The digital dust is kicked up in my eyes, again.

October 11, 2006 9:30 PM

I have a 28.8 connection and an iPod that I want to restore and update. Screwed?

A little background:
On the same day that Steve Jobs announced the new version of 5G iPods and 2G Nanos, I lost all the music on my 4G Photo iPod. It retained all the files I had saved on it as a hard disk but all the music in their appropriate folders was gone and unrecognized in iTunes. Or was it?

With the newish version of iTunes (7.0, as opposed to 7.1), I now get a nice little graph of all the things on my iPod. After manually deleting the files the iPod kept and replacing all the music it lost, I now have 9.87GB of "Music" and 9.51GB of "Other". It doesn't tell me what "Other" consists of, it only shades "Other" in a pretty orange. I have a real suspicion that it's my missing music files, but I can't find where they might be located.

The actual problem:
In reality, all my mp3s were backed up on dvds, so I don't care to recover what was already on there. I do want to give Joya (the iPod) a clean start and completely restore her. This is where it gets complicated, as iTunes doesn't recognize my internet connection and there's no longer an option to just download the iPod updates. I have 28.8 dial-up - Is this just too slow for iTunes to recognize? (These program updates are too huge for my connection already.) It wouldn't be the first time this happened to me. Apple Help is no help.

posted by fujiko to computers & internet (11 comments total)

Can you take your iPod to a local Apple Store? You can usually hook your own iPod up to one of the display computers and run the updater on it from there.

Also: try enabling "Show hidden folders", or something similar. That should open up access to your actual music files, if i remember correctly.
posted by ofthestrait at 9:48 PM on October 11, 2006

The nearest Apple store is 126 miles away in Columbus, OH. Hidden folders are shown by default and there's nothing immediately indicative of an answer within these folders.

This is a WinXP computer, if it matters. I just noticed I neglected to mention that.
posted by fujiko at 10:09 PM on October 11, 2006

Since this seems to be an iTunes (rather than an iPod) glitch, you might try the Apple forums for iTunes (Windows). Use the search window and include as many terms as you like (e.g., "dialup," "lost files," "restore," etc.). In my experience, there are many knowlegeable, helpful people on the forums.

If you have no luck with existing threads, log in with your Apple ID and start a new one. Good luck!
posted by rob511 at 10:33 PM on October 11, 2006

I was going to suggest that you go here and download the updater yourself, but Apple says that the latest ipod updater is included in itunes 7, which you can get here.
posted by rfs at 10:43 PM on October 11, 2006

Why don't you just format your iPod? I'm assuming its windows format, iTunes should recognize it as a blank iPod and do the rest.
posted by mphuie at 12:47 AM on October 12, 2006

You have a DVD burner on your computer, but only a 28.8k internet connection? That hurts my heart.

Your best hope might be sneakernet: get someone to download iTunes and any relevant iPod updaters, burn them on a CD, and mail them to you. It would certainly be faster than trying to download the programs yourself.
posted by bcwinters at 7:52 AM on October 12, 2006

P.S. I also only have a 28.8k internet connection at home, and have had success downloading pretty big stuff overnight - but we're talking around 18 hours here. It's doable if you don't mind having your phone tied up that long (overnight and while you're at work the next day?).

Lately I'll drive 30 miles to an internet cafe for large downloads. The one I go to has desktop systems that rent for cheap - just bring a flash drive.
posted by rfs at 8:29 AM on October 12, 2006

Sorry, I miscalculated - you should be able to download the updater in 6 hours.
posted by rfs at 8:42 AM on October 12, 2006

Time to find a friend with a computer. Let him let you update on his, then uninstall iTunes. Your best bet...have someone dl the program, or even bring a cd over...have them burn iTunes to it.

Or you know...get cable or DSL.
posted by PetiePal at 10:29 AM on October 12, 2006

Fill out one of these and I'm sure some kind soul can spare 52 cents postage. Hell, I'll do it if you email me the pdf.

Otherwise, the sneakernet is almost certainly your best bet.
posted by Skorgu at 12:39 PM on October 12, 2006

I'm going to spend tomorrow on a university pc trying to finagle a way to get this fixed. If not, then Skorgu, I'm probably going to take you up on your offer.
posted by fujiko at 5:06 PM on October 12, 2006