[ iPod

This summer I brought back from the US, my iPod which I'd bought new in 2005 or
so. Unfortunately when I plugged it in, it went weeEEEEEE *CLICK* weeEEEEEEE
*CLICK* over and over again. I decided to replace the internal hard disk with
an SD card, and that was an adventure in and of itself. The two issues I
faced were:
1.) Formatting
2.) Syncing music

I decided to go with 64Gb, which is better than the original 20Gb. I was not
able to get macOS 15.x (Sequoia) or 10.6.x (Snow Leopard) or 9.x to recognize
the device, but what finally did work was iTunes on Win10. Using it I could
then format the iPod and sync music to it. This was both issues resolved for
the time being, but I didn't want to use Windows.

So then I tried Ubuntu, but the only program I could get to sync music was
Clementine: https://www.clementine-player.org/  And that might only have been
because I installed Rockbox on the iPod. I also tried Rhythmbox and gtkpod on
Linux, but I couldn't get either to sync music.

So I decided to go back to MacOS. Other Mac users out there probably know about
Opencore Legacy Patcher, which allows versions of MacOS to be installed on
machines that aren't officially supported. I used it to get Ventura (13.x)
installed on a machine that probably has no business running it. But run it it
does, and on a mere 4Gb of RAM. On that machine I tried connecting the iPod
again - it was recognized and I could format it and sync music again.

I have a small iPod collection, truth be told. My first was the 1st gen click
wheel model, which I bought new in 2003. At the time, no one knew what an iPod
was (Japan was still using MDs.) I had previously used a Rio (LGR has a video
on it on youtube) and then a Sony Clie. Both used expensive, small capacity
media, and both had pretty bad software. The Rio's battery door broke, and its
parallel interface stopped working. Sony's memory sticks eventually made me say
goodbye to the CLIE.

I see around the WWW that iPods are en vogue again. I guess it's for a number
of reasons, but for me it's a way to listen to music without distractions.
Ordinarily I use youtube to listen to music at work, but work is such a coma-
inducing bore that I easily get pulled in to watching videos, like the student
who gazes out the window during class.

Have a pleasant weekend.