does the shuffle or any ipod have plug and play capabilities?

[iamabanana]

hi everyone im a new user here and am planning on buying a new mp3 player soon and seriously considering buying something from the iPod line.

I've been looking at 20g iPods for the last year now but right now im checking out the 1gig iPod shuffle and have a question.

Everywhere i read file transferring for the shuffle (and all the iPods for that matter) is always done using iTunes software which i am comfortable using but the problem is not many windows based computers do not have it installed. If i were to plug a shuffle into a computers usb port and go to My Computer folder would the shuffle come up as an (E:) drive/whatever or would it simply not show up at all like most mp3 players that come with their own software.

Basically, does the shuffle have plug and play capabilities? do any of the iPods?

i am guessing no but am not sure so that is why i am positng . This may have been posted before but i am new here so please give me a break. I am just wondering because this would allow me to save files on an iPod and than open/save them on my homedrive at school or at someone elses computer as if the shuffle were a usb key. It would also allow me to take files from a different computer home with me


Thanks everyone,
-iamabanana

[siliconjunkie]

Yes, iPods will show up as a drive letter in Windows, but you must enable "disk mode" in the iTunes software on the iPod tab. Once you do this, your iPod will show up as a removable drive (on *any* computer it is attached to, regardless of iTunes being on the host machine), just like any other external storage device. It should be noted, however, that you cannot simply drag and drop music onto the iPod in this manner (well, you CAN, but the player won't recognize it). Music must be transferred onto the iPod using a supported app (iTunes/iPod Agent/MusicMatch/etc) that can write to the library file. But you *can* drag and drop any kind of files (including MP3s) onto the iPod for storage.

[iamabanana]

so basically if i want to i could go on someone elses computer with the ipod shuffle and drag any files in or out of it on my computer but just wont be able to listen to them. But once i get back to a computer with itunes i can get itunes to do its thing and i will be able to listen to them as well as save any other documents etc. that i kept on it on my computer. my response idnt really turn out as simple as i intended but that sounds great. Still not so sure abot the whole no screen thing but im relaly starting to give it a close look.

Thanks for the reply,
-banana

[siliconjunkie]

so basically if i want to i could go on someone elses computer with the ipod shuffle and drag any files in or out of it on my computer but just wont be able to listen to them. But once i get back to a computer with itunes i can get itunes to do its thing and i will be able to listen to them as well as save any other documents etc. that i kept on it on my computer.

Exactly