iTunes 9: iPod classic syncing issues persist

November 23, 2009 8:00 am

Categories: Guides Extra Tags: Apple, ipod classic, itunes 9

Update: Apple has just released iTunes 9.03. Has it fixed your iPod? Tell us now!

When iTunes 9 slipped out of Cupertino in September, it led to a raft of complaints from iPod Classic owners unable to sync their Apple jukebox with the new music software. And two months on, problems appear to be persisting, with readers telling us iTunes 9 still isn’t playing nice with their iPods.

Customers’ complaints about iTunes 9 range from failure to sync with the iPod Classic, to having to spend hours searching through folders for corrupt files causing the iPod to fail.

Barbara, an Electricpig reader, told us her 80GB iPod Classic struggled with iTunes 9. “The recent update did nothing for me,” she said. “I went to an Apple service centre and they denied the problem, even though I mentioned other users on the internet.”

iTunes 9 kills iPod Classic

While the cases do appear limited, Apple’s discussion boards are buzzing with talk about iTunes 9 problems with the iPod Classic in particular.

Users there say their iPod Classics have simply stopped working after installing iTunes 9. Complaints have continued well into November, two months after Steve Jobs took to the stage to introduce iTunes 9. Comments on the Apple discussion page say Cupertino is alive to the problem, although it seems there’s no update planned for iTunes in the near future.

The problems seem varied, from complete failure to sync to corrupt files. One reader, Jacob Y, got in touch to tell us his iPod Classic is now working, but that it took hours of rummaging around in his PC’s files to solve the problem.

“There is something with the 9 software that is either corrupting the files on the ipod or leaving scattered or corrupted files on the install folders,” he claimed.

Another reader, Ceri Periam, told us that his 3rd generation iPod nano was also experiencing syncing issues with iTunes 9, suggesting the problem isn’t strictly limited to the old-school iPod Classic either.

When asked Apple for its opinion on your syncing issues, but received the following statement: “Apple declined to comment.”

Has your iPod Classic stopped working? Are you struggling to sync with iTunes 9, or have you found a fix of your own? Tell us and we’ll share your tips, or take complaints directly to Apple. Make sure you give us the model of iPod, which generation it is and the exact version of iTunes you’re using.

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Adam Neu

Ive got an iPod touch 3rd Gen 32gig and itunes 9 does not recognize it. Phoned Apple and they told be to reinstall all apple components which i did to no avail.

http://www.electricpig.co.uk Joe Minihane

Hi Adam

Sounds like a nightmare. If you could let me know a bit more detail, that’d be great. What exactly did you try? Interesting that you’re having issues with your Touch as problems have been more widely reported on the iPod Classic.

Thanks

Joe
Joe A

I also had this problem with my classic when I upgraded to v9.0.2.
I eventually solved it by finding a version of 9.0.1 on the web. Uninstalling v9.0.2 and installing the earlier version. It works perfectly again.

T Smith

I’ve got a 5th gen video, and it crashes iTunes everytime I plug it into my mac. Not been able to sync since i downloaded version 9.

http://www.electricpig.co.uk Joe Minihane

Sounds like a real pain. Can you let us know exactly what happens? Do you get any error message or does it just crash as soon as you plug it in? We’re gathering as much detail as possible to take to Apple.

Cheers!

T Smith

Sure. I just plug the iPod in (with the original usb cable that came with it) iTunes tries to load (the dock icon bounces) then it quits before it loads and i get an error message saying iTunes quit and do i want to retry. I have also tried to load from this error message to no avail. It’s really bugging me now. I have been an Apple convert for the past 5 years or so, but this has really made me think twice. I certainly won’t be upgrading to Snow Leopard, as that seems to have loads of problems too. They will lose loads of customers, you can get lots of sexy gadgets not designed by them now and the only thing that was in their favour was that everything worked ‘seamlessly’ Ha!

D Rehmann

I have a 5G iPod Classic (80GB) and have not been able to sync since installing iTunes 9 (9.0.2.25). Actually the problem is that my iPod will not show up as a device in iTunes. My OS is Windows XP and Windows recognizes that my iPod has been connected and I am able to see and browse my iPod using Windows Explorer. To remedy this issue I have tried resetting my iPod, creating a new iTunes library, and reinstalling iTunes all with no success. Luckily, my iPod appears to still be functioning fine and I am still able to use iTunes, just can’t sync.

J. Falk

I am having pretty much the same exact problems, with the same exact configuration (same Ipod and OS) I figured it maybe had something to do with the recent system update but I am not sure. It sucks because it operates fine but I want to be able to load more things on it obviously. I connect it through the usb and it connects and then disconnects right away and doesn’t even show up in my devices but I can see it while looking for devices on my computer. AHHH this is so annoying
J Nesbitt

This is exactly the same problem I am having except my OS is Windows Vista. I contacted Apple Customer Services who were no use at all. Very infuriating as I casn no longer update my ipod with the music I am currently listening too.

http://na M Evans

From the States… I have had my 80 GB Classic for 2 years now. Never had a problem until today. I guess I haven’t had to sync my iPod since I downloaded the new iTunes 9.0.2. Everything you read here and on other forums has happened to me as well. My computer (a macbook) will sometimes recognize my iPod and sometimes not. It will not reset my iPod for me, and on occasions it does recognize that my iPod is linked to the computer iTunes will begin to sync and promptly freeze (not just iTunes but any application related to my iPod). This blows.
Brett Cullen

I’m currently troubleshooting a friends iPod Classic 80gig that’s gone buggy. Essentially the menus are all still navigatable but when a track is played it sits on 00:00 on the counter, fast forwarding causes it to reset and it isn’t recognised in itunes natively or in disk mode. It is however showing up in Explorer (working on a PC here) and completely navigatable that way.

The exact problem is discussed here : http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1733604 but with no real resolution.
Since iTunes can’t see it, it can’t be restored and from the sounds of the thousands of other people out there, it probably won’t make a difference.

She can’t remeber if she’s tried to sync since updating iTunes (her version is current 9.0.2.25) but from the circumstances I’m pretty sure it’s itunes 9 that’s caused the problem.
Any thoughts?

flipperoff

I just spent HOURs messing with this problem. Ipod Classic 80g.. Would not recover on mac or pc running itunes 9.0.2.25 and I tried both MANY times.. Several reformats using Mac DISK UTILITY.. over and over when I tried to recover it bombed with error 1430, 1439 etc. At one point when I got it to the point to sync, the sync was terribly slow. Never did the mac disk utility verify, rebuild, erase report any disk errors. I finally read about this widely reported issue with itunes 9. I installed 8..2.1.6 on an old XP laptop and finally after days, it would restore and then sync at a normal pace. iTunes 9 has issues with iPod Classic 80g for sure.

Monica Lamrani

Hi, I have an iPod 2nd generation, 2 Gb and OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger). Last Sunday (22 Nov.) I got the info that iTunes 9.0.2 was available, so I downloaded it. Since then iTunes does not “see” or recognize my iPod, even though it appears on the desktop and is fully browsable. My library works fine.

What can I do to make my iPod show up under Devices ?
http://www.electricpig.co.uk Joe Minihane

Hi guys

Thanks for all your comments. We’re on the case and taking them to Apple, so keep them coming. If you could tell us what they’ve told you, that’d also be great. As I say in the main piece, make sure to give as much detail as possible.

Thanks

Joe
Doug

Hi. I have a new 160gb iPod classic (6th gen). I’m running Windows XP service pack 3, and using iTunes 9. When I plug the iPod in, it’s recognised by Windows Explorer as an iPod. But iTunes refuses to see it, giving me the error message “The software required for communicating with the iPod is not installed correctly. Please reinstall iTunes to install the iPod’s software.”

I built my own PC, and can troubleshoot some pretty nasty problems – including the notorious blue screens of death. So I’m reasonably tech-savvy. But I’ve tried all the suggestions on Apple’s site and elsewhere, and I can’t get iTunes to recognise my iPod.

After a period of months without a solution, I’m very disappointed in Apple having done nothing at all. Surely a message on their site wouldn’t be difficult, at least saying they are working on it? (And perhaps an iTunes voucher for those people who have been without iTunes.)

Come on Apple – customer service. You don’t want to end up with a reputation like Microsoft do you?
http://www.appleproducts4free.webs.com ipod

One of my friends has had this exact same problem, thanks for the info
S Foresman

I have an iPod Classic and iPod Nano. iTunes 9 works fine and syncs with the Nano, but it crashes every time it starts to sync with the Classic. Luckily, the music library on the Classic hasn’t been trashed.

Error signature listed below. Original error offset was 00013649. It changed to 00013651 following installation of MS ClearType Extensions, and MS ClearType Tuning, which was recommended on another forum.

AppName: itunes.exe AppVer: 9.0.2.25 ModName: corefoundation.dll
ModVer: 1.544.19.0 Offset: 00013651

Also attempted to isolate for conflicts by starting computer with just ituneshelper and QTTask processes. Problem still occurs.
http://facebook'ipodcomplaints' Holly Jay Foster

My almost two year old Ipod Classic worked completely until after being plagued by pop-ups and several emails, I decided to update. Since then, my Ipod refuses to play certain songs, Shuffle does not work properly, and hissing and whirring noises keep coming from the Ipod. I am a member of the Apple Discussions board, but any attempt to confront them with this issue which is affecting people across the world, my posts have been removed, considered too ‘slanderous’. I also sent this to the main Apple Complaints desk and have yet to receive a reply, if I ever do.
Dear Sirs
I purchased an IPOD CLASSIC (80gb) two years ago and it has worked very well over it’s lifetime, however, it seems like so many other Ipod users, my Ipod () has become corrupted after downloading the iTunes software update 9.0.1.8. I feel like so many other users that it is your responsibility to provide software which does not corrupt or damage the iPod as a replacement is costly. The symptoms of corruption include:

-whirring noise inside the IPod (sometimes followed by a screech)
-skipping tracks
-loss of artwork when viewing Albums selection
-freezing
-not recognising iPod when connected to USB port in computer
-syncing and then freezing on ‘Ok to Disconnect’

Could you please take some time to examine this problem and offer advice on how to solve it, since this has happened with many other users and it is important to rectify the situation as soon as possible as a replacement, (as I have said before) is costly, and since my Ipod is out of warranty I cannot apply for a replacement under guarantee.
Moreover it is not possible for everyone to take time out to ask advice from a Technician at your stores so if you could provide some solution to the problem the iTunes 9 software has caused, I am sure, like so many other users, would be extremely grateful.

P.S Please publish the solution internationally as this is a multinational occurrence

I have also contacted BBC Watchdog as this is a problem, which I feel, should be publicised openly. I have furthermore set up a facebook page of Ipod Complaints where fans can publish problems with their Ipods, which I felt was necessary as almost everyone in the UK now owns some form of Mp3 player, or an Ipod.

Thanks for listening
Miss Holly Foster
Doug

Hi, me again. I’d just like to check – is this problem with iTunes 9 and the iPod Classic exclusive to Windows users? Has anyone with an iMac / Mac Pro etc experienced something similar?

Thanks.

ekr4now

I have a MacBook Pro and it is happening to me. So no, its not exclusive to Windows.
JohnH

I have a Macbook Pro. Same thing. Occasionally it works (syncing) but about every 2-5 days I will do a sync and my iPod will then have no music or podcasets on it. It’s all still on the Macbook, but I can’t get it to the iPod. Been screwing around wtih it for four hours tonight.

I’m an atty. maybe we need to consider a class action. My 80GB Classic works fine. Apple destroyed it. Nice to see them step up and take responsibility.

S van Scoyoc

Found this site because, guess what, iTunes 9 on my 6 month old MacBook is taking hours to sync to my 4GB 2nd gen Nano. This wasn’t a problem until iTunes 9 found its way onto my machine. No crashes or freezes, just treacle paced syncing. Keep the pressure on Apple.
Linny Dale

Wow, I was just going to go out the door to buy an IPOd classic. They just lost a sale. Thanks for alerting me.
Rob Nason

Its good to know that the goons at the IPOD store i just saw where telling me the truth when he said ” Loading itunes 9 did not break your IPOD, your hard drive failed, If it happened after you did the updates, then it might have corrupted your harddirve, but it would have died anyway”. I am upset and mad at them for all there crap. They better give me some sort of compensation and not just a 10% DISCOUNT FOR RECYCLING MY OLD IPOD when i BUY a new one from them. I have an 80 Gig classic.
Alex Winter

Made the mistake of “upgrading” to Itunes 9 back in September. It’s now almost December and after spending many many hours trolling through support forums and help topics I am still unable to synch my Classic Ipod. Apple is unhelpful.
I’m asking for a Zune and an Android phone for Christmas.
Ray Tabique

This happened to me too. Ipod Classic 160 gb. Normally have no problems. Tried to sync after the update. And it was stuck on Verify for a long time before timing out. I bit the bullet and reformatted my ipod. Have about 120 GB of music etc.

Itunes finally recognizes it. But it crashes when it tries to sync. My only success was to manually manage a few albums. Sync is successfull for about a GB worth of music at a time before completely crashing.

Called apple. They told me what I had already feared: I need to manually drag/manage my music. She kept mentioning (though it was hard to understand) something about the new software and my ipod being “new” now that it was formatted and therefore it needed to be manually managed? Then she got frustrated and pointed out I was out of warranty anyway and needed to pay her $20 to troubleshoot.

I guess i will have to manually manage my music for now. Damn that’s a lot of albums.
Doug

Hi. I managed to get iTunes to recognise my 160gb iPod Classic (see my original entry above).

Basically, I put all my music from my iTunes library on it using Media Monkey software. Then, once that had all loaded, iTunes suddenly recognised the iPod when it was connected to my PC.

Weird. But if you’re stuck, Media Monkey may be worth a try.
Aussie

I’m in Australia and having the exact same issues. Not getting any help from Apple to rectify the damage that V9 of itunes has done.
Thisara D.

Hi everyone,

I am another another unfortunate who will contribute to this page…
I have an ipod classic 80gb and a Macbook Black 2.1 for 2 years now , and this couple worked perfectly till last week …
having another 2nd gen itouch , I WAS FORCED to UPDATE itunes, and guess what ???
ipod not recognized in itunes. ( My guess: Ipod classic wanted a divorce with macbook)

If i was running windows , I could easily buy buy into : “format differences and compatibility problem” etc… but MAc not running MAc …. Frustrating … and these little things dont come cheap.

My mind is made up anyway, no more proprietary run device from apple (iphone , ipod) or any others … good old usb plug and play ….

This Message is for apple : the mac is a great product , but , their is a great gap you need to bridge between product quality and service quality , until these two are met , you haven’t reached your total customer satisfaction…

Another
Thisara D.

hey all ,

this didnt cross my mind earlier , but downgrading is the way forward ….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA-w4iBs_ZI
Ray Tabique

Managing my music did not work. It froze after getting noticiably stuck on on eof my albums as I tried to drag it over (computer started stuttering).

Multiple ipod restores. Re-installed itunes 9.0.2.25.

Called Apple. Tech acknowledged “hearing of a problem”. Suggested doing a complete removal of itunes and all apple software on my PC (Windows XP). Using this link.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1925?viewlocale=en_US

Takes about an hour. Did a fresh install. Still freezes after about 4GB.

Did a fresh install again (another hour) grabbed itunes 9.0.1 (as a downgrade of oldapps.com) after 6 GB.

I noticed the sync starts with # named artists (e.g. 2Pac) and then alphabetically backwards from Z. My syncing gets to about Y or V before freezing. I left it on overnight and it was completely frozen.

Question: Once it’s frozen does it ever get “unfrozen” if i were just to leave it on all day?

i may attempt a remove of apple software and downgrade to 8.2. But will it play nice with Ipod spftware 1.1.2?
Nikola

iPod Classic (80GB) not recognised by iTunes 9.0.2. I read about some users who corrupted their whole ipods and lost the content with iTunes. I really don’t have time to do a complete backup and fiddle around with Apple software, so I’m using Winamp to manage my iPod in the meantime.
island girl

Hi! I have an 16gb Nano 4th gen. I’m a mac user, but at work I use PC and because I spend most of the day at work I formatted the nano on a PC when I first got it. Everything was fine until two weeks ago I decided to upgrade to itunes 9. So, I did it, on a PC with XP… it took like a million years to update the version on the PC and the nano’s software. It worked fine for 2 days, then it showed up on the screen “connect to itunes to restore”. I was kind of pissed I had to erase all of my music, specially my playlists, but I had all on the computer so I went ahead and did it, I tried to restore but an error (1415) occurred, I looked It up on the apple page it linked me to, I tried doing everything the page told me to do, even installing a bunch of .dll’s files, and nothing happened. I tried restoring it on my mac, and an error (1418) occurred also. Then I said to myself “hey it used to work fine on itunes 8″ so erased all of the itunes 9 files, and downgraded to itunes 8.2 on both platforms (Mac & PC) tried restoring again and NOTHING!

It isn’t fair that just because I upgraded the version of iTunes, now I have an useless ipod with no hope of fixing the problem.

Am I the only one having this problem with a 4th gen nano? Has anyone been able to fix it? and how?

please help!
Dena

It’s called planned obsolescent. The company changes aspects of the product or service to render current product useless, forcing purchase of new product. Maddening since I just purchased music from itunes which I can’t sync to my current ipod. What a way to create customer satisfaction, eh?

Danny

I’m so with you there. I was telling my friend about it (my ipod is doing what everyone else’s is doing) and I told her that I reckon Apple have done it on purpose to force people to buy iphones and ipod touches. It’s completely sick what they’re doing. It should be illegal.

Mikiradak

I fixed problem!
1) Remove Itunes 9 from your PC
2) Install old version of Itunes 8.2 from oldapps.com / music utilities / itunes
3) After that, when Itunes recognized your Ipod classic, try to update and restore your Ipod via Itunes 8.2 (this action will delete all data from your Ipod!-be carefull).

Good luck

Good link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocke77ixrAE&feature=related

Greetings from Belgarde,Serbia
Danny

I’ve just uninstalled v9 and rolled back to 8.0, reformatted, restored, dickchecked, and everything else you can thin of but guess what? STILL THE SAME PROBLEM! I think even if you roll back, if your ipod’s been raped by v9 then you’re still stuffed… If anyone else can help me out here? Would be much appreciated.

Also, I keep getting the -69 error, so I looked it up and apparently it means that its a bad file on my comp… funnily enough it doesn’t matter which file i put on, i keep getting the same error. And it’s always at the 1.04gb mark. I can’t get any more than that on my ipod.

Way to go Apple, an 80gb ipod that you can only put 1.4gb of music on.

Doug

Try using Media Monkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com) to put your music onto your iPod. Install it, and tell it where your iTunes library is. Then plug in your iPod, and Media Monkey will see it. It will take a long time to put the music onto your iPod, but it should work. It did for me, with a 160GB iPod Classic and iTunes 9 on Windows XP SP3.

The strange thing is, once you have done this, iTunes will see your iPod. But you could carry on using Media Monkey. Up to you.

Kat

5th generation ipod – 60 GB
itunes 9.0.2 (25)
Mac 10.4.11 wont recognize my ipod no matter what i do
Ron Deuce

Add me to the list of frustrated Ipod classic owners who have gotten the short end of the stick with Itunes9. I have a 30gig 4th gen w/video and it ran like a champ until I installed Itunes9. I’m now stuck in a loop where it tells me to restore by connecting to itunes. When I do that neither
Itunes or windows recognizes the device.

I did a system restore using windows XP to roll Itunes back to version 8 and the same problem persists. I will try the media monkey option as stated above. I will respond back with the results after I’ve tried it. This is a huge scam by Apple to get people to by the newer Ipods. What a bunch of scumbags!!!
Ebo

I’ve had the same problem recently, with my iPod Classic 80gb I synced it once 1 week ago when I first got my computer(windows 7). I installed iTunes9 and everything went smoothly, then when I tried syncing it again it would just reboot my pc and freezes my iPod on the “Connect” screen. Idk what to do I’ve restore my ipod and lost all my songs and i can’t sync them back or else it will shut everything down.
Ellen

I have a video ipod 5th gen 80 gb; I use windows xp. Ever since I updated to itunes 9, one of my playlists will not sync to the ipod. It is the “recently added” playlist which is set to have all music that was added within the last 90 days. I’ve tried every suggestion that I’ve found through searching the web including changing the rules of the smart playlist and checking or unchecking the live updating. I deleted the playlist and started over, and I tried restoring the ipod and syncing again. Now today I was trying to sync a tv show that I purchased from itunes last night. It will not sync either. I went to the tv show tab and made sure it was checked to sync all episodes. I uninstalled itunes and attempted to install version 8, but it wouldn’t let me access the library, because it said the library was made using a newer version. So I uninstalled version 8 and reinstalled 9. I still can’t get the tv show or playlist to my ipod. All of my other playlists are syncing and I have some other videos that synced just fine. Don’t know what to do, and I am wary of spending hours on the phone with tech support. I haven’t yet had the other problems that classic owners are reporting, but time will tell.
Tammy

Wow! I am glad that someone is able to present these issues to Apple. We have been very pleased with our iPods and we have two nano’s and one 80gb Classic (mine). I received my 80gb Christmas ’07 and just upgraded to the disasterous iTunes 9.0.2. My iPod is not recognized by iTunes at all. I can not synch any new music. Fortunately I can still use what is there, but no new stuff. Also, when plugged in, iTunes will come up but my device is not recognized and it immediately ejects. Since the upgrade I have followed all of the 5 R’s, spent hours with tech support on the phone ~ to some fellow in India (he was sooo very kind, but difficult for my American ears to understand). Can’t get ahold of anyone in Apple who can actually answer my questions of why this is happening. I feel like I am running in circles and really, I feel helpless. I have told countless people ~ even through my facebook account, to avoid the upgrade like the plague!! It seems we are doomed. Who knew we needed to search and see if there were issues before upgrading? Where is the trust in a company? Thanks for at least caring! I have an iPod 1.0.2 80gb Classic. I am using windows vista on my laptop (my iPod is recognized on our desktop with the 7.0 version but it is not my acct. so I can’t use it!) Thanks again. Hopefully someone from Apple will see the damage being done.
Marge

Same thing here – Ipod 80gb classic 18 months old worked fine until upgraded to Itune 9.0.2. Now totally useless – only option is restore which I’ve tried – then no music on ipod. Tried the roll back 3 times – useless. What’s going on here apple? Get it sorted. You are losing customers in droves!
http://www.electricpig.co.uk Joe Minihane

Hi everyone

Apple has got onto us to say it’s investigating the issues with iTunes 9

http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2009/12/08/apple-investigating-itunes-9-syncing-issues/

Cheers

Joe
Cory F

Well at least I have figured out that it is not something wrong with the Ipod or computer, just a quality control issue for apple.

I am going to do the rollback to 8.2 until this issue is sorted out.
Ryan G

I have an imac G5 and have an ipod classic 160GB, I also updated itunes to 9.0.2 and have now run into this problem two times since I’ve expanded my itunes library. About a month ago I was able to sync, but itunes kept crashing. I kept trying until I was able to get it to sync everything that I had to that point upload to my itunes. It crashed at least 4 times. Itunes always recognized my ipod though unlike some of the other comments I’ve read. Now this morning I tried to sync since I have some new tunes to put on the ipod and it crashed again. I Tried a three times and finally gave up. Will update you when I try again when I have more time to mess with it. Is this apple’s way of killing off the classic?
JohnH

Took my 5G 80GB Classic to the genius bar. Of course, on the 25th attempt to get it to sync (last try before my appt with my own personal genius), it synced.

The genius told me I was getting a lot of errors on my hard drive and it was probably my hard drive was failing. He offered to swap me out for refurbished 80GB for $129. If I wanted to recycle, they would give me 10% off a new iPod of my choosing.

I said I’m not the only person having these exact same problems. He said that might be true but that there were clearly errors on my hard drive.

I told him that I could probably get the hard drive replaced for $80 and I had a coupon for 10% off an iPod in my pocket. He said that sounded like a better deal than he could offer and that Apple didn’t care where I bought a new one, just that I did. I asked him the refurb one had a new hard drive and he said most likely not. I then said that it appeared to be a bit of a crapshoot as to whether the hard drive in the refurbed Classic was going bad and he admitted that it was.

I still have the 5G 80GB Classic. I suspect that this may be the company line: “it’s YOUR hard drive, stupid, gullible customer but we can sell you a new one, sucker”. Just a guess. I still have it, it appears to be working now and I will wait it out to see what Apple does. At a minimum if I think Apple has solved the problem, I may just go ahead and replace the hard drive.

But it’s Christmas and I’ve had an OK year so I went to BestBuy and purchased a 64GB Touch which syncs way faster than the Classic has been since the iTunes 9 update. WAY faster.

By the way, the first Touch was giving me an error every five seconds that “this charging device is not supported”. No charging device was connected so I guess that the charging device that is not supported is air? Dunno. So, I took it back to BestBuy the next morning and swapped it out for a new one. I must say that BestBuy has, IMHO, turned into one of the best shopping experiences in the world of electronics. Consistently good service from my perspective. I’ve had some Bose headphones that they’ve replaced twice in the past year because they were falling apart. No receipt, no Qs, just replaced them.

Devin MacGregor

I just got my 160 swapped out for free to another 160 but still have the same issue. I was able to put 11000 tracks on it and it rebooted. I then had to reboot my iMac so it would see the iPod and attempted to put the other 13,000 tracks on it. I am back to the apple screen again.

What the?

Yeah man, Its deffo a huge error going on.. I wonder how long it will take them to release an update or some kind of timeline to when we can see a resolution? Seriously starting to hate apple….Microsoft is starting to look very promising lately
JeffD

I have a nano(product) – the red one that was for support of aides victims. Much thanks to Apple for making me a victim. The best part of this, is that I have had if for years and never used it. This was my initiation into using an Ipod. I have now spent 4 hours trying updates, system reinstalls – you get the idea. Unreal, I am going on a 2 week trip on Christmas eve and was looking forward to having an IPOD- good grief. Merry Christmas everyone and good luck with this. As for me – I am going to the store and getting a new device – When this situation gets fixed, I will give this to my son, who uses his ipod so much he wears them out. Apple should be ashamed of themselves, I have always expected better product accuracy from them.
Lozza

FIXED (for windows): PLEASE READ ALL OF POST BEFORE DOING THINGS i do not want to be responsible for killing someone’s iTunes library!

NOTE: i do not store music in my itunes library, it’s all on the ipod only due to computer harddrive issues. so perhaps don’t follow this if you are relying on using and keeping your library in itunes cos i don’t know what these steps will do to it’s functioning….

1: NO need to touch your ipod, don’t even plug it in. (i have an 80gb classic and this worked) unless you want to backup your music files from it if paranoid (show hidden files in mycomputer/your ipod/ you will find a folder ipod_control, go to music and copy paste the gobbldygook F00 etc files into a folder on your computer. backed up successfully.) Unplug ipod.

2: Remove ALL traces of itunes9 and quicktime from your computer. here’s notes from the apple site with my tiny additions:
1. Quit iTunes/quicktime.
2. From the Start menu, choose Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, open Add or Remove Programs.
4. Select iTunes, quick time and ipod from the list of currently installed programs, then click Remove.
5. When asked if you would like to remove them, select Yes.
6. After the uninstallation is complete, restart your computer if you are prompted to.
7. If other program entries were listed for iTunes in Add or Remove Programs, remove those as well.
8. In Add or Remove Programs, remove any iPod Updater applications that are listed in the same fashion as iTunes was removed.

3: Run a search in MyComputer for ‘itunes library’. rename the folders, but in a way that you recognise it eg iTunes Library is now iTunes Library1. I don’t know why this is necessary but some techies told me and it worked…

3: Download itunes 8.1.2.6, link here http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/ipod_itunes/ and install. Open iTunes8.

4: Plug in your classic and hopefully it will sync like old times, mine did! Yay! NOTE: my old itunes library did not show. but that was ok as i had nothing in it.

another NOTE: never ever ever ever ever EVER accept another iTunes update again!!!! obviously this will put you back to square one. stick with iTunes8.

Voller

Lozza, you are a star!!
Everyone on this page who has had this problem, follow Lozza’s steps and it will be fixed.
Thank you for fixing the problem for me.
Nice one.

ChrisW

My (unfortunately upgraded) 9.02 also will now not sync (4!) of my older ipods, on my imac- I have an ipod classic 160,older 80G,30G and 2nd gen nano.It syncs my iphone just fine. Afraid with 130 gigs of music I cannot bear to lose. Just thought I would join the chorus….It is a pisser because I refused to upgrade my itunes for a VERY long time due to such a possibility, but upgraded when I got an iphone. Yes built in obsolescence.
Caspian

I have an iPod classic, a couple of months out of warranty, that has suffered exactly the same fate as so many others on the Apple forums – first of a 25-page thread here:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2151907&start=0&tstart=0

No-one on the forums has found an answer, the issues seem not to have been acknowledged, and it sounds like the damage to iPod hard drives may be permanent. Hard to imagine a worse PR issue, really – certainly I won’t be buying a replacement if it is broken, or any other Apple product, and suggesting to others that they don’t do so either. Incredible that over two months after a software issue causing permanent damage to a wide range of their products there is still no resolution, advice, or even acknowledgement that there is a problem. ‘Declining to comment’ seems the worst possible response. Sounds like it warrants an investigation, and would make a good newspaper story.

Any recommendations for another music player/software package combination?
Fed up with Apple

I have an ipod Classic 80 gB and an hp pavilion laptop running windows 7 operating system. Upon upgrading, I stupidly downloaded itunes 9. After plugging in my ipod, I set it to automatically sync. Like most people writing about this issue, my ipod failed to sync and said my ipod was corrupt. Just before attempting to sync, I had been listening to my fully synced ipod for a few hours
Fed up with Apple

I have an ipod Classic 80 gB and an hp pavilion laptop running windows 7 operating system. Upon upgrading, I stupidly downloaded itunes 9. After plugging in my ipod, I set it to automatically sync. Like most people writing about this issue, my ipod failed to sync and said my ipod was corrupt. Just before attempting to sync, I had been listening to my fully synced ipod for a few hours and it worked perfectly fine, although at that time it was synced to itunes 8 (I believe it was the second version of itunes 8). Apparently, itunes 9 has not only corrupted my ipod classic, it also corrupted several thousand files in my library. I was finally able to transfer some music from itunes to my ipod by downloading itunes 8 again (after uninstalling itunes 9) and deselecting all movies and all songs that didn’t have an artist name (it appears as though the corrupted files removed all the tags I had on the songs) and that synced the limited content to my ipod. Unfortunately, I now have a corrupted $250 ipod classic paperweight that currently is not recognized by my computer, although I was able to keep the music previously synced. Since the ipod is out of the warranty… Apple has left me up **** creek without a paddle.
Ron Deuce

Brought mine to the apple store to see if there is anything they could do. He looked at it and told me the hard drive had failed. I asked him if he heard anything about Itunes 9 causing problems to Ipod classics and he said he hadn’t heard anything. The guy next to me had an older Ipod and was experiencing the same problems I was, They also told him that his hard drive failed.
I wonder if Apple has put the word out to its employees on this and has instructed them to tell customers that the hard drive failed and proceed with the sales pitch for an ipod touch.
David Baines

I am having the same problem, my itunes recognises the ipod and everything but try to upload some songs it uploads around 150 then gets really slow. Eventually it would pack in saying there is an (-69) error but this happens with quite alot of different files. I have the latest version and have tried different things but nothing works.
BRyan Sperber

Chalk another loss up for society and a win for apple.. drove 8 hours today everything was fine.. Stopped to get some coffee, decided what the hey, why not update….

RED X => Restore => Disk Utility => unable to sync more than 4 songs..

F*** you apple.. not only does this really screw things up for my life, as i use my ipod all day everyday, but i am unable to remedy this disease with another purchase.. Gunna be a great drive back up north!

F*** off.
JKR1243

Hi! I have an Ipod classic 160 GB and itunes 9 is just not recognizing it….
Do you think that installing itunes 8 or 7 will fix the problem?
Jon

Great work for getting this thread sorted. I upgraded itunes to version 9.0.2 and now my ipod is no longer recognised in itunes. I can see and browse ipod but cannot get itunes to recognise it, therefore no way to update music.

Mac 10.5.8
ipod photo 40gb

I’ve tried all suggestions (different connections/ports/cables/restarts) to no avail.
Laura

Thanks for your board, it sure has a lot more info than the useless iTunes support (pages or people). I have an 8 GB Gen. 2 Nano & an old G3 mac. I upgraded to 9.0.2 in hopes to fix a different bug. Not only did it not fix that bug, but it added to it this problem of not recognizing my iPod anymore.

I followed this board’s advise and uninstalled 9.0.2 and installed 8.2.1, which I found for the Mac on this site:
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/71-apple-itunes-for-mac.html.

At first I was disheartened to find, upon launching, 8.2.1 would not recognize the libraries (ie. names, dbase formats, playlists … stuff it needs to work). It said that the libraries couldn’t be recognized because they were created using a later version of iTunes. But before getting to discouraged, I remembered making a iTunes backup several months ago. So I deleted all the iTune libraries (not the music or art folders) and copied the backed-up libraries into the iTunes folder. And it actually worked! All my music loaded and it recognizes my ipod again. Good luck to all!

And for those who might have actually physical damage . . . If this is really the case, I’d say Apple should fork over a new iPod . . . or perhaps a class action lawsuit might get their attention.

iTunes 9: iPod classic syncing issues persist

Hot chat, right here!