How do I fill an iPod that has more capacity than my laptop hard drive?
If you have a DVD drive on your PC, you might be able to burn an 8gig dual layer DVD for some extra content. If you want to be really twisted, you could store a bunch of your songs on the iPod just normally then add those to iTunes. They may well then sync back onto the iPod properly. Assuming XP eats 10Gig of your drive and you have room for 30Gig of MP3s on the hard drive plus 8Gig on a DVD you could store 11Gig of MP3s on the Ipod and loop them back onto it through iTunes. Or if you don’t want to buy a new hard drive you could just borrow a friend’s. You probably know someone with a 40+Gig USB hard drive that they can temporarily empty for you to fill your iPod. Of course, all of these solutions make managing files tricky. Your best bet is to just buy a new hard drive, either internal if you have a spare spot or external if you don’t. (Also, you say “Primary” XP box. You can have your MP3 collection spread across a network…
If getting a new drive (even an external) isn’t an option, try Anapod Explorer. Not only do your synch problems end (meaning you can store all your music on your iPod without keeping it on your laptop), but you can also stream music off your iPod (meaning you can store all your music on your iPod and still listen to it on your laptop, should you so desire). It’s also a much nicer interface (IMHO, anyways) than the nagging nanny that is iTunes, though if you’re lazy and like how iTunes does all the work for you, then Anapod isn’t the solution you’re looking for. Downside? It costs money. I think there’s a trial version so you can see what you’re getting.
I second that. Once you’ve loaded your songs into iTunes, load up your iPod. Then just go to the folder in iTunes on your computer and delete the files. You’ll still have the songs on your iPod. The only downside to this is that you can’t burn those songs to a CD once you’ve deleted them from your hard drive.
