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iPod iTunes 7.2 and elderly (3G) iPods

iMeowbot

iMeowbot

macrumors G3
Original poster
Aug 30, 2003
8,634
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I ran into an odd problem with an old 3G (glowy red buttons) iPod with the new iTunes release, and figured it was a good idea to pass along what happened in case anyone else gets conzuzzlificated.

On syncing, iTunes told me that some huge number of tracks that always worked on there weren't compatible, and it helpfully deleted them from the iPod. On review, these were all locally ripped AAC tracks at fairly high bitrates.

Looking at the summary screen, it turned out that iTunes 7.2 thought this was an even more ancient iPod (1st/second gen), complete with the wrong icon, although it didn't see any problem with the software version.

On choosing restore, iTunes went ahead and downloaded the 2G firmware and installed it on the 3G. Fortunately, the iPod was willing to boot with this stuff loaded, but it came up in disk mode. At this point, iTunes did notice that it was really a 3G, and that newer software (that is, the stuff that was on there before all this happened) was available, so I went ahead and updated yet again. This succeeded.

Finally, the iPod was still stuck in disk mode, but a reset (hold down menu and pause for a few seconds) brought it back to normalcy. At that point both iPod and iTunes were back to their old relationship with regard to compatible tracks.
 
Thanks for this, it's good to know as I am planning to update my 3G ipod tonight and I have iTunes 7.2

I'll let you know if I get the same issue.
 
Asking among the minions, there were two more 3G units that iTunes 7.2 misidentified, and several more that seem to be unaffected. They were all built and bought around the same time (mid 2004), and there's no visible pattern to which ones were or were not affected. These are mostly used just for notes and disk storage, so iTunes can think whatever it wants.
 
Out of curiosity, there were three 'releases' of 3G iPods; the original 10/15/30 GB models, the middle 10/20 GB models, and the later 15/20/40 GB models. In each release, the lowest end model came with few accessories, while the top one or two models came with a bunch of accessories. (The 'higher-end' 15 GB model was available during the same time as the 10/20 GB models, but is generally considered to be a case of selling the 'leftovers' from the first release with a price reduction, and not an official part of the same 'release' as the 10/20 GB models. The later 15 GB model came with fewer accessories.)

Is there any matching of 'release' among those that don't work correctly vs. those that do? Or in format? (Windows or Mac.)

Mine that works fine is a Mac formatted original release 30 GB model.
 
All the 3Gs we have are the later 20 and 40 GB models (shortly before the 4G release). The manufacturing date codes and model identifiers in the serial and model numbers are the same for the units that were properly and improperly detected. All had the same 2.3 firmware beforehand.

But as noted in the first post, it's not that big a deal since in the end everything works.
 
Thanks for the information, i may wait before plugging my 3G in, atleast until the kinks are worked out with this. Don't want to take the risk.
 
I just wanted to update that my 3G/15GB sync'd fine today. I don't have any high bitrate music, though. Pretty much everything in my library is 128/AAC.
 
I had the same thing happen to me just with 7.0 though, I bought a 4g ipod with a broken HD and shifted it over, no problems since.
 
Same here...

My 5th gen 80gb crashes itunes when I plug it in. Have tried all the usual things, but to no avail. RELEASE ME FROM MY TORMENT STEVE, RELEASE ME! Newspapers and mindless chitchat on the bus is killing me!!
 
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