes isn't necessary. I have never installed it on my system. MC should be sufficient.

Hope it helps,
Rasmus

[jgreen]

Pank--
This thiing gets weirder, if at all possible.  I did the latest drivers from apple, reflashed and restored, and now it appears to initialize with MC11 under win2k/Admin priviledge.  However, under power user priviledge (where I spend 99%of my time) the device automatically ejects itself.  I tried ephpod and the device won't stay connected long enough for ephod to restore directory structure, which it says it needs.

Bottom line, just as a man and his dog begin to look alike, so does a man and his ipod.  Therefore my ipod is going to have issues. 

[tlongacre]

Can you not just give yourself Admin rights? Clearly that would seem to be the problem.

[jgreen]

Yes I can, and if I have to I will.  But I don't work in Admin, so it's a pain to log out and back in as Admin.  I would rather just drag and drop songs as the whim takes me.
Three hours ago, things worked as promised, although I had to use MUSICMATCH to sync my ipod.  Now I can use jriver, the world's best media management and playback software, although it take me ten minutes and an act of congress to get set up for it.
In retrospect, it was sheer hubris to think that I could operate a simple consumer device in daily use by millions.  Still, the heart leaps at the possibilities. . . .

[pank2002]

I like your sarcasm mr. Green Thanks!

Anyway, it all sound quite strange. I have run a third and fourth generation iPod under Windows 2000 with MC for quite a while without experiencing problems. However there's only the administrator account on the PC, so I don't know if there's a conflict when using accounts with lesser privileges than administrator... Steve might know...

[SteveG]

jgreen,

I think this is a permissions issue. Log in as admin and let me know if you continue to have any difficulties.

Thanks,

Steve

[jgreen]

SteveG--
I agree it seems like a permissions issue, particularly since ephpod won't recognize it either.  At this point it doesn't seems to have anything to do with MC11, which really is the world's greatest media management and playback software. 
What's bizarre is that MC11 recognizes it under Admin, but not under a lower priviledge.  That may be because ipod is ejecting before MC11 can recognize it.  And it seems to be the OS (win2k/sp4) that's ejecting/rejecting it.  The drive shows up  in exlporer/my computer, and then disappears within 15 seconds.

2g ipod running yesterday's driver updates

[SteveG]

jgreen,

One solution for you would be to manually configure your iPod at your lower priviledge. To do this, go to Tools->Options->Handheld and select 'Confgure fixed and remote drives'. Browse to your iPod and then enter a display name. Leave the other fields blank.  You should then be good to go.

Steve

[jgreen]

Doesn't work.  The ipod disappears before I can navigate through the path you mentioned.  This is why I think it's to do with the OS.  If I just plug in the ipod and go to "My Computer", I can watch the drive show up and then disappear 15 seconds later. 

I did get it to work as Admin, although I noticed two things:

1. "File Conversion" is unavailable to me under tools/options/handheld.  Is it possible to convert on transfer?

2. When I clicked on the mp3 encoder, I got a dialogue box saying it wasn't there but would I like to go get it.  I clicked "yes" but I didn't have an open internet connection, and this put me into an inescapable loop.  If I clicked no it kept coming back again.  Not what I would call a "showstopper bug", but there it is.

[pank2002]

It must have to do with the way you have set up windows. Under my Win2k with sp4 there are no problems. But then again, I'm always using administrator. Can you create a new less privileged user and see how it reacts when connection the iPod.

[SteveG]

jgreen,

Also, the fact that iPod is disappearing from the Windows tree sounds very much like a hardware problem but if you do not see that behavior when logged in as an 'Administrator', that theory is out.

In regards to conversion, if you do not have any encoders installed, you will not have an option to convert.

[jgreen]

SteveG, Pank2002, tlongacre--
Thank you guys, I'm connected!  The problem was the ipod software.  It was corrupted under my power user login, but not under the admin login.  Downloading firmware from apple did nothing.  I had to go back to the 2-year-old cd and reinstall the basic software onto the PC.

Once I did that, hooking up the ipod was a snap, SteveG!  Now I'm downloading from MC11 to the ipod, and I can see that MC11 beats anything else for ipod sync options. 

Question:  I'm prepared for replay gain to have issues within ipod, but it doesn't seem to be working at all.  Is that the issue?  Or if it's supposed to work sort of, then I must be overlooking something.  I'm downloading 192kbps mp3 files (converting from wave as I download).  Perhaps I need to look at  TOOLS / OPTIONS / GENERAL / IMPORTING & TAGGING: Update Tags when file info changes?  I'm assuming that the only way to get replay gain levels into the ipod is through the file tags.  Or is there a different file format I should convert to when loading the ipod?  My library is primarily WAVs and FLACs.

[pank2002]

You have to have them 'analyzed'. There's a auto-generated smartlist containing the files which haven't been analyzed. Afterward you have to right click on the iPod in the tree and select 'add replay gain' or something similar. In my experience adding dB rather than percents works better.
-Rasmus

[SteveG]

Rasmus,

Thanks for the reply.

jgreen,

After files are analyzed, if you enable the option to apply replay gain when transferring files to the iPod, the Replay Gain stats will be converted to a value that is intelligible by iPod for levelling the volume. It works, but is not as precise as the actual Replay Gain value which will be implemented in a future version.