my confusion is that you said I can try to do on the fly conversion, which I tried but I get the error message (folder not found) mentioned.
thanks for help
The on-the-fly conversion is done by MB and is applied when I sync to my iPod Classic following the instructions I posted in the "How to Sync without using iTunes" listed above. If you're able to (and willing to) restore your Nano to its original firmware, then those instructions may work. But if you've got a newer Nano, it's not likely to work. It should work through 4th Generation Nanos and -possibly- into the 5th Generation. Definitely not 6+. Although the iPod Driver plugin route is still an option to try.