Something I’ve been wanting to do for a while was convert my 2nd gen 20GB Mac iPod (HFS+ formatted) to one that would work on both Mac and Windows. This would require wiping the drive and formatting to a FAT32 file system, which both OS’s can read natively.

My other option would have been to buy MacOpener and something like XPlay, but that is so last century. Using this tip from iPodLounge.com, you can freely convert between formats quite easily.

I didn’t have any non-music files to backup, and all my music is in iTunes, so there was nothing to backup. A few quick moments and a long sync phase later, my iPod was working natively with both systems. I did have to buy a FireWire PCI card as my crappy old Dell doesn’t have much of anything in the way of features, but the card was dirt cheap at Best Buy. Installation and detection was easy and hassle-free. I didn’t really buy it for my home PC, but for my one at work, so I’m going to be taking it apart and packing it up shortly.

Converting between formats hasn’t been an issue for a while now, as Apple defaults to FAT32 by default, I believe. Later this year, I’ll likely be buying an iPod Photo, anyway.