I know this has been asked before......

Hello. I know this has been asked before, but I'm still not 100% sure if I know everything I need to know. So just hear me out and post any advice you have:

My dad is thinking of getting an iPod mini. He currently uses a PC with Windows XP at work, which he'll use to transfer songs to it. However, he plans on getting a Mac later on, which he'll use at home. I have an important question: After the iPod mini has been installed on his PC, and he's transfered a bunch of songs to it, can he use it with his new Mac? Does he have to reformat the hard drive, and if so, would the songs disappear from the iPod mini if he did? And most importantly, after he's made the switch to Mac, can he continue using the iPod mini with his PC?
Please post any info regarding this issue.

Also: Does he need to purchase a dock, or can he still add songs and recharge the iPod mini without one?

Yes, this has been answered several times...
Anyway, once again:
A PC formatted iPod can be used by both, the PC and the Mac. A Mac Formatted iPod can only be used by the Mac. This is due to the file format, The PC formats in FAT32, which Mac OS can read and write. The Mac formats in HFS+, which only Mac OS can read and write.
Nevertheless, I don't think you can sync songs on both computer, as iTunes doesn't allow that. Am not really sure of this though, as I never tried it.

Hope this helps... :headphone:

That's correct: Your iPod can only be attached to one library at a time, meaning he can't sync to the PC AND Sync to the mac. One of either.

Regardless of which computer he uses it with first, you can always change the formatting of the iPod later, but if he uses it with his PC first and then plugs it into his new mac, the mac will read & write to it, but will delete the existing songs if he choses to sync with the mac.

He could however just copy the songs off the onto the iPod through windows explorer, copy them back onto the mac and then add them to the macs iTunes library and then sync them that way.


So either way, it's no big deal!

Hope this helps too!

Okay, so can you upload songs directly from an iPod to a computer?

Apple set it up so you could not but there are work-arounds. Here's a tutorial:http://www.ipodlounge.com/articles_more.php?id=5090_0_8_0_M.

One more question: Can you manually remove songs from an iPod without having to go through Autosync?
P.S. Thanks for the tip. I decided to go to VersionTracker instead, though.

Autosync does not take songs off of the iPod

It does if you remove them from your library. Is there a way to manually remove songs from your iPod without having to do that?

Set your iPod to manual sync.
You can then drag and drop music on and off your ipod with no hassles.

The Trooper said:

It does if you remove them from your library. Is there a way to manually remove songs from your iPod without having to do that?

Click to expand...

I didn't make my response clear enough. I was trying to say that iTunes does not take songs off of the iPod and put them onto iTunes if they are not there

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. What I'm asking is: can you manually remove songs from your iPod (not add them to your computer), without going through Auto-Sync? If you're using manual sync for more control over what songs get added, but you've added a song that you don't really like or you're running out of space, is it possible to use iTunes to erase songs on your iPod?

Yes you can erase songs off your iPod through iTunes when you have autosync off

how? Is it similar to opening a playlist and dragging tracks to the trash?

Click on the song on the iPod and click delete

thanx. :mac: :yinyang: :headphone