Ipod Video Troubles

[q-live]

ok, im actually helping a friend out because i have a psp so i look at video and music on it. My friend just got a ipod video and wanted me to help with putting movies and audio on it.... well i have had 2 other mp3's and all i have to do is drag and drop..... WELL WELL WELLL.... come to find out ipod is not that easy... u have to use that garbage itunes. To make a long story short its hard to manage and put videos on the thing using itunes so is there another software that i can use to put video and music str8 on the device???????

[kellybelly]

Not that easy?It's pretty much drag and drop, but you need to have iTunes as the middle-man.

You open iTunes, drag and drop the MP3s and videos into iTunes, then plug in the iPod. When it's plugged in everything gets copied over, it disconnects and you're done. Or, if you want to update manually, you open iTunes, plug in the iPod, drag and drop the files from Explorer (or the iTunes library) over to the iPod listed on the iTunes sidebar, then eject the iPod when it's done.

There are a few other programs to use besides iTunes -- search over on http://iLounge.com for them -- but I have no experience with them and can't say how well they work. I'm pretty sure they don't allow you to just drag and drop onto the disk, since iPods don't work that way.

[Guest979]

Don't repalce iTunes, replace q-live. Maybe he/she just doesn't recognize music software unless it is plagued with such slowness and extreme levels of DRM that it is unusable.

[q-live]

ok, i tried using sharepod and followed every instruction that it had and it says it copys the music over but really doesnt. I didnt turn the auto update off to itunes cause it says it would automatically erase it and it still didnt help. Also if itunes is so good why when you go to another computer to put songs off of that one on there it always wants to erase the " play list" or songs that you already have on there to put something new on there. Also is there anything like sharepod excepts it works with mp3 and videos, or just plan work????????

[Darius Wey]

I'm not sure why you're putting yourself through such a mess. iTunes works. Period. Install it, connect your iPod, then drag-and-drop the files from your computer to the iPod. There's a lot to like about iTunes - its ability to handle DRM without a hitch, its powerful media library, its music store, and more. If you're not liking a certain feature of iTunes, then open its preferences page, and tweak the settings to your liking.

[Janak Parekh]

I didnt turn the auto update off to itunes cause it says it would automatically erase it and it still didnt help.
I don't quite understand. You didn't turn auto-update off? Do you mean auto-sync? Anyway, turning automatic to manual should not erase the contents of the iPod, although you should always be careful and keep a backup of music on your computer.

Also if itunes is so good why when you go to another computer to put songs off of that one on there it always wants to erase the " play list" or songs that you already have on there to put something new on there.
The short answer is that iTunes is only designed to support auto-sync with one computer. If you want to copy music from several machines, use manual sync.

Also is there anything like sharepod excepts it works with mp3 and videos, or just plan work????????
As others have said, iTunes works just fine. Don't try to fight it. If necessary, turn off the automatic sync of music. Make sure you have the music in your local Library (you can easily add content via options in the File menu). Then, plug in your iPod -- if it's set to auto-sync, it'll just copy the contents over, and if it's set to manual, you can drag stuff from your Library.

If you're still really unhappy with iTunes -- before I switched to iTunes permanently, I had pretty good success with EphPod (http://www.ephpod.com/). Your mileage may vary. However, once I switched to iTunes I never looked back.

--janak