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There are millions of iPod owners out there and I don’t think I stand alone when I simply state that the iTunes application and interface is a chunk o’ junk.  There is an alternative if you’re running linux (and windows soon).  That alternative is called Amarok.

I just got an iPod nano for xmas, and since I don’t run Windows I needed a way to initialize and get some music on this clean device.  Here’s the list of steps you need get your iPod connected to Amarok so you’re ready to start moving music to it.

1. Plug your iPod into your computer using the USB cable.
2. Open Amarok
3. In the menu go to Settings->Configure Amarok…
4. Click on “Media Devices”
5. You can try and autodetect by pressing the “Autodetect Devices” button, but this has never worked for me.  If it doesn’t work, then you need to “Add Device…”.   A dialog box will come up to choose your device plugin.  Choose “Apple iPod Media Device”.  Enter a name for it. Enter the mount point of the device.  To find the mount point, open up a console or explorer and go to /media and look for a directory that you might think is your iPod.  There’s no 100% sure way for me to tell you what the name is, on mine it was “/media/IPOD” but it might be something else.  If you’ve used iTunes with that iPod before, then you might have named the iPod already.  Look for that name.  If you don’t see it there you can also try looking at /mnt.  So once you have the name and location (/media/IPOD or whatever), you then put that in the mount point field and click “OK”.



6. Click “OK” or “Apply” and close the Configure – Amarok window.
7. On the left-side click “Devices” (probably at the very bottom).  At the top there should be a drop down menu that has your “iPod (mounted at /media/IPOD)”.  Right above that, click on “Connect”.

You are now ready to copy your music over

Here are all of the iPods and Amarok  posts:
iPods and Amarok, Part 1: Making the Connection
iPods and Amarok, Part 2: Album Cover Art
iPods and Amarok, Part 3: Playlists
iPods and Amarok, Part 4: Podcasts

At the time of this blog, I’m using Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), Amarok 1.4.10 and an iPod Nano (3rd Gen).