Before continuing, read Part 1 and chapter 2 of The iPodessey.

In my various and sundry internet research throughout this process, I recall reading posts by several folks who were able to reformat with a Mac and then bring the device over to a PC successfully. I don’t have a Mac at home, but since I had exhausted all of my options there, my next step was to find a working Mac and give this one more try. Luckily, I have access to such a machine at work, and was able to get some alone time with it. I downloaded the latest iPod software (on my PC, since our Macs have trouble — shockingly — connecting to the network), installed it on the Mac, and hooked up the iPod. It was successful. I was rolling with a few demo songs within 10 minutes. These Apple devices actually do work well with Macs!

When I got home that night, I hooked the iPod back up to the PC and attempted to reformat using the original software I downloaded (the latest version). It worked! No problems at all, just reformatted, disconnected, and I was loading songs via iTunes in no time.

And, since the car piece was already in place, the next morning I was jamming digital music in my car. The process was a bit convoluted, but it sure beat shelling out $300 for a new iPod. Plus, I got what a true geek always wants — a challenging problem to solve that took perseverance, creativity and patience.

Let’s recap what we have learned:

iPods work great with Apple Computers.

There’s a major breakdown of usability when trying to bring a Mac-formatted iPod over to a PC.

An iPod with a busted battery is still extremely useful.

A little computer knowledge combined with a little eBay can pretty much solve anything…

Perhaps eventually I’ll attempt to crack this baby open and install a new battery, but that’ll have to wait a while. For now, I’m just going to enjoy this little victory. (and digital music!)