Possible to not update iTunes on my computer?

[terrywang]

Hi,

I am new to ipods. I just got a a used ipod touch 3rd generation. It has iOS 5 on it. So my ipod has the latest software, but my computers have older software so when I connect my ipod to my computer, it says that I need to update iTunes. But I can't update iTunes without having to update everything on my computers and I don't want to do that.

Is there anything I can do? I thought I could manually copy music files to my ipod with Dropbox, but now that my music files are on my ipod from Dropbox, how do I get them play or get them into my iTunes library on my ipod?

[Cold Irons]

Basically, you gotta use iTunes to put music on your iPod. Just copying the files into the iPod storage is not enough to get them to show up as songs that can be played. What other software would you have to update to get an updated iTunes?

[kornchild2002]

Some third party software might work for you but iTunes is (still) currently the only computer program that can sync music, audiobooks, ebooks, movies, music videos, photos, and apps (which is a big one) to your iPod touch. You would be better off getting the necessary updates for your PC in order for it to work. I am a little confused as to why you can't run the latest version of iTunes as it requires a minimum of Windows XP SP2 (which you should be up to SP3 if you are still using Windows XP) or OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard) along with Safari 4.x (which even supports Tiger). Both of those are old operating systems but the latest version of iTunes fully supports them.

[terrywang]

Thanks for the inforamtion. I am using a really old Mac OS. 10.4. For me to update, I then have to update all my Adobe software which will be hundreds of dollars. I was hoping to not have to do that since all that is working fine for what I need, but I guess I'm going to have to eventually.

So there is no app that works kind of like iTunes and will play music files that are stored on the ipod?

[kornchild2002]

No. There are 3rd party apps that will sync to your iPod but none that can fully replace iTunes. Mac OS X 10.5 should support your adobe software and buying that OS on disc will be really inexpensive since it is so old. Lion (10.7) and Mountain Lion (10.8) are going to be problematic but, if you are using OS X 10.4, your system won't be able to run anything beyond Snow Leopard (10.6) if your Mac has an Intel processor (since it would be a 32-bit chip) or Leopard (10.5) if it uses a PowerPC processor. Both Snow Leopard and Leopard can run PPC programs on Intel hardware. So compatibility with your older Adobe programs shouldn't be an issue.

Another option, if you have a Mac with an Intel processor, is to install Windows XP via Boot Camp and use that to update to the latest version of iTunes. You can put all of your media on an external hard drive formatted using the FAT32 file system so that both Mac OS and Windows can read it.