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iPod new iPod...Windows or Wait?

Vash

Vash

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 11, 2005
25
0
Wilkes-Barre PA
Hello,

I'm not sure if this is relevent at all, but I'll ask anyway. I just got my iPod photo today and am still waiting on the shipping of my Powerbook. Is it okay to sync my iPod with my Windows computer now to get all my songs/pictures, or is it advised to wait until I get my Mac so there's not (if there even are any) compatibility issues with switching over. I'm under the assumption that the iPod configures itself to the OS and stays with that. Hopefully you guys can dispell that. :)

Thanks again,
Vash
 
S

smurphur

macrumors member
May 31, 2003
54
0
Austin, TX
I think that iPods are configured to the OS, so if you put a bunch of songs on your iPod using Windows, as soon as you plug it into the mac you would need to reset the iPod to put anymore songs on there from your powerbook.
 
wwooden

wwooden

macrumors 68020
Jul 26, 2004
2,028
187
Burlington, VT
Actually, the Mac can read a windows formatted iPod fine, but a windows computer cannot read a Mac iPod. So you should be fine. Granted, you won't be able to transfer the songs from the iPod to the Mac without some third party software. Do a search on macupdate.com or versiontracker.com and you will find tons of programs to do that.
 
S

smurphur

macrumors member
May 31, 2003
54
0
Austin, TX
So, if you have a windows configured iPod with songs placed on it, a mac will be able to put more songs on the iPod? Cause I thought that the iPod for windows uses the FAT file system and for some reason I thought that itunes (for mac) would only write in the HFS file system, but I guess SAMBA or whatever OSX uses enables it to write FAT as well? That's pretty cool.
 
munkle

munkle

macrumors 68030
Aug 7, 2004
2,580
1
On a jet plane
Lets clear this up:

-Windows formatted iPod will work fine with both Windows and Mac OSX.
-A Mac formatted iPod will only work with Macs and NOT Windows.
-Most third party Mac software will work fine with a Windows formatted iPod, for example PodWorks works just dandy.

So why have a Mac formattted iPod at all? Some people will only use their iPods with their Macs so it's a moot issue, some say it's a more stable format , makes it easier to update new software if your main computer is a Mac and others just don't like seeing Windows in the 'About' menu ;)

Personally, even though I pretty much use my iPod exclusively on my Mac machines, I chose to format my Pod for Windows, just so I could use it easily as an external HD to share files between both platforms.

So to answer your question, go ahead and start enjoying your new Photo Pod :)
 
dornoforpyros

dornoforpyros

macrumors 68040
Oct 19, 2004
3,070
4
Calgary, AB
eh I had my windoze formatted iPod for about 4 months before I got my mac, then I went and formatted it for mac when I got my g5. No real harm done assuming you have all the songs backed up anyways.
 
munkle

munkle

macrumors 68030
Aug 7, 2004
2,580
1
On a jet plane
grapes911 said:
If you install the right drivers, you can get Windows to read/write HFS/HFS+.
Click to expand...

OK, won't work out of the box then.

And what drivers can you install to make your Mac Pod work with iTunes on Windows, without shelling out for an app like XPlay?
 
Vash

Vash

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 11, 2005
25
0
Wilkes-Barre PA
munkle said:
Lets clear this up:

-Windows formatted iPod will work fine with both Windows and Mac OSX.
-A Mac formatted iPod will only work with Macs and NOT Windows.
-Most third party Mac software will work fine with a Windows formatted iPod, for example PodWorks works just dandy.

So why have a Mac formattted iPod at all? Some people will only use their iPods with their Macs so it's a moot issue, some say it's a more stable format , makes it easier to update new software if your main computer is a Mac and others just don't like seeing Windows in the 'About' menu ;)

Personally, even though I pretty much use my iPod exclusively on my Mac machines, I chose to format my Pod for Windows, just so I could use it easily as an external HD to share files between both platforms.

So to answer your question, go ahead and start enjoying your new Photo Pod :)
Click to expand...


Thanks a lot, this really helped. I'll be sure to make the most out of it. =)
 
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