This procedure will fix Error -48

Adrian,
In the other thread I posted this step by step US english switch fix thats worked for me.Note that I have also removed all duplicate files (-48 in os 9 was generated by duplicate files) I've also removed all XML control charachters from my music library tags * ^ etc..
So the U.S english fix was ..
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Go to System preferences in the Apple menu

Select 'accounts'

Create a new user (click '+' under 'login options')

Assign them a user ID and password tick 'allow user to administer..'

Turn off auto login.

Now drag your 'ITUNES MUSIC' Folder to the 'SHARED' folder under macintosh HD - USERS (JUST THE MUSIC FOLDER LEAVE THE LIBRARY XML ARTWORK AND LIBRARY FILE!)

Restart your machine and log back in as the new user.

Open System preferences select 'INTERNATIONAL'
'
Under Language click 'edit list' and remove everything except 'US ENGLISH'

Under word break select ENGLISH ( UNITED STATES, Computer)
Select the 'formats' TAB
Under region select United States (computer)
This will alter the date format and currency
Now select Input Menu
Select 'U.S' and 'U.S' Extended
Now deselect 'British' Tick SHow input menu in menu bar
You should see an american flag with a 'u' underneath once extended is selected.

RESTART YOUR MACHINE

Now open itunes selecting 'i will locate my music' as opposed to auto.
Go to file and add to librbary and navigate to your shared folder where you placed your music,Itunes will now COPY over your collection *NOTE YOU WILL NEED TO ERASE THE MUSIC FOLDER IN SHARED ONCE COMPLETED- PLEASE CHECK YOUR COLLECTION HAS COPIED OVER CORRECTLY TO YOUR MUSIC FOLDER IN YOUR NEW ACCOUNT BEFORE DOING SO!!!) *

Plug in your ipod (I forced quit itunes as it was trying to start up)

I then erased the pod with disk utility

Once completed start up itunes and restore it from there.
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Once i'd migrated all my data to the new user using .mac for bookmarks and address etc ,shared user folder for docs I deleted the U.K english entry altogether.
Alternatively as mentioned before you can just format your pod to fat32 by restoring it on a windows PC...The issue is just with mac firmware after all.
Have a nice evening.
Cheers
Tim

Thanks for the detailed instructions Tim.

In fact I tried a restore of the iPod with the US time zone in force, and that's all that was needed! Lots of syncing/testing since without any error.

So the procedure which seems to work is:

-set time zone to Cupertino (presumably any US time zone will work)

- plug in iPod

- restore (hopefully for last time)

- wait for restore/sync to complete

- eject iPod

- (optional) if in UK set your time to not be automatically set by server, then manually advance the time by 8 hours

Adrian

Thanks Adrian, that sounds a good plan if it works - I'll give it a go when I get back from my holiday. My only concern is that I have one working iPod (formatted in the far east?) and one 48-er; any idea if the working one might be affected by messing with the dates? I assume not but any thoughts appreciated.

2GHz Intel Core Duo iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8) Various iPods!

Without wanting to sound too sarcastic, there are getting on for two months worth of postings around this problem - do you think that no one has tried resetting the iPod per the instructions? However if there is something else in the steps that we need to do - human sacrifice, casting of bones etc - please let us know!

I'm also experiencing no -48 since trying this Cupertino time-zone fix. An iPod erase/restore was also needed to make it stick though....

Incidentally, I've also changed back to UK time with auto-time-updating re-enabled & I'm still not getting any -48's.

It seems that the erase/restore & first iTunes/iPod sync whilst your Mac is set to Cupertino-time is the critical factor in making this fix work. If the error comes back though (you never know with this one!) I'll let you know.
All the best,
Jason

Thanks Jason - I'll try this when I get back (no way am I risking anything before I go on holiday!) but it sounds encouraging.

Of course by then Apple will have released a fix... cough

PS Happy New Year to all fellow 48ers!

Without wanting to sound too sarcastic, there are
getting on for two months worth of postings around
this problem - do you think that no one has tried
resetting the iPod per the instructions? However if
there is something else in the steps that we need to
do - human sacrifice, casting of bones etc - please
let us know!

Can understand the sarcasm but the suggestion to switch the time zone only came from Apple themselves yesterday (30 Dec). So far it seems to do the trick whereas other suggested fixes (removing duplicates, removing disallowed characters from iPod name...) haven't.

Adrian

Apple have a fix for the issue:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304893

Solution

Temporarily change the Time Zone setting in Mac OS X to Pacific Standard Time (PST) as shown below. This setting can be accessed from the Date & Time panel in System Preferences.
Open the latest version of iTunes and Restore your iPod
After successfully restoring your iPod, change the Time Zone back to your normal setting.

Thanks Mabsey. The fix works fine, but I wonder when Apple will have a more permanent fix (i.e.: iPod and/or iTunes software update).

Glad to have been able to help. Not sure about fix for Windows users though!

hahaha

I've tried just about everything, without success, and will seriously consider buying some other brand when my ipod finally dies.

However to sum up
1) Had error 39, solved when I stopped 'displaying artwork' on the pod
2) Error 48 came along so i successively tried
-restore ipod
-disk utility
-time zone changing
-duplicates

-restoring makes no real difference, but when 48 comes along, your pod is now considered foreign, so if you update, all your old music will appear as a block of data taking up space that you can't see.......so restoring is the only way to get back the old capacity.

am now about to try downgrading firmware on my 60Gb Video pod, will update in a few weeks if that works. If not itunes 7 is getting downgraded to 6.

Has anyone got any idea when we're likely to get a proper fix from Apple.

I've tried all the above suggestions and had no luck at all. I do however find that if you repair the disk in the "Disk Utility" that it at least fixes it for the next time you sync, but it's hardly optimum.

I've yet to get a clean sync as yet and i've got 68GBs worth of data on my iPod Video. It very very frustrating to have to wait whilst it syncs that amount of data and then hope you dont have to go through the whole thing again.

I have a nice new Intel Based Mac and if this continues then I'm going to have to the Windows partition for iPod Syncing.

Come on Apple!!!! Give us some timescales around this!! these devices are pretty much "Not fit for purpose"

Did you set your time zone to Pacific Standard Time and then restore your iPod, as Apple recommends?

Sadly I've done everything as suggested in the above threads and it hasn't worked.

Sadly I've done everything as suggested in the above
threads and it hasn't worked.

Start from scratch.
Restore the iPod.
Make sure you are in Pacific time.
Load your iPod up.
Once done change to GMT.
It works.

Good luck.