Love my new iPod, hate iTunes.

[deucemagnet]

I mean, sweet bald-headed Jesus, do I ever hate iTunes!

I guess I just need to RTFM, but I hate it when I plug it in to charge it and iTunes "updates" it. (Translation: iTunes deletes everything I've moved off of my hard drive.)

I want to punch that Mac guy in the throat right now.

[Pierre.Suave]

1. Sorry but...

LOL.

[slj0101]

2. try e-music instead.

It's a subscription service, but you can't beat 30 downloads a month for $9.95.

http://www.emusic.com/

edit- okay, it may not help your technical problem, but I thought I'd throw the plug in anyway. I love that place. :)

[deucemagnet]

3. I think I almost have it figured out.

I just have to find the summary tab and switch it to "manually manage music and video". Of course, I'm on the correct page and I see no summary tab. I'm glad Apple made this so user-friendly.

[NYCGirl]

5. eMusic, though, does not offer any major labels. Just indies. NT

[NYCGirl]

4. Here's the instructions:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61148

[deucemagnet]

8. Thanks for the link.

That's exactly what iTunes help told me to do, but I can still locate neither the "summary pane" nor the "summary tab" that they're talking about. :banghead:

[NYCGirl]

10. Are you using a Mac or PC? On my Mac, the "summary pane" and tabs come up

on iTunes when you plug in the iPod, the page that contains your serial number, etc.

[deucemagnet]

11. I'm using a PC.

When I click on my iPod in "devices" on the left, I get two tabs, "contents", which contains the songs, and "settings", which contains the serial #, etc. Nowhere is there a summary tab nor any option to manage music manually. I dunno, maybe that option isn't available for the iPod Shuffle. I think I'm going to have to break down and register my device so I can log onto Apple chat help.

[NYCGirl]

12. Okay, then I can't help. I have a Mac (with OS 10.4) and a Nano, so I guess

the devices are different.

[deucemagnet]

13. Thanks for your help!

:hi:

I'll work this out. It's just frustrating.

[mondo joe]

16. Here's a graphic of the summary - hope it helps

http://www.apple.com/itunes/sync/summary.html

[deucemagnet]

17. I don't have that. (See screenshot below.)

Apparently, I'm not the only one having this problem with the second generation iPod Shuffle. I just found somebody posting on the Apple tech assistance boards who was experiencing the same problem. Failing a slick technical solution, I suppose I'm just going to have to be sure that my iPod isn't charging when I launch iTunes.

No summary tab, just settings and contents:

[Phillycat]

20. Where it says "only update checked songs" under "options"

You could do that. With my ipod, there is another line under that that says "Manually manage music", which must be unavailable for the Shuffle. But the "checked songs" option will work for you. :shrug:

[deucemagnet]

21. Yeah, I'm going to give that a shot.

[mondo joe]

15. I bought my daughter a shuffle. We adjusted the settings so it wouldn't

automatically update. (In fact, we just created a playlist for her in iTunes and move that into her shuffle anytime we make changes to it.)

[MissMillie]

6. you can set your preferences so that you don't

automatically update whenever you're plugged in.

[Lady Effingbroke]

7. Anapod Explorer looks like a good alternative to iTunes.

http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/featpw.php

It is shareware, which is why I haven't used it ($20 to $30 depending on the features you want), but it seems to be a well-regarded program from all the reviews I have read.

[deucemagnet]

9. I'll definitely check that out.

I'm hating Apple right now. :grr:

[mondo joe]

14. Just change your settings.

I only ever do manual updating.

[itsmesgd]

18. sorry, I've drunk the apple koolaid

I'm not even going to tell you how much I have spent on downloads in the past year, but I have come to use the itunes to manage all of my umpteen podcasts that update daily.

I hate technology and would gladly give up my cell phone today, but I'd stomp a dozen puppies to keep my ipod.

[bikebloke]

19. Go manual

I couldn't see keeping all my CD's on my hard drive. After loading them into my iPod, I'd delete them. If for some reason I need to load them again, it's easy.

[deucemagnet]

22. I can't do that (see post #17)

Just one sentence in the help file that says, "The option to manage music manually is not available for some iPod Shuffle models" would have saved me a lot of headaches!