Can I use my old iPod mini with my new Chromebook?

November 19, 2019 11:54 AM

I have a very old iPod Mini and a new Chromebook. I would like them to play well together.

Last night I plugged the iPod in and the Chromebook recognized it, but numerous attempts to drag files to it did not work. Then I manually deleted some files that looked like they were the music on the Mini, but that didn't work either -- the music was still there after I disconnected. I then chose the "format" option for the USB drive portion of the Mini, but after doing this, now the Mini displays only the Apple logo and the folder with an exclamation point and the direction to go to their support site. Oops.

Is there an app that I can load on the Chromebook that will let me drag mp3s to the Mini? Or did I just bork it?

It is not possible to download iTunes onto the Chromebook, apparently.

posted by fiercecupcake to Technology (3 answers total)

You may have just borked the music database. iPods aren't truly drag and drop, unlike other music players. They need an app to generate an on-disk database that corresponds to your music. There were apps to do this on Linux years ago, but it's unlikely they'll run on a stock Chromebook.

If you've got access to a desktop machine, you can install the Rockbox firmware on your Mini. It will then behave as a true drag and drop player. It won't have the same UX as the iPod Mini used to have, but it will allow your unsupported-by-Apple-since-forever Mini to play again.
posted by scruss at 1:44 PM on November 19, 2019 [2 favorites]

From my previous answer to a very similar question

https://www.techjunkie.com/itunes-chromebook/ has a pretty good description of the options. Basically, with a Chromebook you're buying into the Google universe, and storing all your music in Google Play.
posted by blob at 9:28 PM on November 19, 2019

Response by poster: I realize now that I should have said, I don't have any music in iTunes, and I've been out of iTunes/Apple since...2009ish? So I don't care about putting old music on there, just music I've acquired in the meantime that's completely outside of the Apple environment.

I'm going to try Rockbox this weekend when I have access to a desktop; that seems the most promising so far.
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:50 AM on November 20, 2019