How to Transfer Music From an Old iPod to a Computer.
The original iPod was released in 2001, nearly two decades ago. Since then, hundreds of millions of iPods have been sold.
Many MP3 players were released long before the iPod, but its market debut made MP3 players indispensable.
If you are one of the many privileged people who have owned an iPod since Apple introduced it, you probably still have some of your favorite music collections, whether or not you still use it.
Your old music may not be available in any other form, but you can transfer music from your iPod to your computer. We’re going to show you different ways to do this.
You can transfer songs from iPod to Windows PC or Mac by connecting it to your computer and following a few steps as we will see below, or using iPod transfer software.
How to Transfer Music from iPod to Windows PC
The first step is to prevent iTunes from automatically syncing to the iPod so that it doesn’t overwrite the music on the device with the iTunes library collection.
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- To do this, disconnect any iOS device from your computer and launch iTunes. Go to Edit Preferences.
- Click the Devices tab and click the Prevent automatic syncing of iPod, iPhone, and iPad box to select it.
- Click OK and exit iTunes.
- Then connect your iPod to your computer. It will show up as a drive in explorer. Open its drive and go to iPod_Control Music Folder.
- If the disk is empty, you can show hidden folders and files on your computer.
- Still in the iPod_Control Music folder, select all the folders in it, and then copy and paste them to your hard drive. This will transfer the music from your iPod to your computer.
Note. The music files from your iPod have four-letter names, and you can see each of their tags in File Explorer. After importing the music into the media player of your choice, the song titles will be restored as they should be displayed.
- After copying the files to your hard drive, go to the File section. Explorer and right click the iPod drive.
- Select Eject to eject the iPod and disconnect it from your computer.
- You can add songs to your iTunes library on your PC by choosing File Add Folder to Library in iTunes for Windows.
- If you want your music to be copied directly to the iTunes media folder, you can enable this setting by opening iTunes and clicking Edit Preferences.
- On the Advanced tab, find and select the Copy files to iTunes Media folder when added to library check box.
This allows you to move your original files to a different location without worrying about losing them. Any files that you added to the library prior to checking the box will still reference the original files.
How to Transfer Music from iPod to Mac
Before transferring music from iPod to Mac, you need to turn off sync so that the media player won’t try to sync with your iPod and overwrite everything on it. This is because your music library on your Mac might not have some or all of the songs and other files on your iPod, and you end up with an iPod with the same missing music or files.
To turn off syncing, make sure no iOS device is connected to your Mac and open iTunes from the Applications menu.
- In iTunes, choose Settings Devices, then select the Prevent iPod and iPhone from automatically syncing check box and click OK.
- Exit iTunes and hold down Option + Command. Connect your iPod to your Mac and release the keys when iTunes starts up with a dialog box telling you it’s in Safe Mode.
- Close it to exit iTunes. Your iPod is now mounted on your Mac desktop without syncing with iTunes.
- Then unplug your iPod to see the files. If you try to open the iPod desktop icon as it is, you won’t see your music files. Instead, you will see Calendars, Contacts, and Notes folders.
- The iPod music folders are hidden, but you can make them visible using the OS X Terminal CLI.
- To do this, go to Applications / Utilities and open Terminal.
- Enter the command below and press the return key after each line:
by default they write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder
The first line is the command to display all files, while the second updates the Finder to make the changes. Your desktop may disappear and reappear while running these two commands, so don’t worry when this happens; this is normal.
By entering these two lines, Finder on your Mac will display all hidden files on your computer.
You can now find your music files on your iPod through the Finder by clicking the iPod name or double-clicking the iPod icon on your desktop.
- Open the iPod control folder, and then open the music folder that contains your music and other media files on the iPod. As in Windows, the filenames may not be recognized, but their internal ID3 tags are intact, so any program, including iTunes that can read such tags, can recover the song titles for you.
- Copy music to Mac using Finder and drag it to the desired location or to a new folder on your desktop.
- Then disconnect your iPod from the desktop and then add music files to your iTunes library. To do this, click once in the iTunes window and click Cancel in the iTunes dialog box.
- Click the Eject button in the iTunes sidebar next to the iPod name to disconnect the iPod. Disconnect iPod from your Mac.
- To transfer music to your iTunes library on your Mac, choose Preferences from the iTunes menu, and then click the Advanced tab.
- Select the Keep iTunes Music folder organized and Copy files to iTunes Music folder when added to library check boxes and click OK.
- From the iTunes File menu, click Add to Library and navigate to the folder with the iPod music files copied from the device.
- Click Open. The files will now be copied to the iTunes library, and the ID3 tags will also be read, which will restore song titles and other details like album, artist, genre, etc.
- Once you’re done, make everything hidden files and folders are made invisible by using the Terminal command below and hitting the return key after entering each line.
the default is com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
killall Finder
Note. Apple’s FairPlay DRM system remains intact, so authorize any music purchased from the iTunes store before playing it.
Transfer iPod music to your computer using iPod Transfer
There are several programs you can use to transfer music from your iPod to your computer, but figuring out which one to use can be a daunting task. You need to find one that combines the features you need with good transfer rates at a reasonable price.
Some of the best iPod transfer software you can try for this purpose include CopyTrans, iRip, or TouchCopy. CopyTrans offers a comprehensive experience in transferring your songs and other content from iPod to computer. It moves files relatively quickly and copies metadata.
- iRip can also help you transfer music files from your iPod to your computer. Plus, you can move iBooks files, videos, podcasts, and more. It’s also fast and can handle metadata.
- TouchCopy is a multifunctional program that can help you transfer your music and other multimedia files and data, although its transfer speed is not that good.
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