Synchronizing Laptop iTunes to iPod

Question

I just received a 5th Gen iPod from my girlfriend, who performed the initial setup using my laptop, importing her iTunes library and synchronizing her library and playlists to the new iPod before giving it to me. I then went through the process of "validating" the music in the Library, and created my own series of playlists. When I try to synchronize the iPod, nothing happens. The following is the sequence of events:
1) Started laptop.
2) Initiated iTunes.
3) Connected iPod.
4) iPod says "do not disconnect"
5) iPod "do not disconnect" goes away, and iTunes "recognizes" the iPod in about 2 minutes, and "George's iPod" appears on the left "Source" list, complete with new Playlists.
6) A check of the Playlists shows the existing playlists as initially installed.
7) Click on "File" and "Update Songs on George's iPod".
8) iTunes program says ""updating iPod, do not disconnect", and iPod responds with "do not disconnect" and the slashed circle symbol.
9) After about a minute, the "do not disconnect" messages go away.
10) Check the Playlists again, and there's no change. The update didn't happen.
11) Did the whole sequence again, highlighting "Library" as the source, then again highlighting "George's iPod". No change.
12) Rebooted Laptop.
13) iPod shows "do not disconnect", and iTunes launches on laptop.
14) Click on "File" and "Update Songs on George's iPod".
15) "do not disconnect" appears for about a minute on both iPod and iTunes screen.
16) Check iPod playslists again, no change, no update.
If someone can tell me what I may be doing wrong, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Answer 1

It sounds like you're using USB 1.1 or something. Always use FireWire on a Mac if possible, its just better. Other than that, you should check what encoding format your songs are in. If they are in AIFF, WAV, Apple Lossless, or some other HUGE format then obviously it will take a long time. If most of your songs are in AAC or MP3, then they shouldn't take long to transfer as long as you are using FireWire (or are 100% sure that you are using USB 2.0)
If this isn't the case, then restart your computer and reset your iPod by pressing the center and menu buttons for 6 seconds. Other than that, I'm not sure what could be causing your problem.