While we have mentioned SharePod in our free iPod tools round-up before, I wanted to take a closer look at this free iPod manager program that is designed to sync and manage my iPod.
To install SharePod, visit the SharePod download site and download the .zip file. Once you unzip it, you can either drag and drop SharePod onto your iPod or run SharePod directly from your hard drive. Because it does not require any installation to your hard drive or “Programs” folder, you can also install it onto your USB or flash drive. This is great if you use different computers or want to get some music from a friend’s computer without using iTunes.
After backing up your iPod files to your computer, SharePod creates .xml files which iTunes can import (in iTunes, select File > Import). The file is always called SharePod_Itunes_Import.xml and is placed in the folder you copied your files to.
If you transferred a playlist (or playlists), then each playlist will be imported into iTunes with the same name as on the iPod.
Once you have successfully connected your iPod and started SharePod, you can begin to manage your music and videos. You can sort your files by Title, Artist, Album, Genre, Length, File Size, etc. Under the “Options” menu, you can chose which Grid Columns will be shown - so you can further customize your viewing to fit your preferences.
Each album is designated as a “Playlist” on the left hand side of the SharePod screen, which makes it pretty easy to find a particular album’s songs and delete them or check out what you have on your iPod.
There’s even a built-in Media Player with SharePod. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of Windows Media Player or MediaMonkey, but it gets the job done.
There are four ways to copy files from your iPod.
2. Select the files you want to copy, and drag them into a folder on your PC.
3. Right click on a playlist and select ‘Copy to PC’. This will copy all the files in the playlist.
4. Click “Backup iPod” or copy the main playlist. This will copy all the files in all playlists to your computer.
And it is just as easy to delete files from your iPod using SharePod:
1. Click the “Delete Playlist” link.
2. SharePod will ask you if you want to just remove the playlist or remove the playlist and delete the tracks in it.
And adding files is easy, too:
1. Click the “Copy to iPod” button and follow the prompts; or
2. Drag files and folders from your PC into the main (first) playlist.
My favorite features of SharePod are that it checks to make sure that I don’t copy the same files to my iPod over and over again - unlike other iPod managers; and it is easy to install on and use from a USB drive.
If you just need a easy and lightweight iPod manager, SharePod might be a great pick. Check it out!
(By) Ellie, a graduate student and “Jill of all Trades”, who blogs at Ultimate Geek Girl.
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Filed Under: Cool Software Apps
Tags: audio, better alternatives, iPod, music, music manager, music player, portable app, usb drive
Thanks
Glad to find out there is something else apart from that bulky iTunes
I am going to try this out with the new ipod touch that has been sitting in its promotional packaging for ages now! I just couldn’t bring myself to install itunes!
Thanks Ellie!
I don’t want to use iTunes, so I have use a lot of iPod manager and the best for me is the ml_ipod plugin for winamp media player.
If you’re a winamp user, ml_ipod boost the ipod support of winamp and it’s an open source project !
http://mlipod.sourceforge.net/
I’ve installed Sharepod and everything’s fine (both my Ipod Classic and Ipod Nano work perfectly) except for the Ipod Touch that doesnt seem to be working with this program.
When I plug in the Ipod Touch and start Sharepod a warning window comes up and says that there’s no Ipod in my computer. Any ideas??
Many thanks.
Hi, check out SharePod’s help section on their website for information on how to set up your iPod if the program doesn’t recognize it
Thanks for your reply and suggestion, I will try that..
Do you know how to do the import in iTunes version 8.x.x.x?
I have iTunes 7.x.x.x at home (and SharePod works great with it). As you say, select File | Import and get the XML file created by SharePod to import the files to iTunes.
There is no “Import” choice in the Files menu of iTunes 8.x.x.x. (I have 8.x.x.x on another computer).