I am having trouble syncing old ipod with new computer.

however when I try to sync my older ipod with it and upload some new music to it, Itunes keeps telling me that all the previous songs will be erased

Yes, that's correct. If you don't have the songs that are currently on your iPod also in your new iTunes installation, they will be erased from the iPod if you sync it. Best to start afresh by first transferring all the music on your iPod back to your new computer/iTunes library.

For iTunes version 7 or later, then you can transfer purchased iTunes store music from the iPod to an authorized computer by using the "file/transfer purchases from iPod" menu. Note that the maximum of 5 authorized computers applies here.

Find out how to do that here.

How to copy iTunes purchases from an iPod or iPhone to a computer.


For all other non purchased content (your own CDs etc), check out the instructions/suggestions here.

Music from iPod to computer (using option 2). This a manual method using "hidden folders" and although it works, it is a little more involved than other methods.

Much easier ways are to use one of the many 3rd party programs that copy music from the iPod to the computer.

One of the most recommended is Yamipod. This is a free program that transfers music from iPod back to the computer. However, it does not transfer playcounts/ratings etc.

Other free programs are Pod Player, SharePod and Floola.

If you want to recover just the structure of playlists from the iPod (and not the actual song files themselves), there's iRepo for Windows. which I understand has this feature along with all the standard features for these programs.

iPodRip also has the feature enabling you to reconstruct playlists.

There is also CopyTrans. This does preserve ratings/playcounts etc if those are important to you but this program is not free. It also supports video transfer.

Once all the music is safely back in your new iTunes library, you can sync your iPod as normal.