[Chulo]

Buy.com has the 4th gen HP iPod's at about $10 - $15 less than Apple and there's also a $15 coupon for puchases over $200. This gets the 20gig iPod about $35 cheaper and the 40gig about $26 cheaper. On top of that, they're shipped free. I'm not sure but there may even be some States where Buy.com doesn't charge tax.
My question is, can these be used witht the Mac or are they strictly formatted for Windows use only? I thought I could reformat it and use it with my Powerbook but I don't know if HP has done anything to prevent that or the reformatting would make the iPod unusable due to something proprietary in these particular models.
The prices are not bad so is it worth taking the chance??

[azdude]

Compatible? yes.

Supported? no. You're on your own, AFAIK.

[tooki]

Macs work just fine even with Windows-formatted iPods, no reformatting needed. (Of course, all iPods ship Mac-formatted. The first use on a Windows machine reformats it as FAT32.)

tooki

[tonton]

Originally posted by tooki:
Macs work just fine even with Windows-formatted iPods, no reformatting needed. (Of course, all iPods ship Mac-formatted. The first use on a Windows machine reformats it as FAT32.)

tooki

Sorry, Took, I'm pretty sure the HP iPod ships PC formatted. No?

[tooki]

Could be. Either way, it doesn't matter -- the Mac can either use it PC-formatted, or you can use the iPod Updater to reformat as HFS+.

tooki

[Nodnarb]

Originally posted by tooki:
Could be. Either way, it doesn't matter -- the Mac can either use it PC-formatted, or you can use the iPod Updater to reformat as HFS+.

tooki

You can use a windows iPod on a mac? I was trying to figure that out like a year ago but I read somewhere that apple said it is not supported and if it screws it up they won't do anything about it so I didn't even try.

I have an iBook and both my parents have PC's (and each have an iPod mini). They can sync their home library and then still hook up the mini to my comp. and be able to transfer songs?
And does it work the other way around? (Mac - Windows)

[tooki]

Remember that you cannot use an iPod to collect songs from multiple computers -- an iPod can only have songs sourced from one computer at a time. If you change the computer, it erases the songs on the iPod. You also cannot transfer songs from the iPod to a computer without third-party software.

tooki

[Graymalkin]

Originally posted by tooki:
Remember that you cannot use an iPod to collect songs from multiple computers -- an iPod can only have songs sourced from one computer at a time. If you change the computer, it erases the songs on the iPod.

If you turn off automatic updating you can get songs off as many PCs as you'd like.

[maxx9photo]

I have the PC iPod 2nd gen 20GB, and when I bought my PB a month ago I almost sell the iPod but fortunetely I could use it with my PB. What you need to do is get the updater from iPodlounge.com and from there install the software and etc. Mine is working flawlessly and I saved money on not to buy new iPod even though I like the slimmer current model but hey they all the same just to store my music collections.

[mkral]

works fine! I have a 40 gig hp pod & use it with my 12" ibook. No problems at all. I got mine from hp for the same reason. some place was selling them for $50 off. No problems whatsoever.

[Chulo]

I want to thank everyone for there comments, views, suggestions and sharing your experiences. I think I'm going to take the chance and go for it. It looks like now is the time to buy since I'll be saving the extra money.