iPod Classic Won't Sync with iTunes
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2021 3:20 pm
Apple has recently discontinued supporting the iPod Classic. That means that you can no longer sync the iPod with the current version of iTunes. I thought I would relate my experience with how I managed to sync my iPod Classic with new music that I added to my library.
After I discovered that Apple no longer supports the iPod Classic, I found MM and thought I would give it a try. I found some directions on how to sync my iPod here:
https://www.mediamonkey.com/sw/webhelp/ ... zation.htm
At the time, I couldn't connect my iPod to iTunes so I decided to not perform the initial steps outlined in the procedure linked above. I imported the music from my iTunes folder into MM. I was impressed that the ratings using the 5 stars was imported into MM because I know that these ratings are not stored in the tags of the music files. I was disappointed that my "smart playlists" only imported into MM as a list of songs. I noticed that MM has "autoplaylists" that seem to be like smart playlists. I decided that at some point I might have to manually convert my list of 400 smart playlists to autoplaylists.
I had some initial success syncing a few new songs so I decided to sync the whole iPod. I got a prompt to set up the "Sync List" on MM and I set it up to sync my music files and playlists and nothing else. My import of iTunes into MM consisted of much more than would fit onto my iPod. When I synced my iPod, MM insisted on importing everything that was imported from iTunes instead of what I selected on the "Sync List". I ended up corrupting the iPod firmware because everything would not fit. I discovered too late that you can cancel the sync by right clicking on the status bar at the bottom of the screen and selecting "Cancel".
At this point I decided to try installing an old version of iTunes. I downloaded iTunes 12.11.0.26 (64 bit). I don't recall which site I downloaded it from but it is available here:
http://www.oldversion.com/windows/itune ... -26-64-bit
The installer would not install because it said I had a more current version of iTunes already installed. So, I uninstalled iTunes and cleaned up the registry by using the registry cleaner from CClean (I don't know whether the cleaning was necessary). Then I installed iTunes 12.11.0.26 (64 bit). I connected it to my old iTunes folder and connected my iPod. My iPod did connect and I clicked on the "Restore" icon. To my surprise, this version of iTunes downloaded version 2.0.5 of the firmware that I needed and it fixed my iPod. Then I synced it with iTunes 12.11.0.26 successfully.
I followed the directions on this site to prevent iTunes from updating:
https://www.technipages.com/disable-app ... ate-screen
After syncing my iPod, I found this site that says it will update firmware of Apple devices although I have never tried it:
https://iosindex.com/
It would be nice if MM could update the iPod firmware.
After I discovered that Apple no longer supports the iPod Classic, I found MM and thought I would give it a try. I found some directions on how to sync my iPod here:
https://www.mediamonkey.com/sw/webhelp/ ... zation.htm
At the time, I couldn't connect my iPod to iTunes so I decided to not perform the initial steps outlined in the procedure linked above. I imported the music from my iTunes folder into MM. I was impressed that the ratings using the 5 stars was imported into MM because I know that these ratings are not stored in the tags of the music files. I was disappointed that my "smart playlists" only imported into MM as a list of songs. I noticed that MM has "autoplaylists" that seem to be like smart playlists. I decided that at some point I might have to manually convert my list of 400 smart playlists to autoplaylists.
I had some initial success syncing a few new songs so I decided to sync the whole iPod. I got a prompt to set up the "Sync List" on MM and I set it up to sync my music files and playlists and nothing else. My import of iTunes into MM consisted of much more than would fit onto my iPod. When I synced my iPod, MM insisted on importing everything that was imported from iTunes instead of what I selected on the "Sync List". I ended up corrupting the iPod firmware because everything would not fit. I discovered too late that you can cancel the sync by right clicking on the status bar at the bottom of the screen and selecting "Cancel".
At this point I decided to try installing an old version of iTunes. I downloaded iTunes 12.11.0.26 (64 bit). I don't recall which site I downloaded it from but it is available here:
http://www.oldversion.com/windows/itune ... -26-64-bit
The installer would not install because it said I had a more current version of iTunes already installed. So, I uninstalled iTunes and cleaned up the registry by using the registry cleaner from CClean (I don't know whether the cleaning was necessary). Then I installed iTunes 12.11.0.26 (64 bit). I connected it to my old iTunes folder and connected my iPod. My iPod did connect and I clicked on the "Restore" icon. To my surprise, this version of iTunes downloaded version 2.0.5 of the firmware that I needed and it fixed my iPod. Then I synced it with iTunes 12.11.0.26 successfully.
I followed the directions on this site to prevent iTunes from updating:
https://www.technipages.com/disable-app ... ate-screen
After syncing my iPod, I found this site that says it will update firmware of Apple devices although I have never tried it:
https://iosindex.com/
It would be nice if MM could update the iPod firmware.