How do I fill an iPod that has more capacity than my laptop hard drive?

August 24, 2005 9:08 AM

I have a 60gb iPod but alas, only a 40gb hard drive on my primary (Windows XP) machine. Do I have any hope of ever having a full iPod?

I thought that if I selected "only update selected playlists", then added the additional music to the selected playlist, I could fill the iPod, deleting songs from the laptop as necessary. When I try that, then update the iPod, everything but the selected playlist is deleted.

Is there any way to just add music, without iTunes eating my existing jams?

posted by Optamystic to Technology (19 answers total)

Songs aren't deleted from the iPod if they are deleted from iTunes. [I am pretty sure that's how it works, double check me though].

So you can rip CDs (or get digital tunes in whatever way), sync them up to your iPod, and simply delete them from iTunes.

It'd be really nice if you could play songs from the iPod, but that doesn't seem to work for me.
posted by teece at 9:13 AM on August 24, 2005

I second that. Once you've loaded your songs into iTunes, load up your iPod. Then just go to the folder in iTunes on your computer and delete the files. You'll still have the songs on your iPod.

The only downside to this is that you can't burn those songs to a CD once you've deleted them from your hard drive.
posted by Atom12 at 9:21 AM on August 24, 2005

Response by poster: Yes, but the next time I update my iPod, the songs that I deleted from iTunes will be deleted from the iPod. I just tested it. Could I have misconfigured something?
posted by Optamystic at 9:22 AM on August 24, 2005

You want to turn off auto-updating (synchronising? I forget) completely (this might be disk mode) and then just drag and drop any new songs you rip onto the iPod. And you can play direct from the iPod - I just plug it in, open it in iTunes and I can play what's on there no problem.

My iPod's a 20gb 2G, but I'm sure that doesn't make any difference.
posted by corvine at 9:26 AM on August 24, 2005

to clarify, drag and drop from your iTunes library to the iPod within iTunes. I'm sorry I can't be more specific as to the actual option you need to turn off auto-updates at the moment - I'm at work and have no iTunes access. I've always done it the drag and drop way as I use my iPod with two computers which have different iTunes libraries.
posted by corvine at 9:30 AM on August 24, 2005

An alternative to setting it to manually synchronize is put forward here, second question.
posted by awesomebrad at 9:31 AM on August 24, 2005

Get another hard drive. They're not that expensive, especially if you were able to afford an ipod in the first place.
posted by angry modem at 9:32 AM on August 24, 2005

Don't delete the songs from iTunes, delete the music files from the iTunes folder. When you synchronize, you'll get a "iTunes could not find some files" warning, but it'll let you continue.

That said, the iPod really isn't designed to work this way, and you should get a bigger hard disk.
posted by cillit bang at 9:35 AM on August 24, 2005

Archive your less frequently played mp3s to DVD/CD, and use a tool like EphPod to manage your iPod.
posted by togdon at 9:46 AM on August 24, 2005

Seconded on the hard drive. You could get a 160 GB drive for $80. link
posted by srburns at 9:58 AM on August 24, 2005

Yeah, get a new hard drive. Far more worth it in the long run.
posted by SweetJesus at 10:09 AM on August 24, 2005

As togdon says, if you use Ephpod (or any number of itunes alternatives) you won't run into the synch problems you are encountering.

Only itunes prevents you from retreieving files from your ipod using your computer. Ephpod will allow you to copy selected mp3s from the ipod to the computer for burning or whatever else you might want to do.
posted by jeffmik at 10:28 AM on August 24, 2005

To clarify corvine's suggestion: In the iTunes preferences, click the iPod and set it to "Manually Manage Songs and Playlists".

That's it. Easy peasy. No need to muss around with anything else. Just drag songs from your Library onto your iPod when you want to add them. Deleting them from your computer won't do *anything* to the iPod.
posted by bcwinters at 10:32 AM on August 24, 2005

In the iPod Options box, choose "Manually manage songs and playlists". Then just drag whatever music you want to the iPod icon in iTunes.
posted by aneel at 10:33 AM on August 24, 2005

I found the winamp plugin for the ipod much easier to use than iTunes, especially in regards to unsynchronized lists, multiple computers, etc. I would suggest trying that out. Then you can continue adding files without removing the ones that are no longer on your computer.

(Sorry, no link...work blocks access to winamp.com.)
posted by undertone at 11:00 AM on August 24, 2005

Absolutely it's stopping the synchronising, as many people have said. I keep music on my iPod that at home I listen to on CD b/c there's just not enough room. I do everything manually, and sometimes at home I just plug the iPod into my puter and listen to it through there.
posted by scazza at 12:25 PM on August 24, 2005

If you have a DVD drive on your PC, you might be able to burn an 8gig dual layer DVD for some extra content.

If you want to be really twisted, you could store a bunch of your songs on the iPod just normally then add those to iTunes. They may well then sync back onto the iPod properly.

Assuming XP eats 10Gig of your drive and you have room for 30Gig of MP3s on the hard drive plus 8Gig on a DVD you could store 11Gig of MP3s on the Ipod and loop them back onto it through iTunes.

Or if you don't want to buy a new hard drive you could just borrow a friend's. You probably know someone with a 40+Gig USB hard drive that they can temporarily empty for you to fill your iPod.

Of course, all of these solutions make managing files tricky. Your best bet is to just buy a new hard drive, either internal if you have a spare spot or external if you don't.

(Also, you say "Primary" XP box. You can have your MP3 collection spread across a network...)
posted by krisjohn at 5:30 PM on August 24, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks for the great answers everyone. I failed to mention that the machine is my work laptop. Therefore, getting a larger drive is impractical.

I think I have enough information from the answers provided here solve my problem. EphPod looks like a good place to start.

Thanks again.
posted by Optamystic at 2:07 AM on August 25, 2005

If getting a new drive (even an external) isn't an option, try Anapod Explorer. Not only do your synch problems end (meaning you can store all your music on your iPod without keeping it on your laptop), but you can also stream music off your iPod (meaning you can store all your music on your iPod and still listen to it on your laptop, should you so desire). It's also a much nicer interface (IMHO, anyways) than the nagging nanny that is iTunes, though if you're lazy and like how iTunes does all the work for you, then Anapod isn't the solution you're looking for.

Downside? It costs money. I think there's a trial version so you can see what you're getting.
posted by chrominance at 10:29 AM on August 25, 2005