iPod Shuffle (Silver)

My first Apple software product was Quicktime (when I desperately wanted to play .mov files) followed by iTunes  which was for testing the Podcast feed on a Website which I was involved in.

iPod Shuffle is not a new/latest device. Hence would refrain from writing a review. In a nutshell, I found it nifty and compact – in fact, it is the nirvana of compactness. The sound quality is amazing even at higher volume. The volume in turn was high enough, at its maximum.

I don’t regret it not having a display. I’m the sorts who can do away with looking at songs if I can hear them It clips on my belt tightly and I don’t fear it falling off (unlike my PDA).

Shuffle with Linux

Next, came the tricky part. How do I sync it with my laptop running Linux? I had some answers before I bought it. But obviously they were not tried and tested by me. What worked for me nicely was gtkpod. Installation was simple on my Fedora 9 desktop – “yum install gtkpod”.

I plugged in the Shuffle via the small(est) USB docking station. Fedora detected it and created a mountpoint and an icon for it on the desktop. But copying MP3 files straight to the mount point (or the device) did not play them.

Hence I fired gtkpod from Applications>Sound & Video>GtkPod. Gtkpod, very cryptically, started asking about my iPod model. Well, I know it is an iPod Shuffle but had no clue about its generation!. It gave me the option to select from first, second and third generation, along with the capacity (storage) and the color. After referring  to this Wikipedia article, I decided that, mine was definitely not the first generation which was a USB dongle shaped device.

Googling convinced me that the difference between the second and the third generation was some color options. I, finally, opted for Shuffle (3rd. Gen) > 1 GB Shuffle (Silver) (xB225).

The device started showing on the left pane of gtkpod. I selected the device and clicked on the menu File>Add Folder. Selected the directory which had my MP3s and then clicked on Save Changes (on the top). Right clicked on the device and selected Eject device. Warning Warning:  This, though expected, did not unmount the iPod Shuffle. Also the Orange light on the Shuffle kept blinking in the same way as it have been, ever since I plugged it to the USB. The Shuffle’s manual clearly says not to disconnect the device when the Orange light is blinking.

Hence, I right clicked on the desktop icon (mount point) and selected Eject. The blinking Orange light turned Green to tell me that now I can unplug the Shuffle and start listening to the MP3s.

I repeat again, the sound quality is amazing!