How To Copy songs from your iPod to your hard drive

[zipforia]

I'm using iTunes for Windows now...how can I copy songs from my iPod to my computer?...which I had to reformat due to a fatal window error.

[GG's pod]

is there anyone know how to copy music from i-pod to harddisk by using ITunes??

thanx

[Aqualung]

I'm thinking of doing the 2.1 firmware upgrade, and read that it wipes out your iPod....so I'm thinking I should copy all my songs to HD...Can I then bring everything back to the upgraded iPod and maintain all my info, e.g. artist, album, etc?

[ashawley]

1. iTunes does not support copying from iPod to PC. They don't want you pirating tunes.

2. Do an Update to upgrade to 2.1 (as opposed to a restore). That way you won't lose all your tunes.

[mesowetodit]

Hi folks!

I've been searching around the forums for a few days now and have tried pretty much the 3 main software(xplay, eph, MC) to copy songs off my ipod to the pc. But all my songs on the ipod are Asian songs and contain some kind of Asian language encoded in the song titles. When the software attempts to put them in a folder, some songs either get left out (gives error) or gets a number and placed outside of the folder.

When I originally upload songs to my ipod I would make a folder, put all the songs I want in it. Make a playlist using the software, then upload the songs....and I would use the playlist on the ipod to replay those songs. I never sorted the songs by album, artist, etc. to play my music....only used the playlists that i've created.

So what i'm really hoping for is a method that can just create a folder on my pc labeled as the playlist...and then just copy the songs I had originally picked for this playlist into that playlist named folder.

Sorry if i've missed this topic if it's been brought up before, but i can't seem to find it in the forums or on google. Please let me know or give a link to the topic. Thanks in advance for any advice. By the way, my 10gig ipod is totally full....thats why i really need this method, otherwise i'll be sorting all the songs copied off my ipod for a long long time. Thanks! Cheers!

[Wheels]

So can I have Music Match on one computer and Itunes on another and be able to save songs from Ipod to Music Match computer? And then still use Itunes computer for downloads?

[Serendipitous1]

I'd like to backup my hard drive onto my Ipod. (Why not, it's big enough!) How can I do this? (I know this can be done, it's just a hard drive afterall.)

[Joanne]

Hello Bill,
I recently had to reformat my windows and lost my playlist on my itunes. I understand that itunes does not support copy from ipod. I have music match and musicjukebox. I do not know what is ephpod or mc9. Though I only have about less than a thousand songs, but i really would not want to redo my playlist again. Is there a way I can copy my playlist back to my pc without having any changes in the playlists? It was a painful week to organize my playlist the way it is now, and I really do not wish to have to go through it again. Pls advise.

I am willing to download or use other programmes. But I would prefer to come back to itunes as it is very user friendly. U wouldn't mind downloading another player to copy my playlist then have it transfers to itunes. I am open for an suggestions. Pls help.

Joanne.

[AndrewProudlove]

Serendipitous1 : If you can see your Ipod as a hard disk in My computer, then the chances are that any other program will be able to as well.
I would recommend either Drive Image 7, or Ghost. Drive Image 7 will allow you to make compressed images of your drives, browse the image after its been created to extract single files or multiple files and also create backup jobs that will automatically backup the files you tell it too or that have changed at regular intervals.

Ghost on the other hand simply lets you make images of the drive as it was at the time you make the image.

Depending on the operating system your using, Win2000 and WinXP for example both have a built in backup utility too.

Otherwise if there are just certain files you want to backup, just drag them onto your ipod.

Hope this helps

[AndrewProudlove]

If possible could we add this info to the other info at the start of the thread?
I just wanted to add it as a lot of people are also using Anapod and it was excluded from the previous list.

Please note that what it written below, was taken directly from Red Chair Softwares website, and I placed it here merely as a quote and as information. I dont claim any credit etc for it.

Transferring files Back to the Computer with Anapod

To transfer a file on your iPod back to the computer, simply open Anapod Explorer to some area of your device and select the files you want to transfer. Then use one of the following two methods.

5.1.1 Drag and Drop

Once you've selected the files you want, you can simply drag and drop them to any location on your computer. This can be the Desktop, a folder on your computer in the left pane of Explorer, or another open Explorer window.

In this method, because of the way Windows handles drag and drop, Anapod must first copy the files from your iPod to a temporary folder on your computer. Once the transfer is complete, Anapod signals Windows to copy the files from the temporary folder to the final destination.

The temporary folder used for transfers to your computer is called "tx2pc" and is found under the main Anapod Explorer temporary folder, the location of which you can view and change under the "General" tab in the Configuration dialog. Remember that whichever hard disk you put your temporary folder on needs to have enough space to accomodate the transfers you plan to make. If your temporary folder and the destination folder are on the same hard disk, that disk will need twice as much free space as the total size of the files to be transferred.

A consequence of Windows' drag and drop mechanism is that if one of the files cannot be copied to the final destination, say because a file with the same name already exists, Windows will abort the whole transfer. If you had transferred a lot of files, this could be annoying. If this happens, you can still access the files in the temporary folder, which will remain there until the next transfer.

Due to the limitations of drag and drop described here, we recommend that you normally use the following alternative method of transferring files to your computer, "Copy to Computer".

5.1.2 Copy to Computer

This is the preferred method of transferring files from your iPod to your computer. Unlike drag and drop, "Copy to Computer" bypasses the temporary folder and transfers files directly to their destination on your computer. As a result, it is faster, does not require any temporary overhead space on your hard disk, and mimimizes complications.

To use this method, select the files you want, right-click, and select "Copy to Computer...". Anapod then displays a dialog where you select the transfer destination. Click "OK" and the transfer begins. Anapod also remembers the target folder you choose and makes it the default location for the next transfer.

[xdeleon]

if you just want to copy the entire contents of your ipod over (for example, if you want the files on two computers), just pop open windows find, choose the drive your PC reads the ipod as, and search for *.mp3

turn on hidden files & folders and if you're in XP, tell it to include those in its searches. It'll give you all the mp3 files on your ipod, which you can then copy elsewhere. The filenames usually suck, but if you're using itunes that doesn't matter.

Repeat as needed for AAC, AIFF, etc. I copied all my stuff from my home PC to my work PC without too much difficulty (other than the work PC having only USB 1.1)

Far as I know you can still only sync your ipod to one computer, but in windows at least there's nothing preventing you from copying the files off to your hard drive, and you certainly don't need any third party software to do it.

[leonthepro]

hi,
ephpod isnt allowing me to copy my songs (says 'system cannot find path specified'), so I was thinking over transferring the files manually by exploring the ipod. Thing is, I've found loads of old files that I deleted with ephpod, I though they were gone but they're still there on my ipod.
Is there a way I can select just my current files?
Can I use another program to extract the files? (xplay doesnt work on my computer).
thanks

[leonthepro]

okay, I managed to get ephpod to transfer the songs...the problem was the naming convention, you can't use a / in the filename (which ephpod puts in by default), I changed the '/' to '-' and it works.
Problem now is I'm getting the old tag names on my hard drive!!

[leonthepro]

where exatly does ephpod save the tags too?

[jhansman]

I just used Podutil to copy my iPod to another hard drive, and it works perfectly. You have to be careful how you do it, however, as you can end up with folders with just one artist and one song, as from a complilation CD. Otherwise, it is the tool I would recommend, and it's free!

Linky:

http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/software/