6

I have iPod nano 4th generation. I'm using Ubuntu Linux. There is no iTunes release for Linux. But I want to use as many iPod features as I can.

  • Importing music is simple, I can use almost any media player: Rythmbox, Amarok, Exaile, etc.
  • For importing calendars I've wrote custom bash script, which downloads ical files from Google Calendar and copies to iPod on mounting. This works fine.
  • Notes - almost the same: script for copy & paste.

But how I can sync podcasts and add audio books? If I transfer some podcasts or audio books as simple audio files, these files appears next to all music. It doesn't looks comfortable when shuffling around songs starts playing chapter from any audio book... iTunes also lets set custom parameters for audio files ex. play continuously (comfortable for audio books). How I can get these features on Linux? What software do you use with your iPod on Linux?

Improve this question

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
7

GtkPod will work, it isn't the most beautiful but it is functional.

Improve this answer
1
  • I've tried about 10 alternatives and found that GtkPod works best. I'm using it with gPodder - the best podcasting software for Linux.
    – Pawka
    Sep 17, 2009 at 6:55
2

You could try Floola. Banshee may work, I'm not sure about newer iPods.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    I had nothing but trouble with Banshee - to the point where it would randomly not recognize the ipod, or corrupt the db. Granted, that was a few releases back, but after a certain amount of pain you just avoid the cause of the pain.
    – chris
    Jul 16, 2009 at 2:28
1

Most music players in Linux support most ipod products (with the exception of iPod touch cos that is really a stripped down version of the iPhone).

You can checkout this article 10 Alternatives to iTunes for managing your iPod

Please be reminded that some applications such as Songbird requires additional plugin to support iPod.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    Support ends just after importing playlists and music.
    – Pawka
    Jul 16, 2009 at 6:57
  • yes you're absolutely right. there's no support for Nike+, no support for contacts, no support for synching photos, and a lot of other stuffs that iTunes can do.
    – segfault
    Jul 17, 2009 at 3:39
1

Songbird is quite good for the music management on an iPod.

Improve this answer
0

Amarok supports at least media syncing with iPods. I haven't used v2 but I do believe it's been imporved. When I ran linux I extensively used Amarok to manage my collection.

True it is a KDE application which means you'll need some additional libraries instaleld if you're using Gnome as your window manager but Amarok is the best music player I have used on Windows, Linux and OS X. I can't wait for the stable release for OS X.

Improve this answer
1
  • I've used amarok, until it releases v2. Anyway, it supports only music sync. No podcasts and audio books, as I've wrote before.
    – Pawka
    Jul 16, 2009 at 6:53

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .