Shareware developer crispSofties recently announced the availability of iPod.iTunes 2.5. The new version of the utility adds: options to transfer song ratings and/or play counts in playlist synchronization; a fix for a possible problem with Audible files in track synchronization; a new function in the Tools tab that deletes playlists starting with a given search string; rearrangement of the Settings tab; and other small fixes. In addition, cripSofties notes that iPod.iTunes doesn’t work when FileVault is turned on in Mac OS X v10.3.x (Panther).
While there are many iPod utilities on the market these days, iPod.iTunes provides more robust synchronization of MP3/AAC/Audible tracks and playlist entries between your Mac and iPod. It automatically copies only the tracks that are missing from your iTunes library and provides an option to build a list of tracks absent from iTunes and copy over only the ones you want.
In addition, iPod.iTunes can synch one iPod with multiple Macs, fully restore tracks and playlists to your Mac in the event of a catastrophe such as a hard drive failure, recover accidentally deleted tracks and playlists, clone an iPod, transfer iTunes libraries between Macs with an iPod, and synchronize tracks and playlists separately or together.
System requirements call for Mac OS X v.10.2 (Jaguar) and higher, iTunes 3.0.1 through 4.2, and an iPod with firmware version 1.0 through 2.1. If you’re running an earlier version of Mac OS X or iTunes, you can use iPod2iTunes 1.8.1 (included in the download), which requires Mac OS X v.10.1.2 through 10.1.5, iTunes 2.0.4 through 3.0.1, and an iPod with firmware version 1.0 through 1.2.2. crispSofties doesn’t note the difference between iPod.iTunes 2.5 and iPod2iTunes 1.8.1 on their Web site.
When you use iPod.iTunes 2.5, it will skip approximately 50 percent of the tracks during synchronization until you pay the €29.90 license fee, which is US$37.45 at current exchange rates.