How do I get songs off my iPod?

I had an iPod connected to my old computer and now I want to put it on my new computer, but when I hook my iPod up to my new computer all the music is going to gets deleted off of it. How do I get all my music on my new computer without using a million CDs?

Dave's Answer:

This is a very common question here at Ask Dave Taylor, actually, and it's one that has even bitten me on more than one occasion. What happens is that iPods are "wedded" to a specific computer and installation of Apple's iTunes program and then appear as much less functional devices - or are poised for reformatting and the deletion of all material - when plugged in to other computers. Not very friendly!

Worse, it might show up so you can play music from it, but when you try to copy any of the music onto your computer, you get this sort of behavior:

I understand why Apple does this, so that iPods don't become portable music rip-off devices, but at its heart the iPod is just a hard disk with a slick mini-operating system atop it, so there should be ways to sync two computer music libraries with an iPod without fighting too hard, for example, or restoring a destroyed music library as is the case you're talking about.

Fortunately I have come across an inexpensive piece of shareware that lets you wrest complete control of your iPod from Apple and the iTunes system, an app called iPodCopy. It's $22 for registration, but considering the time and hassle you'll be able to avoid, that's not much of a cost in my book.

Start it up and you'll see an interface that's darn similar to iTunes itself:

(iPodCopy has a 30 day trial so you can test it out yourself before you buy, but there's also a money-back guarantee if you do purchase it and find it's not working properly for your situation)

To copy music couldn't be easier: just select the genre, artists, albums or songs you want, then click on the Copy button:

Now it'll merrily copy whatever music you've selected off your Apple iPod and onto your Windows computer:

Copying music off your iPod with iPodCopy

To be fair, when I copied some Celtic music off my iPod with iPodCopy, it worked fine, but rather to my surprise created a folder called "Music" on my Desktop. That's because I hadn't tweaked the settings and preferences for the program, however, something easily done by clicking on the "Options" button:

As you can see, I'm still using "Dave Taylor\Desktop" for my destination. That's a mistake and should be changed to the "My Music" folder in your "My Documents" area so that other music players can see the files. Also note that iPodCopy identifies DRM (digital rights management) protected audio files with a tiny lock icon, but can also copy them from your iPod: the option "Highlight tunes with DRM protection" will help you quickly see which songs are affected on your own iPod.

Moving the albums to the correct location was simple, fortunately. I opened up the new "Music" folder on my desktop, then also clicked on "My Documents", then just dragged the contents of the "Music" folder across:

That's all there is to it. Couldn't be much easier.

I recommend that you try iPodCopy and see if it works for you.

Wide Angle Software also has a mac version of iPodCopy, but if you're looking for just rudimentary functionality, I suggest you check out my tutorial on the freeware Mac alternative Senuti at:

• Copying music off an iPod, the Mac Solution.

More Useful Windows PC Help Articles:

✔ What's the easiest way to speed up my Windows PC laptop?

My Dell Windows 7 laptop is starting to drive me crazy. It's so darn slow! I've had it a few years and I...

✔ Can I force a Windows 7 OS system update?

Every so often Windows 7 pops up a window and tells me that there are updates. That's nice, but how can I force...

✔ Fix Google Drive (Gdrive) no longer supported (out of date)?

I'm a big Google fan and have been using Google Drive for quite a while as a cloud storage device. It's a breeze,...

✔ How do I open or unpack a RAR archive on my Windows PC?

I have some ".rar" files on my Windows 8 PC and am curious how to unpack them to see what's inside. From a...

✔ How can I shrink my Windows 8 Desktop file icons?

I've figured out most things in the new Windows 8 interface, except I can't see how to easily reduce or shrink the file...

Let's stay in touch!

Sign up for my weekly AskDaveTaylor Newsletter and you'll receive even more tech and gadget help right to your inbox, along with exclusive news and industry updates. It's good stuff. I promise!

Categorized: Windows PC Help (Article 6369, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: apple ipod, apple itunes, copying music
Previous: How can I avoid government censors when accessing the Internet?
Next: Does Blogitive really pay you for links in your blog entries?

Reader Comments To Date: 105

Jon said, on March 18, 2006 12:37 AM:

On the mac side of things, there's Senuti (get it?), which is free.

Kim said, on March 23, 2006 6:49 AM:

Does this work the same way for other MP3 players...or just IPods? I'm looking at a similar transfer situation, but my files are .wma and I use a non-IPod player.

Dave Taylor said, on March 24, 2006 12:32 AM:

Kim, most MP3 players are far easier to work with than the iPod. Try plugging your device into your PC and I bet it'll just show up on your desktop as another device, with a folder neatly labeled "Music" or similar.

David said, on May 13, 2006 6:23 PM:

Dave,
My grandson gave me his 40gig iPod cause he got a new video one for Christmas. It is windows formatted, I am on a Mac.
I can play the songs on the iPod but can not add from my library or move from the ipod to my library.
Any ideas ???

David said, on May 15, 2006 1:34 PM:

Senuti did the trick !!!

Apster said, on May 19, 2006 12:14 PM:

While this is very helpful information, there is something else you should know. I think the problem is that when someone hooks the ipod to a computer with no music library, itunes AUTOMATICALLY updates your ipod to mirror that computer's library (which in this case would be no library, and that is why everything gets deleted). To avoid this, before connecting your ipod, you have to go into the itunes preferences and select the ipod tab at the top. Then press the button next to "Manually manage songs and playlists". This will stop itunes from automatically updating your ipod.

You can also download all the music from your ipod to your computer as Dave suggests here, but if you don't want to do that (like if it's your work computer and you just want to listen to songs that are on your ipod through your computer speakers), you can just do what I'm telling you to do here.

Erik Weibust said, on July 17, 2006 2:41 PM:

Dave,

How about taking an iPod that used to talk to iTunes via Windows and now has to work with Linux (Ubuntu)?

Erik

Dave Taylor said, on July 17, 2006 7:42 PM:

That shouldn't be too hard, Erik. Have a look here:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/about_ubuntu_ipod.html

Aubyn said, on August 5, 2006 11:12 AM:

Most of my songs "Failed to transfer" even though they were ALL legally purchased on iTunes. so in addition to the money i just spent on this program, it looks like i'll be re-buying more than half of my music collection which included over a thousand songs.

slim said, on August 7, 2006 7:40 PM:

I like Itunes SDK, it works with itunes instead of separately. No additional steps to add to your itunes library. Its free and you can get more information about it at http://www.itunessdk.com/xport

Any said, on August 13, 2006 7:19 PM:

I see a podcast that i don't want in my library. i delete it. But it DOESN"T DELETE OFF MY IPOD. HELPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amanda said, on August 21, 2006 6:33 PM:

My brother put a whole bunch of songs on my iPod that i dont like or want on there. How do i take them off ?

Mike said, on August 25, 2006 5:16 AM:

Is there a similar piece of software that will enable me to get songs off my Sony NW A3000?

Terry said, on January 26, 2007 2:11 PM:

Not all of the songs in my iTunes library transfer to my ipod after updating. It's wierd, because those same songs will transfer when in a playlist. How do I get the full library to transfer?

rebecca said, on February 19, 2007 5:23 PM:

hi there. My partners friend put some music on my ipod a few months back. i cant stand the music thats on there. i got told that i cant delete the music off another computer just his. the thing is he sold his computer a few weeks ago. what can i do i dont want any music on there

Brant said, on February 28, 2007 5:07 PM:

well i have been messing with ipods for quite a while and this software i have been using to download music well its actually more of copying if you are on a network and other people have itunes and they share their music so you can listen through your itunes but cant have well now you can with mytunes redux it simply copies the songs to your computer in about 4 seconds its pretty sweet

Kyle said, on March 15, 2007 6:22 PM:

There is a really easy way to do on macs. All you have to do is download a program from apple called mac pilot. Once you have done that it will have a bar on the top that says desktop click that. There will be a list of things that you can do click on the one that says show hidden files. Then click apply changes. After you have done that hook up your ipod and click on the image that appears on your desktop you should know have new folders in that window. Click on the one that says i pod control. A new window should appear and then click the one that says music. Another window should open with folder in it labled f 01 or something like that. That is all the music on your ipod but it is labled something different that doesn't matter. When you open one of the f folders drag the songs into itunes. It is very simply. I'm doing this on my school laptop. If you want to figure out how to get the admin pass for any mac comp unless the owners is smart, e-mail me.

lisa said, on April 27, 2007 12:36 AM:

So, to put this iPodCopy stuff in layman's terms: If we register for some $20-ish, we can obtain music/videos from or send music/videos to either a MAC or PC, regardless of how our iPod has been formatted??? Correct??

In my particular case, I downloaded nearly 400 songs onto my iPod from a MAC and now will lose them all if I format to my new PC laptop. Argh!!
I am hoping this iPodCopy deal will remedy my problem. PLEASE DO TELL!!

Thanks!

daz said, on April 27, 2007 4:34 AM:

ipod copy thing dont work. it says "no iPod found" i put the ipod in the usb like 10 times and the ipod copy program dont recognise it.

Kayla said, on May 14, 2007 12:44 PM:

Hey. A friend of mine said that there you can "lock" songs on your ipod so that no one else can see them. How do you do that?

Henry said, on May 14, 2007 10:45 PM:

I am having a little trouble putting new songs in my Ipod nano. Everytime I plug my ipod in my computer, the list of songs from my ipod wouldn't show. I mean I tried deleting the program and reinstalling it and resetting my ipod. I've heard that I should format my ipod. What should I do?

liz said, on May 15, 2007 3:14 PM:

okay, i was putting songs on my ipod nano, and then i tried putting one more in and it said there was no more room. so i decided, okay i will delete some so i will have more room. but i have no clue on how to delete them, everytime i delete them off of itunes in my library it deletes them off of my library and NOT my actual ipod so i still dont have any room on my ipod. :[ please help me, i've asked everyone and spent about 5 hours in total trying. so pleeeeease help. im thinking maybe i should just restore it and then just add the songs i truly want on my ipod. but i dont know becuase im not that technology smart. and everyone always says to go to edit, preferences, ipod, manually update or whatever. and my preferences doesnt have an ipod tab!
HELP!

Alee said, on May 18, 2007 3:13 PM:

Ok so i went to my cousins and got songs from here computer because she has cable and when i brought my iPod home i had to hack into it so the songs would be on my iTunes library. I reset my ipod and the songs are listed on my library but when i click on htem it says original file not found. Do you want to search for it? So how can i get those songs back on my iPod?

Rayna grant said, on May 26, 2007 3:31 PM:

my mom bought me a ipod and there is a lot of songs that are really bad and nasty how do i get them off now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kalee said, on May 29, 2007 4:54 PM:

I understand that this is all about ipods, but I was wondering if you can do the same for MP3 Players. I an RCA and i have put 82 songs on it. I bought some songs and went to put them on, but it keeps telling me that it didn't fit. I'm highly confused because I believe the box said 8 hours or 200 songs. I've tried over and over but no matter what I try, it just won't do anything. If there is any way that you can help me, it would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you!

becky said, on July 17, 2007 9:32 AM:

It didnt answer any of my questions at all like i just dont understand like why maybe you dont know what you are like talking about

Maria said, on July 17, 2007 9:39 AM:

Hey,

Thanks alot for helping me this is so effective without this website i think i would be lost thankyou so much!!!!!!!!!

Angel Gomez said, on July 30, 2007 6:02 PM:

people people there is an easy way to get your music off your ipod all you have to do is go to my computer and go to tools>folder options>View>hidden files and folders and select show hidden files and folders and go to your ipod a new folder called ipod control should be there go in and into music and all your music folders are organized there

maria said, on July 31, 2007 5:10 PM:

how do i get songs off of my ipod!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

mike macagney said, on August 14, 2007 6:39 AM:

i have the video ipod...how/or is there any way to take my movies off my ipod and put them back onto my computer? any program or do i change some config in itunes? thanks very much

iammeemee said, on September 2, 2007 10:01 PM:

Thank you for this information - I was getting really mad that a new computer and an old (3/2007)80GM iPod was not a good combination. the only thing that would not copy using Ipod copy were the games. I did buy the program the first day I looked at it. Do you know a fix for that?

Adrienne said, on September 15, 2007 8:29 AM:

Uhhhh i have an ipod video and while i was cleaning out my computer i accidently deleted all my songs from itunes, BUT, the songs are still on my ipod is there any way i can get them from my ipod to my computer without deleting them

Jordan said, on November 3, 2007 6:39 PM:

my mp3 needs formating, but i have heaps off songs on there and if i format it it will delete all of tehm. is there a way i can get the songs off there before formatting?

Scott said, on November 8, 2007 3:22 PM:

I have a 4gb ipod. It is just about full of songs. I have several that I would like to remove to make room for newer songs that I am more interested in at this time. Is it possible to remove songs from your ipod? Thanks for your help!

Sherry said, on November 11, 2007 11:20 PM:

how to i burn my mpeg4 to dvd format?

kelly said, on December 4, 2007 3:29 PM:

how do i delete songs, and add new ones to my ipod nano?

i have a limewire folder but i cant drag the song i want to my library. HELP!!!!!

Sandra Sims said, on December 13, 2007 11:30 AM:

After reading these comments I am even *more* thankful that I never bought an iPod. Let's see they are more expensive and more difficult to use? I like my new Sansa clip. It's super easy to use and I can download/upload songs in a snap! ;)

diana said, on December 29, 2007 10:15 AM:

HELP!! how do i change out movies on my ipod?

Brian said, on January 2, 2008 5:19 PM:

My ipodnano has no volume at all recently, checked settings they where fine also reset nano still notta. any ideas?

faizan khan said, on January 20, 2008 3:58 PM:

hi dave.i have a mp3 player sandrick.how can i put song to my mp3 to my mucis library or folder.

stella said, on January 31, 2008 4:25 AM:

my friend gave me an ipod nano and put 1400 songs on it for me. i want to add my own songs from my computer (g4) but i can't. what can i do? i'm not so scared to lose the songs he put on for me.

Shannon said, on February 1, 2008 8:19 AM:

I have read through all of these posts and unless I overlooked it, I did not see a question similar to my problem. My nephew put some songs on my Itunes so that he could sync his ipod as he does not own a computer. I took the little check out of the box before I hooked mine up to sync and yet, the songs still went onto my ipod. I don't want to delete them from Itunes but rather only off of my ipod. How do I do this and how do I keep them from transferring on there in the future?? I like the Itunes application so I would like to continue to use this. Help!!

Lizzie said, on February 5, 2008 11:47 AM:

how do i delete songs of my ipod nano??

saydee farley said, on February 27, 2008 5:32 AM:

my ipod is now conneted to the computer.i want to add and delete music but i dont know how.i dont have itunes music library stored on the computer not even itunes program.please help me,iam from liberia west Africa.

Drew said, on February 29, 2008 4:38 PM:

Hi Dave,

I have an apple configured ipod synced with my mac back home. I am away at school and using a PC. Is there any way to transfer my apple configured ipod to my PC itunes? the only solution I can figure out is configuring my ipod to windows and then using iPodCopy, but i cant reconfigure it being I'm 400 miles from home. I have such a headache! Any ideas?

Santiago said, on March 10, 2008 2:06 PM:

ok dave ive never had to have help with this befor, although i never had this promblem but ok thier is 3 folders that start out on your ipod fresh out the box, k, and well i pushed somthing i shouldnt have " this ipod B-Rezzy cannot be synced. the required foler cannot be found " and i dont know how to get that back so if you can help me out i would greatly oppretiate it thanx
Santiago

krystal said, on March 13, 2008 7:55 PM:

hi dave, im trying to get some songs off of my ipod nano to put other songs on it but i dont know how. can you tell me how to delete the songs without downloading anything else?

Meredith said, on May 13, 2008 10:02 AM:

Hi

the year of my computer is 2001, can I download music from it on to an ipod?

jesse roods said, on May 20, 2008 11:33 AM:

why don't all of my itunes songs transfer to my ipod? they are all checked and all attached to original files. They all play on itunes. Is there any way to see which songs aren't transfering? i have 1887 songs on my itunes, but only 1695 on my ipod. thanks for your help! jesse

mohamed said, on June 1, 2008 8:02 AM:

my ipod is refusing to accept the song i try to put inside please what should i do

Shobana said, on June 4, 2008 10:55 AM:

Hi Dave,

I purchased an Apple Ipod nano 4gig and my husband imported few songs...Now i want to get rid of those songs and upload my own collection...but its not getting deleted. How do i delete them from Ipod and is it possible to put folder according to our songs???

Pls help me to get rid of those songs and wanna make my ipod a new one thenupload my collections....

nick said, on June 5, 2008 5:14 PM:

im so confused
i cant seem to delete songs off my i-pod nano? im deleting them from the library but there not deleting off the actual i-pod???!!! HELPPPPPPP

michelle said, on June 28, 2008 4:42 PM:

a friend gave me her i pod nano b/c she got a new one how do i remove her songs and add mine?

gina said, on July 3, 2008 3:47 AM:

yes i really dont know how to put a song that is on my pc in itunes

mike said, on September 6, 2008 10:33 AM:

My Daughter has two Ipods, one new, one old, My X-brother-in-law loaded the old Ipod, I trying to find out if it is possible to copy/transfer
the songs from the old ipod to the new ipod.
Thanks for you help

heather said, on October 8, 2008 1:56 PM:

I have a similar issue with the ipod... i figured out how to get the music off of it, but i also have a ton of pictures on it that i want to get off also. the original computer that it was synced to got hit by lightning so i have a new one. if i cant get the pics off the ipod they will be lost forever. please help!

Jessica Gutierrez said, on October 24, 2008 10:11 PM:

my cousin gave me his ipod. I have two days that we installed internet. now, hoe do i remove his music and download my own?

Jessica Gutierrez said, on October 24, 2008 10:13 PM:

i got my cousins old ipod but how do i use itunes to delete his music from my ipod

laura said, on November 23, 2008 4:21 PM:

i have an ipod nano and i already downloaded 811 songs. i want to add more songs from my library but it wont let me when i restore it. help me.

TheTrooper said, on December 29, 2008 10:33 PM:

there is an easy and free way to do this without downloading any software. i recently bought a new computer because my motherboard committed suicide and didn't want to re-import all my cd's. all you need to do is plug in your ipod and go to my computer and double click the ipod. this should open up a window showing some folders. then in the menu at the top go to tools and then folder options. when there you should see a button that says "view hidden files and folders" click this and hit ok. you're music should now be visible. right click the folder that has appeared and click properties and then deselect hidden. then copy this folder into your itunes music folder and open itunes and import this folder. everything should appear in your itunes as it was there before. hope this was helpful

beth said, on December 30, 2008 12:11 PM:

okay i have double songs on my ipod, but not in my library? how can i delete them?

Jackie said, on January 1, 2009 6:23 PM:

I have an ipod and asked how to get sogs on there without using itunes, i read this page and i didnt find anything about transfering songs to my ipod using limewire, so this didnt help, thanks

Matthew said, on January 12, 2009 11:33 PM:

I HAVE DOUBLE SONGS ON MY IPOD, BUT NOT IN MY LIBRARY. SOME SONGS THAT ARE DOUBLED UP WON'T WORK, BUT I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO GET RID OF THEM FROM MY IPOD. HOW DO I DO THIS?

Johnny said, on February 2, 2009 10:19 AM:

would like to know how does one retrive lost itune account from your computer(the same computer)I have open at least 3 diffrent accounts and lost a lot of music.Need help!!!! Thanks Dave

Michael said, on February 20, 2009 12:18 PM:

I downloaded TouchCopy, which used to be iPodCopy I believe and am having problems with TouchCopy recognize my Ipod.

I have gone through the tutorials to verify I am following the proper procedures, but still no luck.

Any suggestions?

Hannah ingaldo said, on February 23, 2009 2:19 AM:

hey Dave,

all the songs from my computer got deleted. so my ipod has all the songs on it. how can i save the songs from my ipod onto my computer. is there any website i don't have to pay for?

thanks

karley said, on March 8, 2009 10:28 PM:

my computer actually crashed and does not work any more, i now ive been using a friends computer, and i want some new songs on my ipod touch, but how excatly do i do this with out over writing my songs that are all ready on my ipod?

(the computer im using already has an itunes on it that has like 80,000 songs on it? and i dont want all those on my ipod.)

len said, on March 26, 2009 6:00 PM:

Copied and transferred music to my Ipod shuffle from the (recently added playlist) I created from my CD's. I wanted to take some songs off, I deleted the songs, sent them to recycle bin (emptied it), but the music (songs) are still on my player. I'm not able to add (replace) new songs. In other words they're off my computer (list), but the songs are still taking up space on the player.

cody said, on April 6, 2009 1:52 PM:

how do you transfer pics off of your ipod to your computer

David said, on April 9, 2009 2:20 PM:

I have no problem transferring songs or anything. I have had two ipods. But what I was wondering was if there was some utility that would allow me to copy just the artists and songs list to like Excel or Word so I can send it to someone.

Sometimes I think I could edit what I want to keep better if I went through a manual list and not tried to check everything on my ipod by scrolling.

I hope that makes sense. I want to find some XML or some utility that just allows me to copy (physically copy the TEXT of the artist/song lists.

chris said, on June 14, 2009 2:06 PM:

hi my ipod nano is pluged in to my laptop and nothing happends and the program that you use can not find it as well please help tks

Malique said, on July 13, 2009 10:23 AM:

um i found my sisters ipod and want to delet some songs off of it (way too girly for me LOL)but how do i go about it?

gremlin said, on July 21, 2009 11:37 PM:

Ok. So that program thingy, the er, 'ipodcopy' one, does it have a limitation on the number of songs in the trial version, if so, what is it?
Yer, and yall gonna think i'm stupid for askin, but, does anyone wanna hand out the activation code? lol. if so, post it.

sabir said, on September 26, 2009 12:50 AM:

hi dave after downloading how do i add songs on ipod

Brandon said, on October 10, 2009 7:09 PM:

How do I disarm the combination lock on my IPOD. My 6 year old accidently set it while playing with it.

Dave Taylor said, on October 10, 2009 7:56 PM:

Long story short, Brandon, hook up your iPod to the computer you sync with and choose "Restore". Let it wipe the iPod, then copy all the music onto it again and you're good to go. Yeah, it's a pain. :-)

lauren said, on November 28, 2009 9:23 PM:

I have downloded several songs from itunes over the years and my computer crashed and i've traded in my ipod for and new one and have no music on it and i would like all my ne music back but i dont no how to go back on history and download them if its possible.

Mark said, on December 2, 2009 4:52 PM:

Yo Dave,

thanks for the advice. I bought ipod copy and it works GREAT! Easy to use too. But it's $25 not 22.

Payton said, on December 25, 2009 11:11 PM:

ok.
i just got my ipod touch and my computer download songs automatically and i deleted them of itunes because i thought they would delete off my ipod and now they didnt and i dont know what to do.!

katelyn said, on December 27, 2009 11:16 PM:

how do i get all my songs of my mum's songs of my ipod and put mine on please help me

Dave Taylor said, on December 28, 2009 12:15 PM:

Generally, if you want to remove content from an iPod without losing the music, you'll want to use Senuti, IPodCopy, or similar (links in the original article). If you don't care about that content and just want to start over, plug in the iPod, launch iTunes, the choose "Restore" from within iTunes. It'll completely wipe and restore your iPod to its original zero-music state.

Brock said, on January 28, 2010 3:23 PM:

I'm sorry if this was already asked, but, not all of my music was bought through iTunes; if I use iPodCopy like you originally said, would I lose the songs that were not purchased through iTunes? Or would I still be able to copy them and get them back onto my iPod

Brian Clark said, on March 22, 2010 6:00 AM:

How do I free up space on my ipod nano 3rd gen? When I delete a playlist from my nano it deletes the file but doesent free any space on ipod . Any ideas

ChrisK said, on April 12, 2010 8:52 PM:

IPOD problem. All of a sudden my Ipod will not sync with my computer. When I plug the Ipod in it dings(recognizes the Ipod) then dings again. It will do this 2-3 times. I can see it in My computer then it's gone. I cannot see it in Itunes. How do I fix this? Do I need to re-install Itunes? Will I lose all of my playlists? Please help....

Dave Taylor said, on April 12, 2010 8:57 PM:

Chris, try a different cable, see if that's the problem.

jENNIFER said, on May 25, 2010 5:53 PM:

I need help ASAP!!! I bought my daughter a new ipodfor christmas and I would like to use her old one. Her music library is on her laptop and I downloaded itunes to my laptop. When I plugged her old ipod into my laptop it says it is synched to another music library. I want to keep some of her songs but not all of them and add some of my own how do I do this? HElp?????

Jason said, on June 5, 2010 1:01 AM:

Thanks for mentioning that the free version of Itouch Copy only copies 100 songs. I only need to use this once; why would I buy it for $20?

Amburr said, on June 28, 2010 12:15 AM:

Alright, so my 30gb ipod is only playing one side, therefore I am in need of a new one. I can not stress how lifeless I would be without EVERYTHING I have on my ipod, so I need to somehow save the whole ipod to my computer. Most people go straight to "oh well stick it in itunes" but the itunes on this computer is already occupied so i've checked the "Manually Manage" button. How do I go about keeping my ipod's content without the ipod or itunes? HELLLPPPPPP.=[ -Amburr

jack said, on July 18, 2010 3:18 PM:

hi, when i first got my ipod i went round my friends house and asked him how to do the basics with a ipod and he synced some songs onto my ipod, but when i went back to my house i plugged my ipod in the laptop and went on itunes and nothing happened, and it will only work on my friends computer, and it is really starting to annoy me, please help.

Dave Taylor said, on July 18, 2010 10:28 PM:

Jack, sorry to report that's exactly how the iPods are designed: they pair with exactly *one* computer and that's the only one you can use to manage your songs, etc. When your friend gave you songs, etc, that was really nice of him, but you need to resync your iPod to YOUR computer. And when you do that it'll wipe your iPod clean.

That's why you should scroll back to the top of this article and read about how to get songs off an iPod that isn't paired with that computer (yet). Do that, then resync and let it wipe the iPod clean, then copy the music back on along with anything else you desire.

Good luck. It's not too hard, really...

Tanner said, on September 6, 2010 9:00 PM:

Dave, I tried to sync my music on to my computer off my iPod touch and iTunes deleted all most all of my music. All my new songs are off my iPod and I was woundring if there is a way to get my music back that was on my iPod when I synced it, it didn't transfer to my computer and I don't know what to do I want my music back I had over 900 songs on it

Grace said, on October 2, 2010 5:06 AM:

alrighty, about 7 months ago, my itunes went on a meltdown. it deleted all of my songs on itunes but not off my ipod. since then i have had to manually manage my ipods music for fear of loosing the songs already on my ipod. however, how do i take songs off my ipod when i am manually managing my ipod? please help its seriouslt bugging me

billy griffin said, on October 21, 2010 9:03 PM:

my son took his ipod to a friends house and they had music on the computer so they hooked the ipod up and downloaded music that we dont allow how can we get that off his ipod?

Dave Taylor said, on October 22, 2010 11:24 PM:

Billy, sounds frustrating, but I'm wondering how your son put the music on his iPod in the first place. Did he sync it with his friend's computer? I'd use a technique like what's outlined in this article to copy everything off the iPod, delete what you don't like, then sync his iPod with your computer. Tedious, but doable. Good luck.

Karin said, on November 9, 2010 6:37 AM:

Hi there, my neighbour has a mac and set up my itouch for me and put all the music on it. He has now moved and I want to set up my itouch with my own laptop but it just makes a "ding" noise when I connect it to my laptop it does not seem to recognise that there is an itouch connected. Is this because he used a Mac and I am not?

BRANDY DOYLE said, on January 21, 2011 5:44 PM:

i have an older model computer and im trying to get the music off of my computer and it it say something about a high speed usb 2.0 port...have no idea what to do..PLEASE HELP

Dawn Weiss said, on April 5, 2011 11:00 AM:

My hard drive crashed forcing me to set up a new itunes, on a new computer, and download my music from my ipod. I managed to 'unhide' my music folder and copied it to my desktop and then to itunes only to discover that not all the music on my ipod is listed in my music folder. i have 2791 songs on my ipod but only 68 songs show up in the music folder when i plug my ipod in. please help

amanda barrett said, on May 2, 2011 9:40 PM:

i just got an ipod nano 6th generation and she listens to the kind of music i dont like and i want to delete songs off of the ipod but when i plug it in it says it cant be detected so what can i do to get those songs off of the ipod nano 6th generation.

George said, on May 28, 2011 11:27 AM:

Hi Dave I have a question, I bought the 16g itouch nano and had over 3500 songs on it. I was having a problem with the cross-fade which was working before and stopped working. So I restored my ipod and told me I needed to update my ipod so I did. I did not realized that all the songs on my ipod were deleted once I finished restoring my ipod, I wanted to replace the songs like I had it before and now it is saying that I do not have enough space for all my songs. Can you tell me what I did wrong and do I need to re-do it again? Thanks for your help...

janet said, on June 24, 2011 11:05 PM:

connected my ipod to a friend's computer and now all my songs are out of order - is there a way of resetting it back to the way it was or do i have to put 7,000 songs back in order manually???

Mario Mongalo said, on June 28, 2011 11:51 PM:

Believe me I'm trying to look for answer and I Just get a Headache reading all this problems and this is hapening to me all at once is like I just open the Pandora's Box Please send me all the information so I can buy the program thank you.

bekey said, on September 15, 2011 5:24 PM:

I downloaded the free trial of touchcopy 11. It can't find my ipod. It found my sister's with no problem. What I am trying to do is avoid having to reset it or something like that which when i click that itunes says i will loose all my music. Am I doing the right thing? Is there something better you would recomend?

Thanks

Dave Taylor said, on September 16, 2011 10:33 PM:

Hi Bekey. Touchcopy is a product that's advertised on my site, it's not one I have any familiarity with. I would email their support people and ask them what's going on, and if I can help out, feel free to copy me too...

Jennifer said, on December 15, 2011 2:04 PM:

I bought this product and it worked great. Took me two seconds to get my music off my ipod and into itunes. I bought the full version because I know somebody put a lot of time and effort into developing a program like this so I could only take 2 seconds of my life to fix my problem. Thanks awesome programmer guy!

Joseph said, on January 1, 2012 12:37 PM:

Or instead of downloading, in iTunes go file, transfer purchases.

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

1 | 2 | All 2 Pages

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

How do I get songs off my iPod?

Reader Comments To Date: 105

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

Check This Out Too...