How do you iPod?

[wondering_jew]

What are your opinions on the best programs to connect to and manage iPods.
I started out with gtkpod, tried banshee and now I'm using amarok.

I've also found that switching from one program to another screws up the itunesdb file so none of my music will work and I have to re-transfer it all.

Any other general thoughts on iPod-ness

[Stormy Eyes]

gtkpod's the only program I've gotten to work, so I stick with it.

[endersshadow]

gtkpod is the only one I know of that transfers videos...ergo, it roxorz.

Edit: I just used "ergo" and "roxorz" in the same sentence...I think I've just won...not entirely sure what I won, but it has to be something.

[Brunellus]

iRiver H340. Put your money where the open codecs are.

[Stormy Eyes]

iRiver H340. Put your money where the open codecs are.

Bugger open codecs. I want a player that won't die on me if I drop it onto a carpeted floor from a height of 60cm, like my iRiver H-320 did.

[endersshadow]

iRiver H340. Put your money where the open codecs are.

'Twas a gift :-D

[Brunellus]

Bugger open codecs. I want a player that won't die on me if I drop it onto a carpeted floor from a height of 60cm, like my iRiver H-320 did.
mine's worked fine, and I have about 20 GB in oggs already. (I'm listening to one on the device now, actually!)

I'm already beginning to look ahead to the day when my battery will wear out, and possible replacements. Maybe I can hold out long enough to hack it open and replace the battery myself...and replace the HDD with one of those nifty Samsung mini-IDE high-cap flash drives.

[angkor]

GTKpod does the job. Amarok detects it just fine and I'm able to play songs from my iPod but haven't tried copying or syncing from Amarok. Hate to have to go to a mac or windows computer to reformat the bloody thing.

ps @anyone else, please don't turn this thread into yet _another_ ipod vs. [other mp3-player] thread...I've seen enough of those...They're all perfect and capable....

[poofyhairguy]

GTKPod for now, but in the future Banshee will do the job best.

[wrtpeeps]

iTunes on windows \\:D/ \\:D/

[majikstreet]

gtkpod.

[xequence]

Ive got iTunes working in crossover.

But I quickly got rid of it as soon as I realised how slow it was... Its just as slow in windows too, so its not crossover holding it back.

And I dont have an iPod and dont want one ;)

[graabein]

I got my iPod pretty cheap from the east but I really wish I'd known about the iaudio (http://eng.iaudio.com/) players at that time. I'd much prefer one of those.

But at least my iPod works with gtkpod and Banshee so I don't have to boot :-# Windows to update the library!

[YourSurrogateGod]

mine's worked fine, and I have about 20 GB in oggs already. (I'm listening to one on the device now, actually!)

I'm already beginning to look ahead to the day when my battery will wear out, and possible replacements. Maybe I can hold out long enough to hack it open and replace the battery myself...and replace the HDD with one of those nifty Samsung mini-IDE high-cap flash drives.
What are those? Tell me more. What are the max sizes and prices?

[Iandefor]

YamIpod works pretty well.

[quietglow]

I think I've been through all of the possibilities twice. I think if I were just doing music, I'd get by with gtkpod and rhythmbox--though random losses of file databases are really annoying when you have ~100g of music. I try to keep up with about 30 podcasts, though, and that really complicates things. The truth is, there really isn't a good aggregator for Linux as things stand. Both CastPodder and its parent iPodder are too buggy to rely on IMNSHO.

My solution? I use iTunes in crossover and I sync my pod with gtkpod. I'd do the whole thing with iTunes, but I can't get 4.9 to sync with the iPod--man I'd love someone to tell me how to do that! Or how to install 6ish!

On that note, I'm in the process of putting together a website which would act as a forum for people using their ipods with OSS. There are lots of strategies and I think we could all learn from each others'. If anyone wants to help out with the PLEASE let me know--I have a whole slew of stuff that needs doin' :-)

[jyank]

http://gnomad2.sourceforge.net/

:)

[quietglow]

Edit: I just used "ergo" and "roxorz" in the same sentence...I think I've just won...not entirely sure what I won, but it has to be something.

Yes you have. And for all of you who don't know, endershadow has done an INCREDIBLE service for the OSS ipoding community in putting together an excellent script and HOWTO on getting our video ipods playin' video in Ubuntu.

[angkor]

Update...;)

Just installed the new Amarok 1.4 from svn using this howto (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=80492). After adding iPod support I'm loading up some tracks using amarok as we speak. So I figure I'll continue to test out amarok's love for the ipod for a while.

[Edward The Bonobo]

gtkpod...but I'm not entirely happy with it. Are you ready for a long story?

I've got an ancient, 3rd-world spec machine which is incapable of running a version of Windows that will run iTunes. This was a major motivation in converting to Linux. After a lot of trial and error, I got gtkpod to work (Hah! Nobody told me I needed to set up an iTunes database on a friend's machine first!).

So...where am I now?
- Very, very poor user documentation (Amarok's is a lot better). For example...I don't know what the ticks mean against each song.
- I accidentally added an album twice. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to delete repeated tracks (which iTunes does!). So...I tried 'Delete songs from iPod completely' and it said 'Feature not supported yet' So I'm stuck with having to hear every track twice.
- by far the worst thing It takes about 20minutes to read my iPod. I can't see how I can save the database locally. Then, if I want to do anything like look at a playlist, or click on a tab...it starts reading the whole thing again!!!! Is it me? Am I doing something I'm not meant to?

Amarok looks nicer, and I might give it a go. Can anyone tell me...
1) Will it interfere with the database I've already got? I believe there are big problems going back and forth between iTunes and gtkpod.
2) Will it work with video?
3) Most fundamentally for me...will it work in Xubuntu?

[Edward The Bonobo]

Oh...and I'm glad to see there's a fellow Pastafarian in this thread. Ahaaarghh, me heartie!

[gosh]

gtkpod.

I would love a mediaplayer with built-in ipod support, like amarok.
But I am not to happy with amarok.
Listen looked promising, but the builder temporarily pulled the plug because of licencing trouble.
Haven't tried banshee yet

[Suzan]

gtkpod works very well for me!

I've installed version 0.99, it's very good and can handle albumcovers and podcasts with it. To be honest, I like gtkpod much more than the horrible big fat
iTunes.