by Tilo Sloboda, initial version: 14 September 2002
last edited $Date: 2002/09/15 03:43:05 $ GMT / $Revision: 1.5 $

Apple iPod for Windows

I bought the 20GB iPod for Windows. The unit is very handy.
For Windows the iPod comes bundled with Musicmatch.
The installer was very spooky - asking for the users address,
age?!, and how it's intend use is.. Musicmatch per default
sends back info on what music the user listens to.
 
I didn't like this intrusion of my privacy at all..!

Apple iPod Hardware

A warning to new iPod users: make sure that you protect your LCD with some sort of scratch resistant plastic -- the kind of screen protectors for Palm Pilots might work -- the LCD scratches very easy! Within one week the screen of my iPod was in a state where I wouldn't have been able to return it.

Apple iPod for Windows on RedHat LINUX

September 2002 I had bought a 20GB iPod for Windows and tried to connect it to my LINUX PC, running RedHat 7.2 / kernel version 2.4.18-3 -- it didn't work..

RedHat Linux 8.0, 7.3, 7.2 or earlier.. does not work!

RedHat LINUX 8.0 (kernel 2.4.18-14) or RedHat 7.3 (kernel 2.4.18-3), or any earlier kernel versions simply don't work!

Custom Kernel > 2.4.20 works!

You will need to install a custom kernel (at least 2.4.20), together with updated IEEE1394 drivers!

Observations using the iPod

The good thing and the bad thing with the iPod is, that that it seems to soley uses the ID3-tags of the MP3's to create it's database - not the file name or the directory structure under which the MP3s are stored on the computer. The track number of the song on the CD is also taken from the ID3-tag. You might ask: Why is this bad? Well, if you have more than 2000 songs, you will quickly realize that just sorting by artist or album is not enough.. you need at least a reliable way to create some sort of sub-category.. The ipod doesn't really support that.. and the playlists don't seem to work if you're connecting the iPod to UNIX (.m3u files are not supported by the iPod :-((( )

Another problem regarding the use of ID3-tags for labeling songs.. if you have inconsistencies in the ID3-tags, or truncated entries in them, or incorrectly labeled MP3s, you get a mess. Otherwise the MP3s are nicely put into categories, and can be browsed by Artist, Album, Songs, Genres, and Composers.. well.. if your genre labels are consistent.. usually they are not..

The iPod seems to lack a good "resume" mechanism - when you pause and power off, it doesn't seem to continue playing the previous song or playlist, when powered back up.. that majorly sucks!!

Oh, and last not least, I haven't gotten playlists (m3u files) to work yet.

The iPod design is beautiful .. but IMHO the firmware leaves a lot of room for improvement..!  

Maintainer: Tilo Sloboda linux at unixgods.org
last update: $Revision: 1.5 $ / $Date: 2002/09/15 03:43:05 $ GMT