Currently there is no one stop replacement for iTunes in GNU/Linux world. But there are several applications that do various tasks related to iPod and in many ways better than iTunes.
This page lists various packages and the job they do.
(NOTE: I thank my friend Veena who gave me her iPod to play with, due to various reasons: lack of time, lack of a working PC at her home, CMM Level 5 restrictions at her office. This article is a result of the hacking i did with her iPod Video. - Onkar)
| Package | Task | Comments | Available in repositories? |
|---|---|---|---|
| rhythmbox | Play media on iPod (Can manage media in Ubuntu 6.10+) | Supports all the audio formats supported by GStreamer | main. Installed by default |
| gtkpod-aac | Manage media on iPod | The files need to be in formats supported by your iPod model. For iPod Video seeiPodVideoEncoding on Ubuntu wiki. | multiverse |
| banshee | Play and manage media on iPod | Mono based. Uses GStreamer as backend | universe |
| gpixpod | Manage photos on Photo & Video iPod | CPU usage is pretty high at the time of saving photos to iPod. The s/w may crash sometimes or go into infinite loop. Add photos in batches. | Yes (as of Ubuntu 6.10). Get Ubuntu packages fromsourceforge. |