Windows tunes-to-iTunes?

[mongoos150]

Sorry guys, I looked all around and didn't find an answer.
I just bought a new iMac and want to copy my music files from my WinPod ( I use EphPod) into my iTunes library. How do I do this? Also I don't want to switch my WinPod to a MacPod and hear pluging it into a Mac will automatically convert it. How do I simply put my tunes from my WinPod to my iTunes library without changing anything?

[mike273]

I'm not a Mac user, but think I'm right in saying that OS X can read FAT32 drives (ie a Windows iPod) natively. So if you copy the music files over to the iPod (note - don't add them through EphPod, but actually physically drag and drop them to it) and then plug it into your Mac, you'll be able to copy them over that way.

But don't try this without confirmation from a Mac user. Either way, I'm surprised you've kept it as a WinPod with one of those lovely iMacs to use, but hey, it's none of my business.

[mongoos150]

Well, you're right it is lovely, but for now I'm too busy discovering all of these cool iApps!

Can someone confirm for me Mike's advice? I know I could put the mp3 files on the iPod hdd and transfer them over, but would plugging the iPod into the Mac do anything rash like format it?

[caterinka]

I've never tried what you're talking about, Nick, but I'm pretty sure that the iMac won't attempt to reformat your iPod unless you run the updater.

I believe PodMaster is one of the better utilities for moving tunes from Pod to iMac, but once again this isn't something I've ever attempted.

[tntracy]

Yes, Macs can read from and write to FAT32 formatted disks, including a Windows formatted iPod. However, some users have reported problems using a FAT32 formatted iPod ongoing with iTunes, while others have had no problems.

The first time you plug your iPod into a Mac, it should ask you first if you want to automatically sync music from iTunes to the iPod. Select no unless you want iTunes to replace everything on your iPod with whatever may be in your iTunes music library. So, while it won't automatically "reformat" your iPod, it will automatically replace everything that is already on your iPod with what is currently in iTunes if you do not select manual updating.

I recommend selecting manual updating regardless, as it provides you with the most control over what is (and isn't) copied to your iPod. Plus, with manual updating, you can manually select what to delete off of your iPod from within iTunes. But, that is my personal preference.

As for utilities to copy music off of your iPod back to your Mac, I haven't had a need to do this, but there are several choices: among them are PodMaster (already mentioned), XPod, and iPod.iTunes. The last one, iPod.iTunes, claims to do a complete "reverse sync" - copying all music and playlists back off your iPod and putting them all directly into your iTunes library. You may want to do this first, verify that everything is in iTunes, then use the iPod Updater to reformat your iPod to HFS+, then use iTunes to copy everything back to your newly formatted HFS+ iPod. That is what I would do if I was planning on continuing to use my iPod on the Mac.

All of these utilities can be downloaded from the the iPodlounge Downloads pages (http://ipodlounge.com/downloads.php).

Tom

[mongoos150]

Well guys I plugged the iPod into the iMac and iTunes came up, I got scared, but it didn't convert my pod to mac form (yay). It was interesting that the iPod came up in the sources menu and I could play music off the iPod, yet still not comverting it into a MacPod. iTunes is very smart! Anyway in the HD I just copied my mp3 files over (after putting them in the iPod on my PC through explorer) and it worked great. Thanks a lot guys. Now I just have to decide whether to use my new Mac to sync with or my existing PC. I don't want to change things around, I am happy with my current setup, but iTunes is just too cool!