(I did not title this post with "software" in title, and there's a note below telling me the post was deleted by "reddit filters" -- ??)
Hi - Tonight I found my 2005 iPod Mini 2nd Gen (plus the charger thank god). I'd stored it away within its first year because I lost most of my hearing in one ear. Converting all my music to mono got very tedious and just didn't sound the same. I now have bone connecting cochlear headphones :) and have a Bluetooth thing to connect iPod to them. Oh, when I plugged iPod to the charger the battery still had 1/4 charge !! 20 years in a drawer. And the battery seems fine. Been listening for 4 hours by now and it's only 1/2 used. I realize that probably won't last. BUT -- I'd like to move some music off and on. I have a Windows 10 laptop and a Windows 11 laptop. Doing some research online led me to this advice:
1) Avoid the Microsoft store iTunes version, and if it's already installed, uninstall. Avoid the Apple Devices app. They both usually don't have legacy iPod drivers.
2) Install the "classic standalone installer" directly from Apple. This automatically installs the necessary iPod USB drivers.
I checked the links here, and this advice I've gotten might be at odds with the links list, given the first link is to Microsoft store for iTunes. Before I start this process, can anyone tell me if the above advice is good or not? I've further advice about moving music off of the iPod (finding the hidden files in order to delete them) from the same source, but I just want to start with adding.
Thank you so much!
~ An over-the-moon old woman (::ahem:: tech savvy since 1975) who has her music again!!