This tutorial will guide you in using Rhythmbox to manage your iPod in Ubuntu. The steps are specific to Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (7.04) and Rhythmbox 0.10.0.
Note: this post is part of the 10 Alternatives to iTunes for managing your iPod overview.
- By default, when you connect your iPod to your computer Rhythmbox will launch. If this is the first time you’ve used Rhythmbox you’ll be taken through a quick setup. If it’s not, you can skip down to step 7.
Click the Forward button to begin the setup.
- Choose the folder you store your music files in by clicking the Browse… button.
- Navigate to your music folder and click Open.
- Back at the setup window make sure your music folder has been selected and then click the Forward button.
- Now click Apply to finish setting up Rhythmbox.
- Rhythmbox will open and your music library will be displayed.
- To view the contents of your iPod, select it from the list in the left column.
- From here you can remove tracks from your iPod by right-clicking (ctrl-click for single button mouse folks) a song (or group of songs) and selecting Move to Trash. To add tracks to your iPod, go back to your music library, select the songs and drag them to the iPod listed in the right column.
- When you’re done updating your iPod and want to disconnect it, close down Rhythmbox, right-click the iPod icon on your desktop and select Eject. Then you can safely remove your iPod.
I’m really beginning to go in Love with Ubuntu.
And your tutorial + site are just great.
Dugg
Thank you for a very nice tutorial!
After I do step 9 (Right-click iPod icon -> Eject), how do I uneject without physically detaching ipod from computer and then reconnecting?
This method doesn’t work : Rhythmbox doesn’t build a database on the iPod, it just reads the content on it. So, the songs you transfer with Rhythmbox are unreadable.
Thank’s, this gide its great, you are great!
i just tried this – swear to god , it’s actually EASIER than running iTunes on XP.
it literally is a case of drag’n'drop onto your ipod. amazing stuff.
Are you sure it’s not that the files you’re downloading from the iPod are in Apple’s proprietary format (which won’t generally play elsewhere)?
Another way to eject the iPod is to right click it in the Device List on the left hand Window pane (Eject is one of the options). This has the same effect, but from within the interface.
I tried this method with my new nano 3rd generation and it trashed the database. I had to reset the ipod to factory defaults and reload the few songs I had in.
bob,
Here’s the answer: http://lilserenity.wordpress.com/2007/12/22/virgin-mobile-praise-ubuntu-and-ipod-nano-3g/
Ross,
Thanks for the info and the quick reply. The instructions on the site you gave me worked perfectly.
When I tried this I can see the iPod fine, I can also cerate a playlist, but I cannot drag and drop anything onto the playlist? Has anyone else experienced this?
J’ai beau avoir essayé plusieur fois rien na faire les musique ne veulent pas se mettre sur mon ipod
When I plug my itouch into my computer, it tries to open with f-spot photo manager. When I try to open it with Rhythmbox, it opens rhythmbox but nothing happens. Also, I don’t think my itouch is mounting properly because I do not see the ipod on my desktop.
Ross McKillop-
I went to the site you mentioned, but when I try to follow the directions to download the debian files, it says “530 This FTP server does not allow anonymous logins.” What do I do?
I have tried GTKpod, Amarok, Banshee and Rhytmbox with my Ipod Nano 16 GB on an Ubuntu Jaunty with various success. First, I ahd to turn off the journaling of the file system of the Ipod by using a friends MAC. You have to press the alt key do be able to do this in the disk utility. I had various success with the different media-managers. GTKpod worked really well to start with but always crashed sooner or later, made a mess of things. Although an old fan of Amarok I could not move files between my hard drive and the Ipod (Was not the old version of Amarok more intuitive?) Rythmbox seems to be able to both copy, delete and make playlists (I keep my fingers crossed). Also I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts and Rythmbox can download and transfer my favorite programs OK. I believe that some of the problems I have encountered can be explained by changing between the different media-managers.
Rhythmbox me dit qu’il faut avant de commencer quoi que ce soit initialiser l’Ipod, le probleme est que qd je clique sur “initialiser”, le fenetre disparait simplement et rien ne se passe… Pourriez vous m’eclairer sur la demarche a suivre?
merci beaucoup =)
Thank you very much
This tutorial was very helpful for me. I finally put my songs on my ipod
Anyone have any idea what I do if it doesn’t work to drag the songs? Can’t get this crap into my iPod.
when i dragg songs from my music collection to my ipod i get a warning saying something like this:
warning, can’t open it ‘/media/iPod van Hilad/iPod_Control/Music/F22/Mum – Green Grass Of Tunnel.mp3’: filesystem is only reading
how can I fix this?
I just got a new 16Gb Ipod nano (the one that makes movies). I can see its icon in Rythmbox, but it appears empty. That is not the case as it is full of stuff loaded via iTunes. I also tried to drag songs into the ipod icon. Nothing happens. It still looks empty in Rythmbox. Any idea why?
am i the only one this doesnt work for =[ idk why i plugged in my ipod and rythmbox never opened on its own… i then opened it myself and my ipod was nowhere on the list on the left =/ this is so frustrating
Same here, I can see my iPod in Rhythmbox, but it appears empty – while it is filled with iTunes stuff – and I cannot drag any music to it. Help!
I selected “safely remove device” and my rhytmbox won’t recognize the ipod afterwards, anything on this?