iPod w/ external music library

[avonbank]

Help. I have a brand spankin' new 30G iPod and an older G3 Mac. Because of space limitations, I invested in a 120G external drive. It took a while but I figured out how to run iTunes from the G3 but to have it look for my library on the ex. drive. Problem is, iTunes does not recognize my iPod like it does on my eMac at work. There is an iPod button under prefs, but it says iPod not connected. Do I need different updates to my G3 (or iTunes) or is it the ex. drive that is confusing matters?

Avonbank

[ShavenYak]

If you don't have the latest iPod software (http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/) installed, try that first. If it doesn't work, reply with all the info about how the external drive and iPod are connected (Firewire or USB? Directly to the G3 or through a hub? etc) and someone will probably be able to figure it out.

[avonbank]

That did work, thanks! My previous attempt to load the iPod driver must not have taken. Now my new question: 2 computers with different songs, playlists, photos. Can I have both or just one or the other?

[ShavenYak]

Different songs and playlists to one iPod from two computers - yes, if you set the iPod to manually update songs. If it's set to automatic, it will always want to wipe out whatever you sync'd from computer 1 when you hook it to computer 2.

I'm not sure about photos - I'm not aware of a way to manually manage photos on the iPod, and I'm not sure whether it will erase photos from the iPod that don't exist on the computer when it updates. My guess is that it will, based on my experience from moving my stuff to my new Christmas present (Mac Mini). I copied the iTunes and iPhoto library, but not the iPod Photo Cache folder in the iPhoto library (figuring a cache could be rebuilt, and wanting to save time). When I plugged in the iPod, it updated the songs as if nothing was different, but it deleted all the photos on the iPod, went through the whole optimizing process, and re-uploaded them.

[avonbank]

Yes, that seems to be the case. Too bad it can't identify which computer it is syncing with, you know. We have 7 gigs of totally different music at home than the 10 gigs I have at work, and now on my iPod. My wife wants to do digital pix, but she'd have to do them at home, which would wipe all my songs from work. Thanks for the help, anyway!

avb