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Severed Hand of Skywalker · Apr 30, 2003, 12:34 PM

Since it works with Mac and PC it is either a Windows formated disk (which sould suck large for data backup). Or, when you first plug in the iPod it asks you and formats it then.

Anyone know?

Agasthya · Apr 30, 2003, 12:47 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Since it works with Mac and PC it is either a Windows formated disk (which sould suck large for data backup). Or, when you first plug in the iPod it asks you and formats it then.

Anyone know?

You're right. It ships from the factory as a Mac formatted iPod and then when you plug it into a PC it asks you if you want to format it.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Apr 30, 2003, 01:16 PM

Originally posted by agasthya:
You're right. It ships from the factory as a Mac formatted iPod and then when you plug it into a PC it asks you if you want to format it.

How did you find that out?

tikki · Apr 30, 2003, 07:27 PM

Why can't Apple just write some kind of software ala xPlay so an iPod can work on both windows and mac?

I Bent My Wookiee · Apr 30, 2003, 07:29 PM

Originally posted by tikki:
Why can't Apple just write some kind of software ala xPlay so an iPod can work on both windows and mac?

Well a PC formated drive will work on a Mac but if you save Mac software to it then it is screwed. Plus why bother with emulation and translations.

Agasthya · Apr 30, 2003, 07:37 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
How did you find that out?

From AppleCare KB
As shipped from the factory, iPod's hard disk is formatted as a Mac OS Extended format (HFS Plus) volume. When you connect iPod to a PC, iPod for Windows 2.0 software reformats the disk using the Windows (FAT32) format. If iPod does not appear in MusicMatch the first time you connect it after installing the software, the disk may be still formatted as a Mac OS Extended disk. You can check the disk format in the About Screen in the Settings menu. If it does not say "Windows" then reinstall the iPod software and check again to make sure it formatted the disk using the Windows (FAT32) format.

Heres the link

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61903

tikki · Apr 30, 2003, 07:38 PM

Originally posted by I Bent My Wookiee:
Well a PC formated drive will work on a Mac but if you save Mac software to it then it is screwed. Plus why bother with emulation and translations.

Just the ability to take my Mac iPod, plug it into a PC and listen to the music would be a nice feature. Especially when I am on campus.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · May 1, 2003, 01:19 AM

Originally posted by tikki:
Just the ability to take my Mac iPod, plug it into a PC and listen to the music would be a nice feature. Especially when I am on campus.

You can stick the earphones in your ears and listen to it infront of any type of computer.

fnj · May 1, 2003, 07:20 AM

So, just to clarify, you cannot go back and forth between a Windows machine and a Mac?

I ask because my desktop is WinXP while my laptop is an iBook. Most of my music currently resides on the desktop which has the larger hard drive.

tikki · May 1, 2003, 08:04 AM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
You can stick the earphones in your ears and listen to it infront of any type of computer.

Thanks for the tip, Mr. Obvious.

Eug · May 1, 2003, 09:29 AM

So, just to clarify, you cannot go back and forth between a Windows machine and a Mac?

I ask because my desktop is WinXP while my laptop is an iBook. Most of my music currently resides on the desktop which has the larger hard drive.

I do this with my Firewire laptop drive. FAT32 works (but is not ideal). Ideal is HFS+ using MacDrive on the PC. I transfer video files back and forth between my TiBook and XP desktop this way.

I don't know what this means for the iPod though since I don't have one.