iPod Q & A, Part I

[sonickteam2]

i am entitling this Part 1 because i figure i will be asking a few questions.  i know i could go on some techie board, but i love you guys so much.
 
  so i have my iPod and itunes at home and i bring my ipod to work, but no itunes. i ask a friend to download itunes for me here but he explains that i cant plug my ipod into more than one computer.
 
  now, i dont "sync" my ipod to my itunes at home (seeing that i have a 30GB ipod and 225GB at home) so i thought it would be ok.
 
   also, can you put songs onto your ipod without itunes? just through windows explorer or something?  (i figure not)
 
  thanks and happy monday people.

[bellenseb]

Originally posted by le sonick:
  i am entitling this Part 1 because i figure i will be asking a few questions.  i know i could go on some techie board, but i love you guys so much.
 
  so i have my iPod and itunes at home and i bring my ipod to work, but no itunes. i ask a friend to download itunes for me here but he explains that i cant plug my ipod into more than one computer.
 
  now, i dont "sync" my ipod to my itunes at home (seeing that i have a 30GB ipod and 225GB at home) so i thought it would be ok.
 
   also, can you put songs onto your ipod without itunes? just through windows explorer or something?  (i figure not)
 
  thanks and happy monday people.

You need to set your iPod enable disk use. When you plug your iPod into the work computer, close/ignore ITunes. You can drag song files onto the iPod just like you would any drive, just throw them in the root. When you get home, cut the songs onto your desktop, open iTunes, and import the new songs, then sync to your iPod.
 
 ...right?

[sonickteam2]

so you wouldnt really be adding "songs" to your ipod just files....then when you get home you can put them onto Itunes which then turns them into "songs" again.  
 
 i gotcha.  
 
  now, about having itunes on 2 different computers?  is that ok?

[ratioci nation]

Originally posted by le sonick:
  so you wouldnt really be adding "songs" to your ipod just files....then when you get home you can put them onto Itunes which then turns them into "songs" again.  
 
 i gotcha.  
 
  now, about having itunes on 2 different computers?  is that ok?

Why do you want itunes at work if you are not updating at work?  Just asking because there may be other solutions to what you are trying to do.

[ratioci nation]

Originally posted by le sonick:
 
  now, i dont "sync" my ipod to my itunes at home (seeing that i have a 30GB ipod and 225GB at home) so i thought it would be ok.
 

by the way, if you would like to sync you can sync only playlists, so you could create sonicks ipod playlist and keep that under 30gb and sync with that

[vansmack]

Originally posted by le sonick:
   now, about having itunes on 2 different computers?  is that ok?

Use the same iTunes music store account on the computer at work as you do at home and you can plug your iPod in to that computer.
 
 You can do this for up to 5 computers.
 
 And don't forget to set iTunes on both computers to enable disk use of the iPod, not sync.  You won't be able to copy songs off your iPod using iTunes, but you can play songs off your iPod using iTunes.

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by pdx pollard:
   

Originally posted by le sonick:
  so you wouldnt really be adding "songs" to your ipod just files....then when you get home you can put them onto Itunes which then turns them into "songs" again.  
 
 i gotcha.  
 
  now, about having itunes on 2 different computers?  is that ok?

Why do you want itunes at work if you are not updating at work?  Just asking because there may be other solutions to what you are trying to do. [/b]

well, sometimes i "obtain" new music while at work and i would like to bring it home with me.  i dont have a flash stick or CD burner (at work) so i was hoping to use my ipod as a drive, so to speak.

[ggw]

I plug my iPod into multiple computers. I have iTunes at work.  I just plug in my iPod, iTunes opens automatically, and I can play my iPod music and its playlists with no problem at all.  I don't have any iTunes-purchased music on my iPod, so I couldn't say if that might be a problem.

[beetsnotbeats]

I have iTunes at home and work (NP: Sun "Sleepin'"). I keep my 60+GB of tunes at home. Every few days I fill a 1GB flash drive with tunes from home and plug it into my workstation. I add these to iTunes and play them on "party shuffle." When they have all played I delete the tunes from the workstation iTunes library and repeat the process. The advantages are that I don't have to fill my limited network storage with tunes and I won't take a significant financial hit if I lose the flash drive. One disavantage is that DRM'ed iTunes will not play at work, but I have very few of those anyway. No iPod is needed to do this; I call the flash drive my "poor man's" iPod.

[thirsty moore]

Your iPod's a ho.
 
 

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
  I plug my iPod into multiple computers. I have iTunes at work.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
   The advantages are that I don't have to fill my limited network storage with tunes and I won't take a significant financial hit if I lose the flash drive.

Do you have an iPod though?
 
 I don't have any songs copied to my work HD, I just play the songs off my iPod via iTunes using the process I described above.  This gives me 30+ gigs of songs at my disposal.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by le sonick:
  well, sometimes i "obtain" new music while at work and i would like to bring it home with me.  i dont have a flash stick or CD burner (at work) so i was hoping to use my ipod as a drive, so to speak.

If that's all you want to do, yes, the above process I described will work.  But truthfully, spend the $20 on a 1 GB flash drive - it will be that much easier for you (no cords, no waiting for iTunes to open, etc.).

[beetsnotbeats]

Originally posted by vansmack:
   

Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
   The advantages are that I don't have to fill my limited network storage with tunes and I won't take a significant financial hit if I lose the flash drive.

Do you have an iPod though?
 
 I don't have any songs copied to my work HD, I just play the songs off my iPod via iTunes using the process I described above.  This gives me 30+ gigs of songs at my disposal. [/b]

I have a 2GB nano and a 4GB mini with a fried HD. It's not worth the risk of losing a $150 iPod to gain a single GB, especially when flash drives have gotten so cheap.
 
 Thanks for the tip about authorizing up to 5 computers on one account. Now I can play DRM'ed iTunes at work.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
   It's not worth the risk of losing a $150 iPod to gain a single GB, especially when flash drives have gotten so cheap.

That makes sense (of course a Nano is a flash drive so it's much more stable than a Hard Drive based mini, but you're right, for one extra gig, not worth the risk).  I used to do what you do, until Apple allowed you to "Authroize" up to 5 computers.