Does the iPod Shuffle 4th Gen work well with Rhythmbox?

Question

I'm thinking about getting an iPod Shuffle 4th gen., but if it doesn't work well with Ubuntu 12.04/Rhythmbox it's a no-go.

Does anyone have any experiences with this combination?

Thank you in advance.

Solution

I had issues initially getting both my shuffle 2nd generation and later my 4th generation to work under 12.04 with Rhythmbox. I wish I could tell you exactly what steps worked for me but from the sequence of things I tried I really can't pinpoint pit. I can offer some things to try that worked for me though.

First, go into Rhythmbox Preferences -> Plugins and disable the iPod and MTP support. Close Rhythmbox and attach your iPod shuffle. It should recognize and not prompt you to initialize it. If it still does, try re-enabling the plugins and then connecting your iPod. Or, maybe even try a combination of doing this while disconnecting and reconnecting the iPod. Eventually Rhythmbox will be able to access the iPod. Those plugins just have strange behavior.

Next, add a couple songs to your music folder and sync the iPod. Eject it. Close Rhythmbox and try to play the iPod through headphones. If the 2nd generation just blinks the orange light or the 4th generation tells you sync with iTunes, then connect it again. Open up Rhythmbox, don't add more songs, just sync it again. Disconnect it. Try to play it through headphones. Rinse, lather, repeat. If at this point things are still not playing, try fiddling with the plugins again, disabling and re-enabling them and disconnecting and reconnecting the iPod while between disabling and re-enabling the plugins.

Seriously, I did this for both my 2nd generation and 4th generation iPod shuffles and eventually they actually played. From there on out I had no problems adding music and syncing it ever again with Rhythmbox.

Note, not once did I have to connect either device to the actual iTunes Windows software.

Further note, iPod Shuffle 4th generation sometimes shows the voiceover .wav files in the list of iPod contents in Rhythmbox. I deleted these a couple times in Rhythmbox without knowing what they were but the iPod seemed to keep putting them back -- it won't hurt if you do delete them in Rhythmbox. Eventually once the iPod starting playing these no longer showed up in the list of music on the device in Rhythmbox.

I know this all sounds a bit crazy but it really works.

Comments

[clappboard]

So you're using the 4th generation iPod Shuffle (newest version)?

[lambda23]

Yes. I have both iPod shuffle 3 and 4. And both of the ipod works on rhythmbox.