VoiceOver Installation Problems - ITunes unknown error (1701)

Question

Is anyone having problems installing VoiceOver on their shuffle? I have set it up and restored a dozen times and after downloading VoiceOver, I get an unknown error (1701) that it cannot be installed on the shuffle.
I have had the shuffle for 2 says and no VoiceOver...

Answer 1

Good question! In order to install the VoiceOver Kit, iTunes writes a version.plist into /Library/Application Support/iTunes/iPodVoiceOver.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ which specifies that Apple Software Update should make the VoiceOver Kit available to install on your machine. But if there's an error, iTunes deletes that plist. The commands basically do the same thing iTunes does; it writes that plist back where iTunes had it. Then, when you run softwareupdate --list, we can check which updates are available for your machine, and the VoiceOver Kit should be listed. If it's not listed, that's why you're getting the 1701 error.
One command at a time, the "set +H" temporarily disables the "!-style history expansion" of the BASH shell. We need this because the third command has an exclamation point in it. When you open a new Terminal window, this setting will be back to your default.
The second command creates the directory we're going to write the version.plist into.
The third command writes the version.plist into the directory we created. The contents of this plist are the same as what iTunes writes when you first go to install the VoiceOver Kit.
If you're fast, you can actually see iTunes create that version.plist in /Library/Application Support/iTunes/iPodVoiceOver.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ when you click Enable VoiceOver in the iPod settings and Apply. And then when you get the 1701 error, you'll see that iTunes deletes that version.plist.
Finally, softwareupdate --list just lists the available software updates for your machine; it doesn't actually install any. We want to examine that list!