iTunes for Windows Breaking Older iPods

evil_liam asks: "In our office we've been running an older 5gb iPod with both Macs and PC's (using Xplay), but when we installed iTunes for the PC the iPod stopped working. Songs and playlists transfer over fine, and you can see them and play them in iTunes, but you can't listen to them on the iPod, itself. It shows the song details and so forth, but skips through the tracks, playing 0 seconds of each one until it finishes. This only applies to tracks added since iTunes was installed. No amount of reformatting, or rolling back firmware seems to work. When I called Apple, they stated that they simply don't support the use of the older Mac iPods on PC's and are not responsible, even though they admit that it was their own software that caused this. We're not alone, see this thread at Apple. I'm not quite suggesting that this was deliberate, but they are aware of it and don't seem to care." Does anyone have ideas on possible fixes for the afflicted iPods?

Comments

Perhaps you should have read the manual or the FAQ

[Fux the Penguin]

Question 7: I have both a Mac and a PC. Will my iPod work on both?
Answer: No, not at the same time. iPod is configured for either Mac or PC. You can use the iPod Software Updater utility to restore iPod to work with a Mac or a PC (depending on which version of the utility you use). See technical document 60983, "iPod: How to Restore" for more information.

Note: Using the iPod for Mac on a PC, or using the iPod for Windows on a Mac, is not supported by Apple.

Question 8: Can I use an iPod formatted for Mac on a PC, or an iPod formatted for Windows on a Mac?
Answer: It is not possible to use an iPod formatted for Mac with Windows. This is because Windows does not support the HFS Plus file system and therefore will not see the drive.

You can convert an iPod formatted for Windows into an iPod for Mac by using the iPod for Mac Software Updater on the Apple website. Note that once it is reformatted, it will only work with Macs. You need Mac OS 9.2 or Mac OS X 10.1 or later to reformat an iPod for Windows into an iPod for Mac.

Note: Using the iPod for Mac on a PC, or using the iPod for Windows on a Mac, is not supported by Apple.

Not surpising...

[bigbigbison]

After all this is a MAC ipod on a WINDOWS machine. They never intended this particular ipod to be used on a windows machine. So why should they support the use of it? Yes subsequent ipods are designed to be for windows, but the one in question was not. Therefore, I do not see what anyone can expect of them. It would be nice if this mac designed product worked with their later newer windows designed product, but I do not see them under any obligation to do so.

Hmmm.

[cmjensen]

Nothing in the link supports the allegation that "they are aware of this and don't seem to care." In the linked article, they just "we don't support your PC."

Also in the linked discussion board, it seems like multiple problems are being reported as a single problem. For example, one guy reverted to old iPod software and still had problems. Another guy has problems only with music downloaded from iTunes. Another guy only has problems with CDs he ripped.

Every consumer device has issues and flaming mad customers. The real question is, is the problem widespread. The other question is, why has Cliff posted three "an Apple consumer is having a problem" articles in the last couple of days (the first two seemed to be pretty damn stupid and non-widespread to me).

Accurate?

[SlamMan]

What is this, unsubstantiated rumor day on apple.slashdot? Sorry to hear about your iPod problems, but its hardly verified when the thread you link to is one you created and posted most of the comments on. The gus next to me at work has a 5GB thats works fine on with the Windows version of iTunes, and I haven't heard anything else like this from other friends or other discussion groups. Odds are you're specifically got borked.

Call tech support again. I've always found them quite helpful (at least the AppleCare ones) when i've had hardware issues. Or take it to an Apple Store, heard good things about them ebing willing to bend over backwards to help out.

*Sigh* Just a little research kids...

[Anonymous Coward]

reformat your ipod from Mac to PC...

File a bug report. Flash firmware. Don't complain.

[javaxman]

If you register on the Apple Developer Center, you can file a bug report.

Join ADC

Bug Apple

Very little at Apple actually happens without a report in this "RadarWeb" bug tracking system of theirs. Think about it- this is how actual engineers have actual tasks/problems assigned to them, except maybe when Steve says "make it so".

Of course, as you're perfectly aware, you broke your Macintosh-only iPod while trying to use it on a PC, something you were rather clearly warned against doing when you bought the device. Did you complain to Sony because your Betamax tape player was screwed up by a VHS tape, too?

So why are you complaining about it on Slashdot, anyway ?

I'm willing to bet you could fix the problem by installing the most recent iPod firmware update, if you were willing to try that and weren't just trolling.

I call bullshit

[kableh]

I've had similar problems with a first gen iPod, and the same problem with multiple firewire drives, all related to the fact that Windows gays up firewire drives. All would every now and then have a "Delayed Write Failed" error pop up occasionally, then the drives would disappear as far as Windows was concerned. Turning off write caching in Device Manager has no effect.

I will say that I'm still using the same firewire chassis, only now with 7200 RPM instead of 5400 RPM drives, and haven't had the problem since. The iPod has a rather slow hard drive too, which could explain the similar issues.

Regardless, I'm inclined to believe Windows just has a shitty VFS or Firewire subsystem...