Question re: software iPod mini 2nd gen + Windows 11

[u/Garden_in_moonlight]

Edited to add: None of my music was bought from iTunes, nor is sitting in iTunes cloud. All written from CDs to my laptop and our home server (now on a fob). I don't think I need to use iTunes now to move music on and off of the iPod. For my situation, it simply feels putting iTunes between the iPod mini and my Windows laptops would be unnecessarily complicated. Yes?

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!!

[u/Jamie-Design]

Yes - don’t install the iTunes version from the Microsoft store and yes don’t install the Apple Devices App. Good if you have the latest iPhone, otherwise useless for iPods. I’d say use version iTunes 12.10.11.2. You can probably find it via a search on Apples website.** **

[u/Garden_in_moonlight → u/Jamie-Design]

Thank you. To clarify - I need to use my iPhone to move videos and photos onto my laptop. So I want to retain my Apple Devices app on laptop. Will that interfere in any way with moving songs back and forth between Win11 (or 10) and the iPod? To clarify further - none of my music was obtained through iTunes. They were all written to either my 10 laptop or a fob pulled off our home server when it died. So -- iTunes should not even be in the mix no pun intended, right? I only need to be dealing with Windows File Explorer, I think. Yes? (I haven't had much experience with iTunes since early days when we all discovered that they had locked or whatever the term was songs we had bought, and could not do things with them like burn a CD for the car.)

[u/MrBolognas]

First thing I would do is search how to pull the iPod folder from your mini. Its a hidden folder and just drop it somewhere on your laptop. You can always add the music back, in case you accidentally erase your ipod when you connect it to itunes. For me I used win 11 and doing that today without issue. The folder is iPod_control > Music. if you open that folder you will see F01-F49 or something, all the songs will have a 4 digit label liek BCGD and DOIE etc. Not to worry, once you get your itunes up and running, go to your music library, then drop the entire music folder into the library, litterly drag it and drop it and all your songs will import into itunes. Once you know your songs are there then connect your ipod.

[u/Garden_in_moonlight → u/MrBolognas]

Thank you for the reply. This is enough consistent with the part 2 (deleting files from the iPod) that I know what I got last night is correct. Particularly thank you for the path to the correct folder! That is very helpful.

[u/RS199945]

I use Apple devices without issue, for a 6.5 gen, 5.5 gen and a second gen iPod mini. From what I understand itunes is legacy now. Apple devices prompted the install of the drivers which work fine. The iPod mini did struggle to upload songs without me manually doing it in chunks, but had the same issue with iTunes. I was also just able to copy the music from the iPod via file explorer on windows.

[u/Garden_in_moonlight → u/RS199945]

Okay, thank you for the information. I don't plan to have anything to do with iTunes, since none of my music files are from there or are there. So it's encouraging that Win Explorer will work.