shmooth

i made progress by starting to use the USB ports on the back of my Toshiba Satellite laptop. At least now I can occasionally get my laptop to recognize the iPod Shuffle for a few seconds. I read that the front USB ports don't have enough power. Seems like that might be true. So, now i still usually get a "USB Device Not Recognized", but when I am able to get into iTunes and it almost recognized my shuffle, it says 'bad format', and then says 'error' when it attempts to format the iPod. i have a new ipod and know i'll be able to use it at work computer. my laptop usb ports died a few months ago, so i sold my ipod. can't use my external hard drive, printer, nada - so it's something with the hardware/windows, for sure.