I'm gonna frickin' kill myself, I swear to god. So I got an iPod shuffle not too long ago. But you can't format it or install iTunes on Windows 98. Fine. I went to my friend's house and formatted it on her XP. I got a pop up saying that the iPod is ready for use. So I come home and I want to put songs on it through the iPod plugin for winamp. But 1) the plugin is not configured because it doesn't have a device to be configured for, so it says, and 2) When I went to Control Panel and selected Add New Hardware, it searched for devices and found iPod, but said it had a problem, and that it's got no driver file. Did I not format it correctly? Do I have to go over my friend's house and re-do it? God help me, I'm so frustrated, I've had this thing for like, 3 weeks and still haven't been able to use it. I hope I haven't messed my iPod up. Someone help me.

I dont understand much about iPods, but I know the OS's have 2 different file structures, FAT32 ( win98 and XP ) and NTFS mainly on XP an 2K. I'm curious if the iPod formatted on an XP machine would reflect such a thing, possibly your problem, possibly.

Unitam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant

"but I know the OS's have 2 different file structures... NTFS mainly on XP an 2K"

Wha... ? You are allowed to choose NTFS, FAT32 etc in XP or 2K (even FAT16, if desired). Disk size is a factor.

Don't think that has much to do with iPods though (your faulty logic has undermined your entire philosophy)

Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne

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My iPod doesn't show up!

Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne

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;]

Cool you know about the file structures but you didnt give this guy an awnser.

[snip]
My iPod was initially formatted for Macintosh (HFS+), but Windows can’t read HFS-formatted volumes. So before transferring over my music library, I plugged the iPod into a Windows system, ran the setup software on the install CD, and reformatted the drive for Windows.

While most features on a Windows-formatted iPod work flawlessly on both Windows and Mac OS systems, there are a few small drawbacks to formatting an iPod for Windows. This is because the iPod software, by default, chooses to format the iPod’s hard drive as FAT 32.

[/snip]

http://www.notmike.com/archives/2004/10/crossplatform_i.html

I think it could be the format, possibly Jess.

Unitam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant

iPOD specifications state:

Windows system requirements:

PC with FireWire or USB 2.0 port, or FireWire or USB 2.0 card

Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or Windows XP Home or Professional

Does not show any official compatibility for W9x !!!! could this be part of the problem incompatibility..........

Also found this:

Can I take a friend's iPod shuffle and browse or play its content on my machine (like I can with other iPods)?

No, there is no manual mode that allows you to view or play the content from a friend's iPod shuffle on your computer. This also means that you cannot load music from multiple computers or iTunes libraries onto iPod shuffle like you can with other iPods.

Without going throught the supplied links (my kids have blown my monthly usage and I'm hobbled at half dialup speed), the Ipod is an USB device. It should be recognised by windows as a removable drive. But only if the correct drivers have been installed for the USB.

Once the drivers, chipset if onboard or supplied with the add on card, have been installed, all you should need to do is plug the Ipod into a USB port and it should be recognised. Other software provided with the Ipod might enable you to graphically organise the files.

If the Win2K or higher drivers don't work on Win9x then I'd say Jess should do everything from his/her friend's house where there is a compatible OS installed and stop being frustrated about it. Accept it as it is.

(Boy, that reads like a Dear Abby column:)

Bryan

Yep you're our Dear Abby columnist :-)

i_XpUser

http://win98.drivers.w.interia.pl/ipod.html