My I-Pod mini won't work anymore.

Today, my I-Pod Mini decided to delete everything from it. I had more then 1,000 songs on there. All it does now is display the folder w/ an exclamation point icon. It also won't let the I-Pod Updater restore it, nor will it let me format it. I'm going to send it to Apple so they can fix it. Is there anything else I can do to get it working again?

Don't send it in yet. Does Windows still detect it as a mass storage device? Get EphPod or any similar program that can get the tracks on the iPod back. Now, even if that doesn't work, reboot the iPod and hold action and rewind while the iPod is starting up. You'll enter the iPod's Diagnostic mode (move around the menus using rew and fwd). Search for "Diskmode" and press action and see what happens.

we see more ipods than anything else, so i dont exactly trust them. its awlays a good idea to keep backups.

it usally is not possible to recover and ipod. however most of the time ipod updater fixes the issue, but this wipes out any music you may have.

I wanted to get one but Seph's statement has made me wary. What kind of things screw it up?

usally the firmware update fixes it. however even then it is still the most common MP3 player with issues. they dont seem to take abuse well at all.

however the battery issue is not as bad as i thought, my original complaint about the ipods.

however if you meet the basic requirments most people never have problems.

you need OSX or winXP/2000, dont get an ipod is useing 98/me/NT. you MUST use the itunes software. its not like most MP3 player where it shows up as an external device and you can just drop and drag, you must use the itunes software.
you can use it for storage though.
dont get one if it is gonna be seeing lots of physical use, like jogging and sports. they dont seem to like alot of physical activity.

personaly i would get a standard MP3 player. same thing for less price and seems to last longer. like the creative nomad or samsung players.

Ipods are great for office and car use. and when taken care of will last. also the fact that the firmware update is very easy to do and adds features. the main problem is people dont know much about them and assume they can do things they cant or will work on systems and with software it cant. Ipods are great for massive music collections, but for most people a simple basic MP3 player will last longer and be much easier to use

I had this very same problem, but I always attributed it to me trying to reformat it to use ext3 instead. That was about a year and a half ago, and I have yet to figure out how to fix it.

Anymore, I've given up on it. My MD player works a hell of alot better and I like its features better, too.

Sephiroth said:

stuff

if I download music from iTunes, is it true only iPods can play it?

You don't have to use iTunes to manage songs on the iPod. There are other more practical alternatives to it and some are free (either as in speech or beer).

Wacky: probably, but it's also probably been cracked already.

i hate i tunes
goto:
http://www.limewire.com
good site.
nice p2p prog, written in java, so just dll or ocx ad´s. Fast!!!
you can get there tons of mp3´s and wma´s(don´t download wma´s [most of them have "Carnivore" from the fbi])

iTunes crashes all the time and requires Windows or Mac (don't have Mac, I hate Windows). There are many other management programs for the iPod... I personally use GNUpod.

anyway... can't think of what might be wrong with your iPod. Never had that happen to mine.

MikeRS said:

iTunes crashes all the time and requires Windows or Mac (don't have Mac, I hate Windows). There are many other management programs for the iPod... I personally use GNUpod.

anyway... can't think of what might be wrong with your iPod. Never had that happen to mine.

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I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my iPod, so I sent it to Apple and they sent me a new one a few days later. I'll have to try GNUpod, I hate how iTunes crashes all the time.

I recently started screwing with iPod and iTunes .. have to agree, I would much prefer a simpler MP3 player. It seems way too easy to screw up.

The only thing I like about iTunes is the Radio thingie .. I fed it my 50 GB music folder and it didn't even read the non-mp3 tracks :( Also gobbles up almost 10 MB of memory with useless background tasks, hooray!