So the other day I was doing some massive reorganization/tagging work with my iTunes library. So much, in fact, that when I went to update my 30GB iPod it practically needed to reload the entire device.  Normally this is not a big problem, but this particular day I didn’t have the time to let the full sync run (it’s USB1, don’t ask) - I was heading out the door. Instead, I gave it a good 30 minutes before cancelling the sync and ejecting the iPod.

During my commute, it wasn’t long before I noticed the the album artwork displayed on my iPod did not match up to the currently playing song. Thinking I must have really messed up something in iTunes, I was relieved to find all was tickety-boo there when I got home.

Simple fix right? We’ll just let iTunes do its magic and properly sync the iPod, no matter how long it takes. Afraid not! Surely I won’t have to wipe the entire iPod harddrive to properly link the artwork. I was in luck, and as I’m not the only idiot out there, here’s the fix.

1. Plug in your iPod and launch iTunes
2. In the iPod tab (iTunes 7 here), click the Preferences tab.
3. Near the bottom, deselect Display album artwork on your iPod.
4. Your iPod will update – removing all the artwork stored on it. This could take a minute or so.
5. Again, navigate to the iPod Preferences. This time select Display album artwork on your iPod.
6. Again, your iPod will update, this time correctly linking the artwork with the songs/albums.

Another example of the quirky behaviour of iTunes, but it’s ok because its Apple right? People are silly …

[tags]iTunes,Apple,iPod[/tags]

First off, I have to admit how amazed I was over the simple installation. That being said, realize what you are doing and what could happen if things go wrong. I merely claim that this “Worked for Me.”

• Connect your mini to your computer, ensuring that it is enabled for disk use.
• Download the iPod Linux Installer, the latest kernel.bin.gz, and the latest podzilla.gz.
• Unzip the three packages you’ve just downloaded.
• Rename file date-podzilla to podzilla and copy to the root of the mini.
• Rename file date-kernel.bin to linux.bin and replace the linux.bin inside the iPod Linux Installer folder.
• Run and install ipodlinux-installer. Choose to update the firmware, making sure to keep Apples firmware as the default boot order.
• Basically what you’ve just done is create a multi-boot option for your iPod, much the way you would dual boot Linux and Windows.
• Lastly, copy the file \4gipl\start to the root of the mini, replacing the existing file.

That’s it! Reboot your iPod mini (hold select and play buttons for 5-10sec). After reboot, hold the Rewind button; you should see the familiar linux text boot scroll.

Caio