IPod and Mac OS9......Can It Work?

Question

I have an old imac with an operating system of 9.2. I plan in the near future to buy an updated computer but before i do that i would like to get all of my 800 songs that i have on my old computer's itunes software onto a new ipod. I have read that the only way that an ipod can sync with an imac is if the imac has isync software, software which is available only to 0S 10.x users.
Does this mean that i cannot get all of my files from my itunes (which by the way is version 2.0.4, the latest version for my operating system) onto an ipod? If this is the case, does anyone know how i can get my files transfered to my other computer, or somehow trick the system and get them on my ipod. I cannot fathom the idea of me just throwing out 800 songs with my computer. I have to have that music. PLEASE HELP ME, WHAT SHOULD I DO???????

Answer 1

I've been trying that too. First, what model iPod do you have? Clickwheel? Mini? Video? Nano? (or older?)
Is your iMac running? If so, there are ways to copy the files.
I also have an iMac - the 400 mhz iMac DV SE from 2000, running 9.2.2, iTunes 2.0.4.
I've never had any luck with using the IPod as an external HDD for copying files (of any sort) to/from an OS 9 system. I don't know exactly what the issue is. I've formatted my old iPod Clickwheel (4G, 20gig) as a Mac iPod. No luck, via USB or FireWire. I tried Windows format. No luck either.
Note: This is after enabling iPod as a disk - via the iPod's preferences pane in iTunes.
The iPod shows the "Do not disconnect" symbol when attached to the iMac, and System Profiler notices it, and shows it as an "USB: Mass Storage (iPod)"
So, I bet Apple hid it from OS 9.
At least, that's all I can think of.
If you want to sync the songs to the iPod for listening, you'll need to buy an old (1st or 2nd gen) iPod.
However, since you're about to get a new computer, you should just move the songs outright. If your iMac has a CD burner, use that. (if so, iTunes can burn you a MP3 disc). You can also use a USB Flash drive, or external USB or FireWire Hard Drive to copy them to the new computer, then sync iPod to that.
Remember that if you did sync up your iPod to one machine, you can't copy it onto another directly. This goes for any iPod or computer. You can copy the files themselves however, just not via iPod.
Sorry not to be able to help more, but I don't think there's any way to sync a new iPod to an OS 9 system.
Good luck,
-Dan
15" 1.67 Powerbook G4 (non-HiRes), Slot loading iMac DV SE   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   1G RAM on PB, 384 MB iMac.