[ender]

I'm trying to help a friend who was excited to recently receive a 4th Gen iPod as a gift from her husband. The problem is that her computer is running Windows ME, and iTunes won't install on her it. She has USB, but isn't sure if it's USB 1 or USB 2. (It's a desktop, so I'm assuming she could install a Firewire PCI card if necessary.)

I know there are several options for software that would allow her to transfer her music to the iPod, but I don't know which one to recommend she try. Also, my understanding is that new iPods get reformatted to a Windows disk format the first time you connect it to iTunes for Windows. If that is true, how would she get her iPod reformatted without using iTunes?

This is her first experience with an Apple product, so I want to make sure it is a good one. Any suggestions, recommendations, and tips greatly appreciated!!

[OSX Abuser]

Upgrade or downgrade from windows ME

[ender]

Originally posted by OSX Abuser:
Upgrade or downgrade from windows ME

Thanks, but I'm kinda hoping for a little less expense, and MUCH less hassle, than a system upgrade would entail. Upgrading Windows isn't exactly a trivial matter and would likely cause far more headaches than it would solve. I know there are third-party solutions out there, like Xplay and anaPod, that look like they may work for her. So I'd like to learn which of those solutions would work best in her situation.

[Person Man]

Originally posted by ender:
Thanks, but I'm kinda hoping for a little less expense, and MUCH less hassle, than a system upgrade would entail. Upgrading Windows isn't exactly a trivial matter and would likely cause far more headaches than it would solve. I know there are third-party solutions out there, like Xplay and anaPod, that look like they may work for her. So I'd like to learn which of those solutions would work best in her situation.

Well, that assumes that the third party programs will recognize the 4th generation iPod. There is now a disincentive to producing third-party solutions now that Apple's iTunes works on Windows. Good luck finding something.

Also, the best experience will be had by using iTunes, which requires Windows 2000 or XP. It will not run on 95/98/ME.

[ender]

Originally posted by Person Man:
Well, that assumes that the third party programs will recognize the 4th generation iPod. There is now a disincentive to producing third-party solutions now that Apple's iTunes works on Windows. Good luck finding something.

Also, the best experience will be had by using iTunes, which requires Windows 2000 or XP. It will not run on 95/98/ME.

Some of the third party programs say that they are compatible with all iPods (I think they may simply treat them as external hard drives). I'm hoping to learn if anyone had a good experience with a particular product she could try (or bad epxerience with one to avoid!). I don't have a Windows computer to experiment on, otherwise I'd test out a few before recommending one to her.

[Nacente]

Windows ME is the worst Windows of all.

[StevenWRX]

friends don't let friends use WindowsME

[ender]

Originally posted by StevenWRX:
friends don't let friends use WindowsME

I guess she has it running, and once you have Windows running stable, you really don't want to mess with it! Besides, she didn't want to install XP. Understandably, she doesn't want MS to have that much control (nagging, intrusion, interference) of her computer.

I told her to just go buy a PowerBook!

[Eriamjh]

Originally posted by ender:
I told her to just go buy a PowerBook!

I think she should use this iPod as an excuse to by a new Mac (at best) or a new PC with XP (at worst).

[webb3201]

I have had good luck with this one:

http://www.mediafour.com/products/xplay/

BTW, whatever she does, she really needs to get off of WindowsME. That is by far one of the worst brands on Windows when you consider security and stability issues.

[Luca Rescigno]

She won't have a good experience, because she is using ME. It doesn't matter. That OS just sucks the life out of everything.

I swear. Running WinME is kind of like trying to get by with OS X Public Beta with 64 MB of RAM. If she refuses to upgrade then it's her fault if things don't work. XP Home is under $100 for an OEM copy - pick one up and install it!

[ender]

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
She won't have a good experience, because she is using ME. It doesn't matter. That OS just sucks the life out of everything.

I swear. Running WinME is kind of like trying to get by with OS X Public Beta with 64 MB of RAM. If she refuses to upgrade then it's her fault if things don't work. XP Home is under $100 for an OEM copy - pick one up and install it!

Yes, we are starting to lean towards that OS upgrade option. May even go whole hog and get a Firewire card, too!

[MrForgetable]

EphPod for WindowsME
pop in the CD that came with the iPod, delete "update.exe" and click Restore.