ipod's (or other mp3 players) and Fedora

[Todd Zullinger]

Kevin Kempter wrote:
> I have Fedora 10 x86_64 running as my main (only) OS on my laptop I
> travel with. I'd like to get an ipod or similar device.
>
> I've heard a few things about ipod's - can anyone verify if this is
> true:
> - that a new ipod has to be 'formatted' on a mac or windows box
>   before use

I don't think that this is required, but I honestly have not setup a
new iPod on Fedora recently.  So don't take my word for that.

> - that the ipod database is somehow hashed so only itunes can write
>   to it

This is true.  Starting with the iPod Classic and the video Nano's,
there is a hash required to be written for the iPod to read the
database.  This hash was reverse engineered fairly quickly and the
iPod apps in Fedora can write it.  (This requires a little manual
setup for the current libgpod, which is used by amarok, rhythmbox,
gtkpod, and several others, notably not including banshee.  I hope to
fix this up and push an update for F-9 and F-10 sometime soon though.)

Newer iPhone's and iPod Touch models with firmware 2.x and above have
yet another hashing scheme.  That one has not been reversed engineered
yet, so those devices do not work with linux yet.

It's fairly clear that while Apple makes some nice hardware, they are
quite hostile to linux users with the games they've played.  I'd look
closely at alternative hardware if I were in the market.  The sad fact
is that a lot of other hardware out there still sucks. :)

> Also I'm looking for any suggestions per mp3 players (or ipods) that
> play nice with linux (Fedora 10) and what tools you'all are using to
> move your music around.

My brother got a Sansa Fuze recently.  I added files to it by just
copying them to the device, which was automatically mounted by Fedora
when I plugged it in.  They seem like nice little devices.  I haven't
played with it much though.

-- 
Todd        OpenPGP -> KeyID: 0xBEAF0CE3 | URL: www.pobox.com/~tmz/pgp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief
that one's work is terribly important.
    -- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

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