iPod management software for Linux

I have iPod nano 4th generation. I'm using Ubuntu Linux. There is no iTunes release for Linux. But I want to use as many iPod features as I can.

Importing music is simple, I can use almost any media player: Rythmbox, Amarok, Exaile, etc.
For importing calendars I've wrote custom bash script, which downloads ical files from Google Calendar and copies to iPod on mounting. This works fine.
Notes - almost the same: script for copy & paste.

But how I can sync podcasts and add audio books? If I transfer some podcasts or audio books as simple audio files, these files appears next to all music. It doesn't looks comfortable when shuffling around songs starts playing chapter from any audio book... iTunes also lets set custom parameters for audio files ex. play continuously (comfortable for audio books). How I can get these features on Linux? What software do you use with your iPod on Linux?

Pawka

Posted 2009-07-15T11:23:23.363

Reputation: 561

Answers

GtkPod will work, it isn't the most beautiful but it is functional.

Brandan

Posted 2009-07-15T11:23:23.363

Reputation: 86

I've tried about 10 alternatives and found that GtkPod works best. I'm using it with gPodder - the best podcasting software for Linux. – Pawka – 2009-09-17T06:55:27.697

You could try Floola. Banshee may work, I'm not sure about newer iPods.

Lucas Jones

Posted 2009-07-15T11:23:23.363

Reputation: 669

1I had nothing but trouble with Banshee - to the point where it would randomly not recognize the ipod, or corrupt the db. Granted, that was a few releases back, but after a certain amount of pain you just avoid the cause of the pain. – chris – 2009-07-16T02:28:06.637

Most music players in Linux support most ipod products (with the exception of iPod touch cos that is really a stripped down version of the iPhone).

You can checkout this article 10 Alternatives to iTunes for managing your iPod

Please be reminded that some applications such as Songbird requires additional plugin to support iPod.

segfault

Posted 2009-07-15T11:23:23.363

Reputation: 1 460

1Support ends just after importing playlists and music. – Pawka – 2009-07-16T06:57:51.937

yes you're absolutely right. there's no support for Nike+, no support for contacts, no support for synching photos, and a lot of other stuffs that iTunes can do. – segfault – 2009-07-17T03:39:52.430

Songbird is quite good for the music management on an iPod.

Stephen

Posted 2009-07-15T11:23:23.363

Reputation: 1 302

Amarok supports at least media syncing with iPods. I haven't used v2 but I do believe it's been imporved. When I ran linux I extensively used Amarok to manage my collection.

True it is a KDE application which means you'll need some additional libraries instaleld if you're using Gnome as your window manager but Amarok is the best music player I have used on Windows, Linux and OS X. I can't wait for the stable release for OS X.

Aaron Powell

Posted 2009-07-15T11:23:23.363

Reputation: 308

I've used amarok, until it releases v2. Anyway, it supports only music sync. No podcasts and audio books, as I've wrote before. – Pawka – 2009-07-16T06:53:24.680