i Pod classic problem playing music

muncybob

My niece gave me her old one years ago and I've never used it. Went on vacation to the Adirondaks last week(can't wait to return!) and I knew the cabin had an ipod dock so I loaded some tunes and took it with me. Could not get a single song to play. Either it would run thru a preview of the folder and at the end just do nothing or I could get a song to look like it's going to play but again nothing happened. Time to get a new player for the next trip or am I just that dumb?I guess I should add that yes, I did press the play button. the button would not put the song into play or pause so I'm guessing a hardware problem?

billbillw

Maybe a silly question, but did you use iTunes to load the songs or just transfer them via USB connection and File browser?

If you didn't use iTunes, that is your problem.

If you used iTunes, then its most likely the drive has errors. There are some diagnostics you can do to check the drive's SMART status. Some relevant discussion here:
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/5961/how-to-fix-an-ipod-classic-with-a-bad-hard-drive

Changing a drive is a fair bit of work, but it can be done for significantly less than a new iPod. I recommend getting a whole new case if you are going to open it. The Classic case is notoriously hard to open and usually ends up getting destroyed in the process. You can get fairly cheap front/back cases from Ebay (via China). I recommend getting a new drive from a US source though.

muncybob

I just transferred the files. Since I could connect the ipod to the pc and play them that way I figured I was good to go. As you can tell, I'm not a mp3 gadget guru! So, I download itunes and use that software to get my songs onto the ipod and I'm good to go?

billbillw

muncybob wrote: »

I just transferred the files. Since I could connect the ipod to the pc and play them that way I figured I was good to go. As you can tell, I'm not a mp3 gadget guru! So, I download itunes and use that software to get my songs onto the ipod and I'm good to go?

Yes, Install iTunes. Start the program, hook up the iPod. It will say something like "this iPod belongs to another iTunes library" (your niece's). It will prompt you to delete everything and sync to your current library. Once you do that, you just tell it to sync your library, or you can manually add songs. The songs have to be found by iTunes though, so just use the File>add folder to put songs in your library. iTunes can also be used to update the iPod software if needed.

BTW, for the iPod classic, I would recommend using one of the slightly older versions of iTunes. One of the iTunes 9 versions would be best. The newest versions are catered more toward the iPhones and iPads.

Here is 9.1.1
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1037

However, be aware that sometimes these old iPods get corrupted when you hook them to iTunes, especially if they haven't been synced in a long time. If you have problems, the best way seems to be erasing the iPod using windows file manager (format), then let iTunes restore it. There is a long, long thread here that has some tips if this becomes an issue for you:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2151907?start=0&tstart=0

Hopefully you won't have any issues. Good luck.

muncybob

Thanks! We were stuck all week litening to my wifes mp3 player that only had about 40 songs or so. Much as I like The Stones, I can wait awhile before hearing them again!