is this the end for trusty old ipod?

January 11, 2006 12:06 PM

Is it possible to get a first generation iPod to work on a PC that has a firewire port? If so, how would one go about doing this?
posted by kaseijin to Technology (4 answers total)

Just plug it in. I used to use some utility, whose name escapes me, before iTunes for Windows was released, but iTunes solved that problem.

What kind of firewire port are you using? 6 pin? 4 pin?
posted by bshort at 12:19 PM on January 11, 2006

Absolutely. I bought a Firewire card for my PC, downloaded iTunes, and ran the iPod updater to reformat the iPod for PC usage. Works like a charm!
posted by daveleck at 12:20 PM on January 11, 2006

Best answer: Yes It's possible, that's what I'm using. The only drawback is that during the update process, the ipod will be completely erased so make sure all your music is safe before starting.
Steps:
1: Go to the apple website and download the update software. make sure you select the Windows version of the updater.
2: Plug your ipod on the pc and run the updater.
3: Restart the computer.
4: After rebooting, double-click on the "My computer" icon and then right click on the "ipod" icon and select "Format". Format the ipod in "Fat32", NOT "NTFS".
5: Download and setup Itunes.
6: You're done.
posted by McSly at 12:24 PM on January 11, 2006

Before you invest too much, check out your firewire card. I have an old one as well (mirovideo DV200), and it turns out that it can't be used as a generic 1394 card, even though it all looks the same to me. I recommend some googling first.
posted by MrZero at 7:19 PM on January 11, 2006