iPod without iTunes?

October 6, 2007 8:56 PM

Is the standalone iPod software (that is, ex-iTunes) no longer available for Windows? If not, where can I find an old copy of the Windows install software?

I want Windows to recognize my iPod (2G mini), and I don't want to install iTunes. Unless I am mistaken, once upon a time the iPod update software and iTunes were distinct programs; at that time I had the vanilla iPod software on my computer and Winamp worked beautifully with my iPod.

This is a newish Windows machine. I'd like Winamp to manage my iPod.

posted by Kwantsar to computers & internet (7 comments total)

You're probably looking for an older iPod Updater.

Try some of these here: http://www.ipodwizard.net/showthread.php?t=7369

You only need one, of course, but I'm not sure which one's best for that particular ipod.
posted by codger at 9:16 PM on October 6, 2007

The last ipod updater (June 28 2006) is still available here, but it's now been integrated into iTunes. Your mini is probably old enough to be OK to use this.
posted by rfs at 9:17 PM on October 6, 2007

Brilliant! Thank you both for the great answers. I feel stupid for not finding the program on my own.

Looks like when I replace this iPod, I'll have to replace it with a non-Apple device. Which seems odd, as I thought Apple embraced those who want to think different and avoid crapware like iTunes.
posted by Kwantsar at 9:26 PM on October 6, 2007

Not exactly what you're looking for, but Floola is an iTunes alternative for the iPod.
posted by mkultra at 7:08 AM on October 7, 2007

Not sure about this, but do you even need to install any software to get an iPod working with non-iTunes software? AFAIK, if your iPod is in disk mode and it pops up in 'My Computer' (together with your hard drives, disk drives, etc.) and you can browse it's contents it should work with Ephpod / WinAmp / Floola / whatever.
posted by husky at 8:52 AM on October 7, 2007

Note that as of the nano 3G/Classic/Touch generation, it's no longer possible to use anything other than iTunes (and soon GtkPod for Linux) to access your iPod. You can thank Apple for the lockdown. Now that someone's been able to reverse-engineer the new iPod-iTunes hashing algorithm, it's possible other programs will be updated to suit, but who knows how long that will take (or which programs will never be updated—I'm looking at you, Anapod Explorer).
posted by chrominance at 12:07 PM on October 7, 2007

chorminance, there are a couple other programs that can successfully deal with the updated iPod hashes: J.River Media Center v 12.0.3xx and Winamp 5.5 beta build 1550.
posted by sprocket87 at 11:03 AM on October 8, 2007