Zolved community solution
| Zolved community solution |
 new article edit article
|
How to transfer music from your iPod to iTunes/your computer.
Here's how you can re-locate your iTunes files !!
Basically, in order to transfer songs from the iPod to your computer, you have to undermine the design of the iPod. Whenever you use a device in a way it's not designed, you increase the chances that it'll break. That said, a lot of people have done this with no problems and it's a real life saver if your computer crashed and you lost your whole iTunes music library.
1. First you need to connect the iPod without iTunes doing the auto-sync.
- Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys while connecting the iPod to your computer.
- Don't let go of Shift+Ctrl.
- If iTunes doesn't open automatically open after connecting the iPod, open iTunes.
- Don't let go of Shift+Ctrl.
- Wait until the iPod comes up in the Source list under DEVICES (it may take a while, but don't let go of Shift+Ctrl)
Once it shows up, close iTunes.
2. Now find the songs on your iPod and copy them to a folder on your computer.
- From the Desktop, go to My Computer and click once (or select/highlight) on the iPod, (usually drive E:, F: or G:).
- Go to Tools > Folder Options.
- Click View tab > scroll to Show Hidden Files and Folders and select it. Click OK.
- Look in the iPod drive, and find a folder called iPod_Control and open it.
- You'll see the Music folder. In it will be folders and files named F00, F01 and so on.
Note: To see the original name of the song/file, just mouse over it.
- If you need all the contents of the iPod on you computer, copy the whole Music folder.
- If you only need some of the files, look through the Fxx folders until you find the files you want and copy.
- To copy:
- Click once on the folder or hold down the Ctrl button and click once on each of the folders you want.
- Go to the Edit menu and select copy.
- Minimize all windows, right click over a blank area of the desktop, select New > Folder (name it Songs).
- Right click over the Songs folder and select Paste.
- Depending on the number of songs, this may take a long time to complete.
Note: All the hidden files that are on your iPod are playable on iTunes once you transfer them to your computer's iTunes.
3. Now have iTunes import that folder to your music library
- Open iTunes (if needed) and go to File > Add Folder to Library.
- Select the folder you want to import and click OK.
- This also may take awhile to complete.
- This also may take awhile to complete.
Zolved Tips:
- If you think you'll be doing this a lot, you should look into two things:
- Back up your iTunes library to an external hard drive periodically.
- Use an "iPod management software" other than iTunes. See this comparison of iPod managers on Wikipedia.
- You might want to set iTunes to manually manage your iPod. This will mean you will have to drag-n-drop new stuff onto the iPod yourself.
- Depending on which iPod model you have, the iPod may get very hot during the copying process.
|
del.icio.us
stumble
printcopyright © 2008, IPTouch, Inc.
Comments
- Posted by: dpagliu2_4750 at 30 Nov 18:08 permalinkWhen the iTunes program was loading it asked me to choose from one of my previous libraries (none of these had all the music I had on my library.)
- Posted by: bobaliciosu_2342 at 19 Feb 10:57 permalinkclick create new library just so it will open
- Posted by: cgautier_8093 at 18 Feb 15:35 permalinkThanks for the tips, but I was able to move the music to the new folder on the desktop, but had difficulty when trying to use the import/add file feature. itunes would keep drilling down to the file level, and you could not select one file at a time. I found if I selected import folder and then went to the newly created file and selected it, the files started moving and I completed the transfer sucessfully. Thanks from Mississippi!
- Posted by: jakojorger13_8268 at 20 Feb 03:32 permalinkwhy don't you guys just use iDumb?? it's ways much simplier, faster, and the songs is automatically added to iTunes when you open it the next time ;D just search for "iDumb download" or something in google.com, or just "iDumb" in download.com .. it's so easy to use ́that i even think my mum could use it! TRY IT !!
- I guess it reads as a side note above but, yes there are a lot of other iPod management software you can use (some free, some not, with different functionality). A lot of hardcore iPodders don't use or like iTunes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_iPod_Managers
BTW, there was no result for the search "iDumb" at download.com (or cnet.com). - Posted by: chadalyx_3099 at 11 Jul 14:47 permalinkIt's called "iDump" not iDumb. It's a free program that is VERY easy to use. And you can install it straight onto the ipod to use on ANY computer that you hook your ipod up to.
- Posted by: glofairi_5484 at 24 Feb 18:24 permalinkI don't know how to thank you! I just bought my ipod nano 2 weeks ago and my laptop screen got smashed. I bought a new computer and learned i couldn't get my songs off my ipod. I thought that i would have to delete all the songs i bought if I was ever to use my ipod again. This saved me so much time, money and headache! thankx
- Posted by: jgriffith15_694 at 10 Mar 16:27 permalinki am running vista, when i highlight my old ipod mini in My Computer (F drive)......where is the Tools option??? thx in advance!
- If you are runnning Vista and want to see the hidden files you must first enable them. There is no longer the tools option like there is in XP. To view the hidden files first open the drive that your IPOD is located. (ex. G) Click on "Organize" and then "Folder and Search Options." You must then select the "View" tab and whalah. Now you may enable your hiddle files and proceed with the following steps
- Posted by: aubrelonglegs_3492 at 21 Mar 14:51 permalinki am freaking out! i copied and pasted alll my music to a folder on the desktop. I can't import any faster than one song at a time. and there is no music at all on my ipod!!! what do i do???????
- Posted by: kate_oxley_5_3619 at 23 Mar 03:06 permalinkI got as far as seeing the ipod on itunes and it did appear briefly in control panel but disappeared before I could do anything with it.
- Posted by: teccan9nja_4813 at 25 Mar 00:36 permalinkits alot easier than this... if you are using XP, all you have to do is search the Ipod, whatever drive letter it might be. and go under Advanced Search, make sure it searches the hidden files and you typed what you are looking for in "anywhere in file" not just "title of file". copy, paste, done. easy. no holding ctrl + Shift, no closing Itunes, no nothing.
- Posted by: badboyzstudioz_5206 at 03 Apr 15:31 permalinkGreat tutorial! Very in depth and complete. Ipods Rule! I am glad I found this article, I was having some issues transferring files with my unit. AJ. BadBoyzStudioZee
- Posted by: rosssherr_5198 at 25 Apr 18:16 permalinkIt was a little more tricky with Windows Vista but with a little digging it worked. I did lose about a hundred songs though..........anyone know why
- Posted by: lperpinan_8770 at 12 Jun 16:24 permalinkHow did you do this? I am having a very difficult time with trying these steps on Vista.
- Posted by: ottz08_3644 at 01 May 19:37 permalinkyeah my ipod isnt showing up under removable discs
- Posted by: graahound_5906 at 08 May 16:39 permalinkWill this method transer playlists, playcounts, ratings, etc?
- Posted by: ceajaime_4553 at 28 May 16:03 permalinkI have a dell mp3 and a lke to transfer all the music from the mp3 to my pc.
what I do - Posted by: trayford19_3211 at 04 Jun 15:42 permalinkThis was exactly was I needed. Quick and to the point, and I had no trouble at all. Thanks so much! <3
- Posted by: back_werdz_2857 at 09 Jun 01:45 permalinkThank you so much... I had to reboot my computer cuz it started actin up again and I didn't want to have to go back and re-upload ALL the music to my computer... You guys saved me hella time...
- Posted by: sunprncs17_2763 at 14 Jun 17:32 permalinkI work with Windows XP on a laptop, and unfortunately my iPod wouldn't let me view the song names (even mousing over it.) The names remained weird codes.
- Posted by: dlr14301-temp_3701 at 06 Jul 19:30 permalinkI have the same problems with the names. If the song only has the name in my ipod file but not the alblum or artist, i get a random 4 character title for the song in my Itunes for my PC. i dont know what else is different about the files where one would copy the name over and one won't.
- Posted by: chadalyx_3099 at 11 Jul 14:48 permalinkUse "iDump" from Download.com. That way you don't have to worry about the hassle of the names. It has a VERY simple interface...practically fool-proof
- Posted by: davlord1_984 at 28 Jun 21:25 permalinki tried the above recovery to get my songs off my ipod to my computer and I kept losing the ipod as a recognized drive (f) in "my computer" in one moment it was there and in the next it was gone. how do I keep it on screen to perform the steps and when do I let go of "shft/ctrl"?
- Posted by: abgibbons_1993 at 07 Aug 20:56 permalinkI got everything saved to the songs folder on my desktop but can't import that folder to the music library. Everytime i go to add folder to library and select the songs folder then click ok nothing happens. Am i doing something wrong?
- Posted by: spleni_9699 at 09 Aug 20:40 permalinkI'm having the same problem. I can import only one song at a time. Did you figure out how to import the entire folder?
- Posted by: spleni_9699 at 11 Aug 11:46 permalinki fugured it out. you need to open your new "songs" folder from your desktop. right click on f00 folder then left click. go to properties. make sure the box is unchecked for read only and hidden. then apply. then ok. do this for every folder F00, F01,...then you can close and go to itunes. now you can add folder to library.
- Posted by: spleni_9699 at 09 Aug 20:35 permalinkI was able to save my songs in the folder on the desktop. However, when i tried to import the folder to my itunes nothing happened. I have to add each song one at a time. HELP! I have over 2000 songs.