Get Your Music from Your iPod With iTunes



There are many articles about how to restore music from your iPod using third party software, but here's an article detailing how to do it with the official iTunes software.

Note: this only works for iPods that can have "disk use" enabled, so they can also be used as a portable hard drive and thus the files stored on them can be accessed. This includes, and may well be limited to: iPod, iPod classic, iPod nano, iPod nano (2nd generation), iPod nano (3rd generation), iPod nano (4th generation), iPod nano (5th generation), iPod nano (6th generation). It will not work for iPod Touch, iPhone.

Steps

  1. Make sure your iPod is set to "Manual Update" in iTunes before connecting it to a new install of iTunes. Otherwise, iTunes will begin "syncing" the two (deleting the music from your iPod).
  2. Make sure your iPod is configured for disk usage by putting it in "Disk Mode". You can use the "Enable disk usage" checkbox in iTunes or do it manually: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93651.
  3. Set iTunes to also copy songs added to your library.
  4. Set iTunes to organize your library if you want (suggested).
  5. Change your Windows Explorer in Windows XP options so that you are able to view hidden files and folders.
    1. On the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options.
    2. Click the View tab.
    3. Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders.
  6. Make sure your iPod is connected to your computer. Navigate to the drive letter that is assigned to your iPod (i.e. X:).
    1. Goto: X:\iPod_Control\Music
    2. Press {CTRL+A} to select all of the folders that you see here.
    3. Click and drag the selection and drop it into iTunes. iTunes will then begin copying your music into your music library and renaming them according to the ID3 tags that they hold.
  7. Enjoy! In the end you get your music from your iPod properly named and organized in your new iTunes installation.



Tips

  • It might be worth saving your files to a separate location on your computer before you start transferring/editing files (as a back-up).
  • If your music/movie/podcast files in your iPod are separated into folders you will need to access those folders and copy the files inside to iTunes.
  • Third party applications have been known to corrupt the iPod music database, however. Use at your own risk. If you need to convert iTunes music to other music formats such as MP3, WAV, WMA, you may use M4P converting software such as NoteBurner or TuneBite. These are for Windows XP/Vista Only. For Mac users, please refer to tune4mac.com .

Warnings

  • If iTunes begins deleting your music on your iPod, click the "X" to stop the operation or simply power down.
  • This mechanism not compatible with the iPod Touch at present.

Things You'll Need

  • iPod
  • iTunes
  • Computer (instructions for Windows XP are listed, however other systems will work similarly)

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