I have a Sony MP3 which you just drag and drop files onto so don't know much about Ipods... I am taking some music round on an external hard drive for a friend to stick on their Ipod, is it simple? It has music on already but someone else put it on for her so not sure if it was with Windows media player or an apple one. Is it simple?
:help:

If teh IPod is Plug and Play compliant, simply plug it in and "sync" teh IPod in WMP, and then just drag and drop songs to it, and click "start sync".

I sort of assumed it would be like that but being apple I was not sure..

If it's an Apple IPod you'd probably be far better off using ITunes.

Tell him to buy a mp3 player that isnt gash.

Don't plug that iPod in just yet!
It's been a while since I really looked into it, but iPod's weren't Plug & Play and I doubt they've changed it.
If the iPod already has music on it from another computer, and your friend installs iTunes and connects the iPod it will wipe all the music from the iPod. An iPod is "paired" with an iTunes installation and if connected to another copy of iTunes, will wipe the iPod content (in order to try and prevent any copyright infringement).
There used to be a program called podutil (and there's probably many others) that will allow you to connect an iPod and access the part of the memory/disk on it where songs are stored and move/copy to/from it. If your friend has not yet installed iTunes, you can install such a program and retrieve content from the iPod. You can then install iTunes, add the music to the iTunes library, pair the iPod and transfer the music back.
You can then add the content from your hard drive in the same way.
If iTunes is already installed, it will need to be set to not launch when an iPod is attached, or perhaps even uninstalled.
I've not been for a while, but a site called ipodlounge (especially their forums) were a great source of knowledge.
Syncing with Windows Media requires (or certainly used to require) a third-party add-in which may well include the functionality that something like podutil provides - it may be your simpler option.
Obviously, with doing any of this you will need to obey any copyright law applicable.

Don't plug that iPod in just yet!
It's been a while since I really looked into it, but iPod's weren't Plug & Play and I doubt they've changed it.
If the iPod already has music on it from another computer, and your friend installs iTunes and connects the iPod it will wipe all the music from the iPod. An iPod is "paired" with an iTunes installation and if connected to another copy of iTunes, will wipe the iPod content (in order to try and prevent any copyright infringement).
There used to be a program called podutil (and there's probably many others) that will allow you to connect an iPod and access the part of the memory/disk on it where songs are stored and move/copy to/from it. If your friend has not yet installed iTunes, you can install such a program and retrieve content from the iPod. You can then install iTunes, add the music to the iTunes library, pair the iPod and transfer the music back.
You can then add the content from your hard drive in the same way.
If iTunes is already installed, it will need to be set to not launch when an iPod is attached, or perhaps even uninstalled.
I've not been for a while, but a site called ipodlounge (especially their forums) were a great source of knowledge.
Syncing with Windows Media requires (or certainly used to require) a third-party add-in which may well include the functionality that something like podutil provides - it may be your simpler option.
Obviously, with doing any of this you will need to obey any copyright law applicable.

iTunes will ask if you want to sync the iPod with the library on the computer. Click no and all the info on the iPod will remain intact.

Click on the ipod icon in the list in iTunes and make sure that "manually manage music and videos" and "enable disc use" are checked, and then press apply.

As you've enabled disc use, (so the ipod appears in My Computer), download sharepod (http://www.sturm.net.nz/website.php?Section=iPod+Programs&Page=SharePod) and upload the program to a folder on the ipod.

Run sharepod and - hey presto - you can now download all your playlists and files to your friend's computer. It won't get around DRM, but any non-protected files will play as normal.

In Itunes, make sure that you've set it to "keep iTunes folder organised" and "copy music to iTunes folder" (in the edit>preferences section). Now all you have to do is go to file>add to library, select the folder you copied all the music into and it will copy it all into the iTunes library.

Sorted.

Cool, information!! Well, we only got as far as coping music from one external hard drive to another.

Is windows media player a good option instead of Itunes? can you us both at once?

Cool, information!! Well, we only got as far as coping music from one external hard drive to another.

Is windows media player a good option instead of Itunes? can you us both at once?

I've never tried syncing with WMP. The iPod runs off the database files on it and iTunes, so I don't think WMP is an option - it's more for the drag and drop kind.

Still, Media Player sucks! iTunes is a much better option.

Cheers.

What was Itunes trying to copy when I added a media folder in it? I was hoping it would just scan the folder and add all the tracks to the libray like WMP does but it stared copying stuff as well as scanning! I guess I need to tinker with it really as it can't be that hard! In the mean time though feel free to answer. :)

itunes sucks. i mean.... it may be ok if you have a relatively small mp3 collection, like a few albums stored on a local drive. If you have thousands of mp3s and they're on a network drive itunes will go nuts and grind to a halt everytime you do anything.

I use yamipod, I'm a both loath to recommend it tbh because it crashes and locks up just as much as itunes does, but it's relatively small, doesn't require installing, doesn't load every time windows starts and you can just drag and drop files onto it without it indexing them, so it suits my needs.

Why not take the music on a memory stick and drag and drop into the persons music folder? They can then add the music to their iTunes library and add to their oiPod

(this is assuming they arent silly by having all their music stored on their iPod and use a back up to store it)

Cheers.

What was Itunes trying to copy when I added a media folder in it? I was hoping it would just scan the folder and add all the tracks to the libray like WMP does but it stared copying stuff as well as scanning! I guess I need to tinker with it really as it can't be that hard! In the mean time though feel free to answer. :)

That's the "copy files to iTunes folder" option in preferences.

Punk, I've never ever had a problem with iTunes being slow, networked or not! I have a NAS drive at work with about 400 albums on it, and that shows up and plays just fine!

They can't store all the music on the Ipod as it's only an old nano type one with out the colour screen.

So swicth off the "copy files to iTunes folder" option and it will just add all the album details and track listings to the library then plug the external hard drive in when she wants to copy stuff to the Ipod..(like WMP does) Sorry for being a spaz, sure if I look at it it will all make sense!
:)

Try yamipod or one of the host of Itunes replacements:

http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/home/

*edit* didnt notice yamipod mentioned earlier, never had any problems with yamipod myself, but i have moved on to a Zune after the death of my ipod.

Having never used one or anything made by apple I was just asking for information as don't want to wipe whats on it. I guess I won't need to now though as you so generously offered to replace it with something that you deem more suitable and you are obviously the font of all knowledge on such matters if your other extremely helpful posts on this thread are anything to go by!

Punk, I've never ever had a problem with iTunes being slow, networked or not! I have a NAS drive at work with about 400 albums on it, and that shows up and plays just fine!

On PC or Mac? If it's the latter I'd imagine it would naturally work much better on a Mac than it does on a pc. I just find it really clunky and slow on the PC and that's on a fairly recent dual processor system with a couple of gigs of ram.

I've never had any real issue with iTunes (on the Mac)... and it does always seem to be people using it on Windows that grumble. So maybe it's because iTunes is based on Quicktime? QT has always been a bit of a swine on Windows.

Versions 4 and 5 i seem to recall were particularly bad on Win98 machines. Not had many probs with 6 or 7 on XP, but then i probably don't deal with QT as much...



.

On PC or Mac? If it's the latter I'd imagine it would naturally work much better on a Mac than it does on a pc. I just find it really clunky and slow on the PC and that's on a fairly recent dual processor system with a couple of gigs of ram.

PC! :hihi: