Missing iPod library

[porteous]

I am puzzled. My son's iPod mysteriously appears to have deleted all of his music (approx 12 Gb), which does not show up in either iTunes or on the iPod itself. He has a 20Gb click-wheel version standard iPod, and is running it on Mac OSX. It seems that the music files are actually still there (possibly as hidden files), as the available capacity is only 6.6Gb.

This problem first occurred after we connected a newer iPod Nano on the same computer (an old iMac Blueberry 400 MHz G3), although under a different user - and I wonder whether this confused the computer, or the version of iTunes we are running (iTunes 5).

Has anyone experienced this - and is there any advice anyone can offer? - apart from wiping the iPod and starting again. We know the music is most likely there somewhere, and resetting the iPod would be a last resort.

This seems to be similar to the problem experienced by Marcusduck in December last year. How was that resolved?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[porteous]

No replies? Can anyone help - even if by referring us to an answer on a previous thread?

Please?

[nixgeek]

Sorry that no one has responded yet. It looks like you guys might have inadvertently wiped out the library on the computer by allowing that other iPod to be connected to it. Were you prompted by iTunes that you were plugging in a different iPod than the one before it and that it would wipe out the library? Remember that Apple doesn't want you illegally sharing music with other iPods and MP3 devices that easily.

While it is possible to use more than one iPod on one computer, you have to be running the latest version of iTunes and QuickTime to do so. You can share an iPod to up to 5-10 computers (it's within that range....I don't remember the exact number though).

[porteous]

Thanks for the response, Nixgeek.

It seems likely that the problem is indeed related to plugging two different iPods into the same computer, albeit under two different user accounts. What puzzles me is that it was the iPod music that appeared to be deleted, not that in my son's iTunes application library.

However - he has now downloaded TinkerTool and (as I suspected) the hidden files were visible and - hey presto! - most of the music is still there. The music library is still not showing up on the iPod (which does not appear when he opens iTunes, although it is present on his desktop), but still there and playable via the hidden files.

Strange.

It should get better. We are in the process of upgrading another older iMac, which will have a much larger hard drive and greater memory capacity - as well as eventually purchasing a new Intel iMac - which should solve all the problems - even if my son has to re-import at least some of his music library.

[nixgeek]

Well, it's a good thing as long as he didn't lose everything for good. Glad it's working out.