ipod as harddrive between windows and mac?

[seebol]

Ok, I just got my ipod 4g. I also recently got an ibook. I'm looking to transfer all of my mp3s from my old Dell desktop to the ibook by using the ipod. How do I do this?

Warning, my dell is OLD! 350mhz, which i know is below recommended. Is there any way i can load files onto the ipod w/o the iTunes software? Because it seems to freeze up during installation.

As a last resort, would burning a data cd with all my mp3s on the dell produce a cd that my ibook could read?

Thanks!

 

[Mechcozmo]

Well, your Dell has only USB 1.1, so it will be painfully slow. Burn a data CD of your songs, and your iBook will read it just fine. Just a hint: AAC files are smaller than MP3s, and sound better too. They work better with the iPods than do MP3s. I do that because my iPod is rather limited in space, so do whatever you want.

 

[TDM21]

another option is to go down to the local computer store and pick up a crossover cable.

What is a crossover cable, you ask? Well a crossover cable is a regular cat5 cable, but a few of the wires are switched so when your computer sends data down the 2 sending wires the connector on the other end puts thoses wired in the recieveing end of the other computer.

In english: a network with 2 computers and a network cable. No hub, router, switch required.

Of course you have to have a network card in your Dell for this to work.

 

[hugemullens]

Well, your Dell has only USB 1.1, so it will be painfully slow. Burn a data CD of your songs, and your iBook will read it just fine. Just a hint: AAC files are smaller than MP3s, and sound better too. They work better with the iPods than do MP3s. I do that because my iPod is rather limited in space, so do whatever you want.

But whatever you do don't convert mp3's to AAC if you wish for quality sound. AAC is great, but its still compressed, so if you go from mp3 your just compressing an already compressed song, so it doesnt work out to well. But do rip all your cd's in AAC from now on, definetly worth it.

 

[janey]

on a sidenote, if you still choose to use your iPod...Windows cannot read HFS+ formatted drives and Mac OS X has NTFS read-only capability (or something like that, it might be read/sketchy write)...you'd be better off w/the network idea.
ethernet pc cards are like $10. cheap.