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How to copy song from my iPod to my computer???

Somehow my iTunes libary got deleted, and i really dont want to write all the song names again. When i connect my iPod to the computer, iTunes askes me if I want to sync it with the libary, and if I do so all of my songs will be deleted.
If you can help please do so. 🙂

iPod nano 8G, Windows XP

Posted on Mar 30, 2008 2:41 PM

Reply
13 replies

Apr 1, 2008 9:39 AM in response to cuffpuff

Connect your iPod to your computer. When you get the message that it is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod. When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to manual, that will let you use our iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button. Also when using most of the utilities listed below your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default: Managing content manually on iPod

Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer

The transfer of content from sources such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers

TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
SharePod Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)

There's also a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to a Mac or PC. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available on page 2 at this link: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide

Whichever of these retrieval methods you choose, keep your iPod in manual mode until you have reloaded your iTunes and you are happy with your playlists etc then it will be safe to return it auto-sync. I would also advise that you get yourself an external hard drive and back your stuff up, relying on an iPod as your sole backup is not a good idea and external drives are comparatively inexpensive these days, you can get loads of storage for a reasonable outlay.

Apr 1, 2008 4:48 PM in response to Zevoneer

Zevonner-

My daughter posted this message. Our other computer crashed(XP) and we now have our new computer up and running(Vista Basic). I told my daughter not to plug in her I-Pod until I had a chance to go to i tunes and read what to do to update her i-pod and i-tunes account to the new computer. She did not listen and did exactly what you said for her not to do in the beginning of your reply.
NOW what do we do? Her i-tunes library is empty as is her i-pod. The account still shows her purchases.
PLEASE HELP!
Thanks, Amy (Sara's mom)

I edited the computer info. that she put in!

Message was edited by: Online getting info

Message was edited by: Online getting info

Apr 1, 2008 4:53 PM in response to Online getting info

Not to speak for Zevonneer, but I also answered her other post. Unless you have a background of her music from the other computer there is not going to be a lot you can do.

You can try downloading one of the items of software he mentions, such as YamiPod, connect the iPod, do not open iTunes and see if YamiPod can find the songs. They probably will not have names you recognize but they will have a similar extension such a .mp3, or whatever (it depends on the format they were in originally). If they are there you can move them to your computer, import them to iTunes, and then fill in the ID3 tags (Information about the songs including title, artist, etc.) manually when you play the song and identify it. To see these, right click on a song in iTunes, select Get Info, and then select the Info tag.

This will be tedious depending on the number of songs involved.

If you cannot see the songs in YamiPod your only other option is sending the iPod to a data recovery company. This option will be expensive.

Apr 1, 2008 7:02 PM in response to deggie

If I take the hard drive and hook it up to a friend's computer can I get the songs off? After I do this, how do I get the songs off of it? Do you have to be online to access your itunes library? If I burn them onto a CD what next? I really don't know much about ipods or itunes and obviously my daughter doesn't either or we wouldn't be in this mess!
Amy

Apr 2, 2008 7:30 AM in response to deggie

Thank you so much for your help. I asked I-Tunes for help and that was a moot point. I will hook up the hard drive. Do I just go to itunes then her music library then what? Is there and option to burn your library to CD? After that I just insert the disk into my new system and download them to the new computer itunes account right? When she puts them back on her ipod will she have the album info and cover like before? Sorry so many questions, like I said before I am clueless! Do you purchase your music from itunes, if not where?
Thanks so much!

Apr 2, 2008 4:23 PM in response to Online getting info

You might try to find someone with some PC skills to help you with this.

You do not have to even start iTunes, use Windows Explorer and find the iTunes folder on the computer. Do you recall how many songs she had in the library? Do you have any software on your computer that can burn CDs? (sorry, don't remember if XP can do that on its own).

I have purchased a lot of music from iTunes and recently have also purchased some MP3s from Amazon.

Apr 3, 2008 7:13 AM in response to deggie

Deggie-
Thanks so much for your help. I also contacted i Tunes during this time and they at first said they could not help me. I sent a message explaining what happened and they replied that according to their policy that they could not issue a refund. I replied back and told them I did not want a refund and no where in my question did I say that! I told them I just wanted to know if they could help me get the songs back that I paid for and that were showing in her purchases. They replied back and said that they would let her download the songs again. I logged into the itunes account and she was able to download all of her music again at no charge. I think it was great that they let her do that. I immediately backed up her library to cd as soon as the music was downloaded. I could have gotten it off of the hard drive with the help you guys have given me but I am glad I didn't have to. BTW- she had only purchased 2 albums and around 20 songs so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal for them. She just got her ipod, thank goodness we have learned our lesson early!

Have a great day and thanks for all of the help! Amy

How to copy song from my iPod to my computer???

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