You're right, to format an iPod (at least without loads of work) you'll need to do it using iTunes, which usually means under Windows or Mac.
About Amarok and Gtkpod..well, they both use (as far as I know) the same library for accessing the pod, so it's pretty much all the same which program you use. I prefer Amarok since it tends to work better than Gtkpod, once set up correctly. By the way, before continuing reading, surf to Google and make sure if Gtkpod/libgtkpod supports your version of Nano -- though I'm pretty confident your player generation is supported too. And these things I'm telling here should apply
at least to the FAT-formatted iPod (I haven't got the "Mac-version", so can't say about them).
To use the pod under Amarok you'll need to know a few things: 1) where the iPod device gets mounted to (
/mnt/ipod or
/mnt/sda1 for example); 2) who has access to the mountpoint (read/write; some group or just everyone or just root?); 3) that the device has been used at least once in a Windows/Mac iTunes, so it's formatted properly. Actually I'm not if the last thing is
truly needed, but I doubt it does.
Now here's how I made my iPod (Shuffle) work:
1) Found out udev mounts it as
/mnt/sda1 - always the same place; this is needed information
2) Opened up Amarok; plugged the device in
3) Mounted the iPod (if it didn't get mounted automatically), brought Amarok front again
4) Opened Amarok's settings. There's a place where one can set up devices, so there find out your iPod device and set it to be used as an
Apple iPod. Close settings.
5) Click to connect to the mounted iPod device in Amarok's device window
6) Now that the device is connected with Amarok, click the "connection settings" button, which lets you choose pre- and post-connect commands. At the pre-connect box you should enter
(if %d refers to the device; it reads below the box) and to the post-connect box
Code:
umount %d && eject %d
7) Save the settings, close the window -- note that if the device is not connected to in Amarok (and naturally mounted) when you do these settings, they don't take effect on
that pod -- these have to be done once per every new iPod
8) Click to disconnect the iPod
From now on, you should be able to plug the pod in (not mount it manually), open Amarok and from the devices window click "Connect to iPod". That should do it. I'm not sure if Amarok has changed since I last used it, and I might not remember the steps 100% (the texts or names in Amarok might be different than what I remember), but the idea worked for me. To get the device working, you must first mount it, then set the mount point/device up in Amarok's config, connect to the device and only then tell Amarok how to handle connecting to the device. For some odd reason, if these configuration steps are made while the device is not connected and mounted, they don't work (i.e. doing settings once does not work for every pod device, each device has to be dealt with separately).
I remember having connection problems at first too, but after I figured out the order in which the settings are made in Amarok (both Settings dialog and the connection settings window), it started working like a charm. And even if it took a little time at first, it surely works way better than Gtkpod ever did..
EDIT: Remember to use Amarok to mount the iPod, or I can't guarantee what happens. And after you've transferred your files, remember always to have Amarok disconnect the device for the changes to work. And one more thing: unless you get yourself a transcoding "script" for Amarok, you can only move mp3 music (or Apple's) to the pod, other formats don't work (and Amarok won't transcode them without the script, which you'll have to find and "install" yourself). And here's the most important thing:
at least Windows iTunes tends to screw up the device, especially if you're trying to use it in iTunes and with Amarok/Gtkpod/some other app, so you will want to stick with that one single app you like the best -- either iTunes or Amarok. In my case iTunes one beautiful day didn't want to work with my iPod anymore, locking it up and not unlocking unless I re-formatted it after the first file transfer, so my only solution was to use Amarok which can handle the lock file removal too; so, nowadays iTunes claims my iPod is broken, but Amarok works with it like a charm. You save yourself a lot if you only use Amarok
or iTunes. Not both. Preferably not even two different iTunes' on two different machines.
