iPod Cover Flow doesn't work for iPod library

I've seen someone complain about that before on the forums. It's just not an option. It might have something to do with the fact that the artwork is stored remotely on the relatively small drive.

BTW, how do you enable this view of the iPod contents?
Is it restricted to the computer it syncs with? I always get a message saying it'd have to be formatted with other computers.

TWLreal said:

What gives?

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Its just not an option. In the future, please replace IMG with tIMG, and /IMG with /tIMG for large images, like I have done here

The music is on your iPod and it might be too much work for USB to handle transferring that many images at once.

TWLreal said:

So, wait, Cover Flow simply does not work on any kind of iPod?

I never knew that.What do you mean?

That's the default view of the iPod library with the default column settings. I just added the music browser using the button on the bottom right.

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I believe its because Album Art is stored on the iPod and when your view whats on your iPod you are view the actual files. The problem is that USB is not fast enough to load the images without significant lag, thus making it imposible to view the coverflow properly on the computer.

As I said, I believe if it is due to a limitation, it would be due to the iPod's harddrive.
USB harddrives have no trouble with coverflow. People run their Minis off Firewire 400 drives and USB 2.0 isn't that much slower.
EDIT: Regarding my question, I never realised that you could inspect the contents of an iPod like that.
What's the need for CoverFlow anyway, surely any media on the iPod is stored on that Mac anyway?

TWLreal said:

I have two separate libraries.

A large one on my desktop computer and a small one on my notebook. My iPod has both libraries.

But yeah, I don't intend to browse my library with Cover Flow but I didn't know it was normal behavior to not be able to do it with your iPod.

What about iPod nanos? Flash memory is faster than a spinning 1.8" drive in large iPods. Can they do Cover Flow?

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Nope, It might also be because Apple thought all the music on your iPod is on your computer and you would listen to it from your computer, so why would you want to run coverflow in iTunes from your iPod..

TWLreal said:

Some of us use iPods by themselves and sometimes plugged to a computer.

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I have all of my stuff on my Mac Pro, and none of it on my MacBook Pro. my 80 gig ipod syncs with my MP, and when I want to watch or listen to something when I'm on the road on my MBP, I just plug in my iPod through USB.

TWLreal said:

Because it gives me an arguably better way to browse through my iPod library from my notebook when I don't want to have a lot of songs taking up HDD space.

Some of us use iPods by themselves and sometimes plugged to a computer.

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Yeah I know that but I was saying thats what Apple might of been thinking.

TWLreal said:

I've been pondering on this.

The iPod can output 640x480 videos to a TV or your computer but they can't figure out how to show a small JPG for your music library?

That's kind of odd.

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It's hardly "a small .jpg". Some people prefer high resolution pictures of which there could be hundreds. iTunes doesn't automatically load all of them anyway so it would have to keep rechecking the drive.

It's not necessarily the speed capabilities of the device. Keep in mind how much strain this would put on a li'l iPod drive.