The craziest thing. Maybe I'll jinx it by saying it here but my old Mac Mini and iPod are working better at this moment than they have in a few years.
Connecting the iPod to the machine has been a problem. Was it the wire, the computer or the iPod ("Or you," my wife said)? If I fiddled with the iPod and held it at just the right angle and then set it down just ... so - -
sometimes it'd click and connect. Otherwise error messages and frustration after frustration.
Long story short I went through my old wires, found an Apple brand wire and it didn't work. Another off brand wire didn't work. Then there was this black off brand wire, I connected it from the back of the computer to the iPod and BLAM! it worked, like it should, like normal. The charge light came on and the iTunes loaded up and no spinny wheel. I typed in a search and it wasn't slow at all. As a final test, sometimes the built-in Mac mini CD player didn't accept the CD and after thinking for a minute or so would spit it out. I have this
Motown Sings The Beatles CD that never took. A minute ago I put it in and BLAM, it downloaded the thing as it should.
The black wire, man, it's doing something groovy.
Question authority.