How can I load up my iPod from my wifes computer without disrupting her iTunes?
If the mp3s are nicely organized on the hard drive (e.g. you’re not letting iTunes run its obfuscating nonsense on them), you can just install Winamp and use its iPod support to copy the mp3s over. Be careful if your computer is set up to automatically load iTunes when you plug in the iPod, though.
neckro23 writes “obfuscating nonsense” What do you mean by “obfusticating nonsense”? iTunes manages my library, and doesn’t do anything strange with the music. I use Winamp or VLC to play the tunes, by selecting from the music directory on my home system or laptop. All the names are human-readable. Only place iTunes does the name obfustication is on the iPod itself. Also, iTunes keeps iPod settings separately for each device. If you plug yours in, and tell it to sync manually, it won’t change the settings on your wife’s iPod. Our computer knows to sync everything to my 5G iPod but only specific playlists to my wife’s Nano. The only thing you’ll risk changing is the play count, or star ratings if you set or change any ratings on songs. We don’t much care about play count and don’t bother rating anything (did we need stars to remember which albums we liked
