2007-03-27 07:45:22 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Consumer Electronics ➔ Music & Music Players
They don't. All iPods sold at regular retail are Windows formatted, though they may all be reformatted for Macs if you so desire. Only if you buy them through Apple.com or at an Apple Store can you pick between a Windows-formatted or Mac-formatted iPod. But if you go with the Mac-formatted version, it is not capable of being Windows-formatted later on (I don't understand why it works like that, but that's what Apple says). You should be able to tell the difference by looking at the packaging. If it says "PC" or "Windows" anywhere on the box, it'll be formatted for Windows. If it doesn't, it'll be the Mac-only version.
2007-03-27 07:55:56 · answer #1 · answered by the_amazing_purple_dave 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Don't know about the older ones, but all current generations are designed to be formattible to the OS that you're running--if you plug it into a windows machine, and then go to the apple website, you can download ipod software (itunes) for windows..and vice versa for mac. I've actually formatted mine to run on both at one time or another (haven't gotten it to be able to unplug from a mac and plug straight into a pc).
2007-03-27 14:56:07 · answer #2 · answered by Woz 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They don't. The ipods come unformatted. When you buy the ipod and plug it into your computer it will be formatted to whichever type you have. If you have a mac then it will become formatted for mac. If you have windows it will become formatted for windows.
2007-03-27 17:29:58 · answer #3 · answered by Tamsin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i believe it's got to do with filesystem structures. like a hard drive. windows are usually NTFS or FAT32, & macs ..i forget what macs are. anyways it's gotta be formatted. nothin 'random' about it tho, as it only makes it a pain in the *** for apple customers (all ipod owners are apple customers). if they could do it to work on both they would.
2007-03-27 15:17:27 · answer #4 · answered by Nicholaus R 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋