Recently bought an Ipod..

[SE14man]

Is there a way i could make an ipod work without itunes?

Maybe to use it in the same way as a memory stick is where oyu just connect it to the pc and it comes up as a hard disk and u create folders lik music, video etc and move files to it instead of using itunes?

Is this possible?

Cheers!

[Faustus]

Lookup Anapod Explorer. Its not free but I hear its great.

[Ai Haibara]

You can use the iPod as a hard disk, yes - but unless you modify it (to use Rockbox or iPodLinux, for example), you can't just copy music onto the iPod and have the iPod play it normally. (It uses a database that also has to be modified, and the music has to be in certain folders.)

There are a number of alternatives to iTunes (both shareware and freeware), including WinAmp, the aforementioned Anapod, Ephpod, Yamipod, etc. Note: you may need to have iTunes installed, anyway, to maintain/update/restore your iPod.

[SE14man]

this was extrmely helpful u 2.

cheers!

[SE14man]

I find if i put music on my ipod with itunes it syncs it which is cool.
But if i connect a HDD with different music on it it looses all the current musico n the ipod.

How do i stop this?

Cheers!

[Poppa_Meth]

You need to go into iTunes options and disable the automatic synchronization, at least on the other computers. You could leave it on yours if you want it syncing to that.

[SE14man]

What would be ideal is this:
To have the songs on my ipod form one HDD.
Then to disconnect ipod and shut down the pc and change the hard disk and to add a whole load more from another hard disk without the previous lot erasing from my ipod.

Is that possible?

[Ai Haibara]

iTunes normally syncs the iPod to whatever's in the iTunes library. This means that whatever is (or isn't) in the Library, will be all that you have on the iPod. Trying to sync with an empty Library (which you might find yourself doing if you try to connect your iPod to someone else's system (remember, iTunes autosyncs by default)) will equal an empty iPod.

To change this behavior, you can turn off autosyncing, or tell iTunes to "Only sync checked items."
In iTunes, connect your iPod, then on the screen that should come up once you've connected it, telling you details about your iPod (capacity, firmware, etc.) - or just click on the name of your iPod in the left-hand sidebar. There should be four checkbox options under the Options heading that you'll probably want to examine.

1.) Open iTunes when this iPod is connected

Self-explanatory. Probably better left disabled, but that's just my opinion.

2.) Only sync checked items

This is probably what you'll want to enable. Then, once you have the songs you want to stay on your iPod regardless of syncing, make sure the small checkboxes to the left of each of those songs in the main Library are unchecked.

3.) Manually manage music

...in other words, no sync at all.

4.) Enable disk use

In my opinion, this is a good thing. You can basically also use your iPod like it's a removeable large hard drive. (This is also why I warn about iTunes' autosync, above - if you want to connect the iPod as a hard drive on any computer that has iTunes installed (as well as autosync and Option 1 above enabled), you should be aware it'll try to sync your library to the library on that system. There's supposed to be a key you can hold down to prevent that from happening (while your iPod is mounting and being recognized), but I forgot what it was. (Left Shift, maybe?))

[Faustus]

Like Ai Haibara suggest manually sending songs is way better IMO then auto sync

Also if you plug your iPod into another PC Autosync will ASK before it overwrites anything as it will see this PC isn't its "home". Giving you a chance to say "no mr. jobs please don't erase my music please" however AFAIK you wouldn't be able to load or unload any songs on that other PC just your home PC

[SE14man]

Really appreciate your help there guys.

cheers!
Mart