Two weeks ago I gave up on my iPod Shuffle, or more accurately, if gave up on me.  Or so I thought!  I was getting two seconds of orange light followed by two or three blinking orange lights and then nothing.  I tried each of the USB ports on each of the available MacBooks.  Nothin’.  It was still working, I could listen to music on it, but it just wouldn’t connect to my computer.  Yes, I reset it, yes I launched iTunes for it, yes I tried to see if IT would launch iTunes on its own, yes, I looked in the finder, yes, I checked disc utility.  I know my stuff, yo.  Nothing.  It didn’t appear anywhere.  I gave up on the little guy. 🙁

Today, I’m moving music from one computer to another with my trusty flash drive.  I plug it into MacBook Pro fill it up, eject it, plug it into old MacBook. Nothin.  It’s not showing up in the finder.  Head to disc utility, there it is.  Ok, so I know it exists and that my computer sees it, but why can’t I? A quick Google search led me to check the Finder preferences – specifically the sidebar tab to see if external drives is checked.  It wasn’t.  What?  I’ve been seeing external drives in the sidebar on this computer for four years, but I digress, it worked.  Flash drive recognized, Fleet Foxes moving from work computer to home computer.

But this is the kicker.  I decided to plug iPod Shuffle back in for the heck of it.  I’d already tried it again today, on all computers, in all USB ports.  I plug it in, it immediately launches iTunes, the light turns orange and stays orange.

Wait, what?  The *only* thing I’ve changed is the external drives in the sidebar of the finder.  Is this a secret fix or a coincidence?  I surfed message boards for many hours over the course of a few days looking for fixes for my tiny little running buddy and nothing worked.  The overwhelming recommendation was to pitch it and get another one.

Well, again, I have no idea if this is related to the sidebar thing, but again again, it’s the only think I changed, and I just tried to get the iPod to work three hours ago.  Also, yes, I gave the battery enough time to fully charge and yes, I’ve let it drain all the way.  So I’m writing this in hopes that it’s not a one off, and that it really will work for someone else and save their tiny baby iPod. And seriously, if you think you’re going to have to throw it away – what’s the harm in taking 64 seconds and checking this out.  Even if it doesn’t work you’re no worse off than you were.

Good luck!