Problems with gtkpod 0.88.1

[Mark Phillips <mark@phillipsmarketing.biz>]

I am having a little difficulty using gtkpod and a brand new out of the 
box 4 GB iPod. I cannot transfer data to the iPod - I get the error 
message "Problem creating iPod directories in '/mnt/ipod'".

I followed the instructions at http://www.yak.net/fqa/420.html.

This is my setup:

1. Debian Sarge (kernel 2.6.7-1-386) and gtkpod 0.88.1

2. fstab has these lines:
# iPod via usb2
/dev/sda3       /mnt/ipod   hfsplus defaults,user,noauto  0       0

3. The script ~/.gtkpod/gtkpod.out has these lines
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/eject /mnt/ipod

4. lsmod shows that the module hfsplus is loaded

5. When I plug in the iPod, I get the following from dmesg
usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using address 5
scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Vendor: Apple     Model: iPod              Rev: 1.62
Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
sda: Spinning up disk.....ready
SCSI device sda: 7999488 512-byte hdwr sectors (4096 MB)
sda: assuming Write Enabled
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
/dev/scsi/host3/bus0/target0/lun0: [mac] p1 p2 p3
Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
USB Mass Storage device found at 5

6. mount shows the following:
/dev/hda1 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/hdb5 on /backups type ext3 (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
/dev/sda3 on /mnt/ipod type hfsplus (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,user=emily)

7. ls -al of /mnt/ipod shows:
total 1029
drwxr--r--  1 root  root       10 Dec 28  1962 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root  root     4096 Apr 28 12:08 ..
d-wx-wx-wt  1    99    99       3 Apr  7  2004 .Trashes
----------  1 root  root  8388608 Jan 15  2004 .journal
----------  1 root  root     4096 Jan 15  2004 .journal_info_block
drwxr--r--  1 emily emily       2 Dec 28  1962 Calendars
drwxr--r--  1 emily emily       4 Jan 23  1963 Contacts
drwxr--r--  1 emily emily       3 Jan 23  1963 Notes
drwxrwxrwx  1    99    99       4 Feb  4  2004 iPod_Control

When I try to use File->Create iPod's Directories, I get a dialog that 
asks if I want to create the following directories:
/mnt/ipod/Calendars
/mnt/ipod/Contacts
/mnt/ipod/iPod_Control
/mnt/ipod/iPod_Control/Music
/mnt/ipod/iPod_Control/iTunes
/mnt/ipod/iPod_Control/Music/F00
...
/mnt/ipod/iPod_Control/Music/F19

I click OK, and then I get the following message in the status bar 
(lower left corner) of gtkpod - "Problem creating iPod directories in 
'/mnt/ipod'". I get the same error when I try to sync a song onto the iPod.

I am not sure what the problem is or how to fix it. Any suggestions you 
might have will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Mark Phillips