I have an iPod that I’ve been using on my Mom’s macintosh, but now I want to use it on my PC. How do I get my PC to see the iPod, and then how do I connect the two so I can transfer stuff?
When you’re used to working with the Macintosh, where the core software for working with iPods is installed with the OS itself, it’s frustrating that there’s a bit more effort involved in getting the PC to see and work with an iPod.
First off, though, the bad news: you’re going to have to reformat the disk on your Mac-bsaed iPod to get it to work with the PC. Once you’ve done that, though, it’ll work for both Mac and PC. I’ll document exactly how I dealt with the siutation your’e talking about when I got my shiny new iPod Video so you can see how that might not be a huge crisis.
The first step – and if you don’t have a Mac or an iPod that’s already full of music, you can skip this step – is to connect the iPod to your Mac then sync the two. Now you have a complete copy of the iPod data on the Mac and won’t have to panic when it comes time to reformat the iPod’s disk. Right? 🙂
Now, plug in the iPod to your PC and you’ll doubtless see an error message like this:
Since you probably don’t have the original CDROM you can just grab the software from the Apple site as the dialog box suggests. Go to the Apple iPod Download Center to grab the necessary drivers and utilities for your computer, install them, and reboot.
Now you should be able to install iTunes if you haven’t yet (you need iTunes to work effectively with the iPod) by grabbing it from the Apple site too. You can easily download it from Apple iTunes Download Center.
Start up iTunes once it’s installed then hook up your iPod to your PC. You’ll now see this scary message:
Click on “Update” and you’ll be taken to the iPod Updater:
(Your version number might vary slightly as Apple’s constantly tweaking the OS on the iPod: this is the version as of mid-February, 2006).
Click on “Restore” and it’ll wipe your iPod clean and reformat the disk to work with Windows XP, which is – believe it or not – what you want! This takes a few minutes of time.
The next (and last) step is for the iPod Setup Assistant to run. It gives you a chance to name your iPod and set a few important preferences:
You can see the two options you have here: I have the app automatically sync the songs on my PC with my iPod (though it doesn’t work in the other direction: if I add songs to my iPod from another computer, I need to manually copy them from the iPod onto my PC when I want to complete the transfer).
Once you’ve set things as you’d like, click on “Next” and it’ll actually format and configure your iPod. Then you’re done! Congratulations.
If you want to restore all that music you pulled off the iPod just before you reformated it, eject the iPod from your PC, unplug the iPod from your PC and plug it back into your Mac. Now it’ll show up in iTunes, but won’t autosync. Simply drag and drop the music you want to restore back onto the iPod name on the left side of the iTunes program.
Hope that gets you up and running!
How can i get back to setup assistant? I was never able to setup my ipod nano and now my old itunes libary wont recognize the ipod..
Linda, I’m afraid I have no idea what you may have done. You might just get something like iPodCopy, install it on the computer that IS going to be the one it’s synced against, grab all the music on the iPod, “Restore” it, and copy it back. Tedious, but straightforward. More details:
https://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_get_songs_off_my_ipod.html
In the process of registering iPod touch and installing iTunes, we typed a code into Command Prompt on our PC, that would prevent syncing of iTunes with iPod – advise we got on some website I very unfortunately cannot recall. It was meant for people who do iPod activation for somebody else and want to prevent transfer of their data on the iPod. It said that it could be undone later. Well, we cannot recall the code (we thought it was some common info we could look up later) and we have tried everything else – back up the whole computer system, uninstall and reinstall itunes, but our iTunes does not support syncing -even though we want it now!!! – do you know anything about the code and how to get rid of it? I would love to buy you some chai to celebrate this problem solved :-)Thanks for helping people!
Victoria, why cant you just add the new iPod as a second ipod on your computer?
JoAnn, I’m curious what you’ve found as a ‘charger’ that isn’t a dock? The shuffles are very cool, but it’s annoying that unlike the other iPods which use the same cable whether a Nano, Classic, Touch or iPhone, this one does require a special dock just for the shuffle. Good luck!
I am so new to the ipod world-someone gave me a ipod shuffle 2nd generation (the clip on) but only the ipod no accessories. I went and bought the charger (usb) and downloaded the software from apple/itunes, but the pc still doesn’t even recognize when I plug it in (on or off)I saw on some sites there’s a dock, do I need to buy that too?
i have a ipod that is registered on my lap top, but it broke. so i got a new ipod and i want to delete the old one and put up the new one but it wont let me. what do i do
I just got a new laptop and am trying to get my itunes from my old computer onto my new laptop. My sister said to try Idump. I somehow got the songs onto my new laptop, but when I tried to sync my ipod to my new itunes, it erased everything on my ipod and it is blank now. How do I get everything to work together??
Hi. My Ipod Classic had a virus on the autorun.ini. AVG cleared this but since this the Ipod will not sync at all. It connects, then as soon as Itunes recognises it, it ejects it. I can see ipod on a laptop with no itunes, and thought about formating it and starting again, but do not want to do this until i know I tunes will re-load software.
Hi,
I bought some albums from Itunes last night. This morning when I tried to drag and drop the songs onto my Ipod it wouldn’t work. I have an Ipod touch and an Ipod classic and couldn’t do this on either one. I have it set to NOT sync automatically and have always been able to drag and drop with no problem. This just happened all of a sudden. I don’t want it to automatically sync because I don’t store everything on Itunes….Help please:)
Thanks!
hello, i have a ipod touch 2nd generation and i cant my ipod coz i have to install the itunes first..i already install the itunes but when i try to open it always tell me that the folder itunes cannot be found or created and its required. the dafault location for this folder is inside the my music folder..and i did that also and i got the same problem..
so i had an ipod nano (second gen.) and i just got the itouch. how do i get my new itouch to sync to my itunes?? and how do i get rid of my old ipod on itunes?
i have a ipod touch and it has been disabled for 39 years! and i dont have the same computer anymore. how can i fix this?
i got a new computer and i am trying to sync my ipod to it but it wants me to erase all my music so it can sync with this computer but i have no music on it and i dont have my other computer so is there anyway to get the music off my ipod and put it on my new computers itunes without losing my whole collection?
Another ipod touch problem.
Hi, i’ve just got an ipod touch for my birthday and can’t get it to work on my computer. I already had itunes on my computer and the ipod wouldn’t connect so i unstalled everything and reinstalled again, i’ve done it a few times now and its still not picking it up. I downloaded the software from apple and then install it,(itunes) it gets to near the end of installing and comes up with error can’t install HRESULT: 0x80073712. Please help.
I seen somewhere that you need windows updates to fully update,? but it hasn’t been working on this laptop for sometime, comes up as windows can’t check for updates. Hope to hear back from you soon. Thanks
I have reinstalled itunes and all the apple software on my pc with vista several times, gone to at least 20 forums trying to get my ipod touch to get recognized by itunes. The apple software auto-update even appeared to work….still no luck getting my ipod touch to be recognized by itunes. I have spent countless hours trying to fix this for the past month or so….bout to give up my ipod n get a cheap mp3 player for music. Thx for any help.
how can i get i tunes notice my i pod touch(16gb)?
plz help
thanks!
When I plug my apple ipod into pc it just gives me a box to let microsoft know there is an error, same when click apple itunes, quick time?????
my itunes won’t let me select any options on the apps tab. so now i don’t know hoow to put apps on my i-pod touch. and i don’t have wifi so i can’t do it dirrectly on my i-pod. how can put the apps i got on to my i-pod?
I have just got an ipod Classic. Charged it up on PC. When I try to connect to my Apple laptop a message comes up to say it does not recognise the device and I need to initialise. Is this OK
i just got a new ipod nano and i have itunes but my ipod needs itunes 8 or higher and every time i try to download a newer version i get a message saying that the older itunes couldnt be removed. do you know how i could fix this?
Hi,
I was having trouble with my 80gb classic ipod so i restored and now it wont show in my itunes. ipod says its connecting but it doesnt sync. But when i go to ‘my computer’ it is showing there. Can you help?
I lost my iPOD and now need to get a new one. I still have my songs on my computer. How can I retore my stuff back on the new one?
I hace several problems:
1.I’ve locked myself out of my ipod.
2.I want to sync my ipod to a new computer.
3.I want to sync my ipod to a new itunes account i created.
Can you help me?
Can you just e-mail me your answer? Please.
Hi Have just downloaded a Mp4 video onto my itunes. When I come to play it. I can hear the audio but cant see the video. Just get a green screen were it should be. Please can you help.
I have the same problem as Mark
-Randy
Hi Dave, i have an ipod shuffle (2nd generation) but when i plug it in to my laptop on the dock, it just charges the ipod. I update itunes reguraly but i cant get my ipod to be noticed on itunes. What i don’t understand is why the ipod setup assistant never came up??? I think this is why it isn’t noticing it. Everytime i plug the ipod in, it still won’t come up!! Please Help!!!!
Thanks
Feel free to email me crazy_kay_xx@hotmail.com
I’d appreciate it if you could help me, Thankyou !
MY ITUNES WON’T LET ME SEE THE OTHER HALF OF THE ITUNES SCREEN!!!! 🙁
I just got my new itouch but I try to register but It only shows me half the screen where it says register later. I can’t get to the other side of the screen where it says register now. Please help. I tried everything! Please please help me! Oh I also have a windows XP and my computer is a Dell I’m not sure if thats any help. I’ve also have had another ipod before but I never had this much trouble. . . I’ve looked on other forums and they say go to the bottom right of itunes and theres a resize button but I don’t have one there. . . I also have the latest version of itunes.
PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!
I’d really really appreciate it!
hi,
i bought my husband an ipod touch 16gb for xmas ..was working fine but last week when he connected to the pc to charge and to see if needed updated as he could not access itunes or internet on it anymore. but the problem is he now cant even check for updates as it is not syncing with pc and when you click on itunes icon to open manually it gives error msg cannot read itunes because it was created by a newer version of itunes!!?? please help!!
thanks louise.
I think this is cool i’m not the only one with a problem with my itunes. I do have a question, im having problems with openin up my itunes. when I click on it a message pops up sayin ” The iTunes application could not be opened. The required folder cannot be found.” Please help me, I’ve called iTunes but no help there, I like iTunes and i’ve spent a lot of money on it. HELP!!!!
My ipod locked and also when I connected to the computer so I can restored but the problem My I tune dosent show on my I tune.
I hope to hear back from you and thanks for your time.
For some reason I am not able to see my device (ipod touch) when I open itunes. It usually recongnizes my ipod immediately then does the auto sync etc. And yes I do have my IPOD connected to the factory cord they give you and in the usb port. Any ideas? This just started happening…
i have had the ipod nano chromatic for a while and then all of a sudden one day when i want to sync music into my ipod and all it does is dim my screen then thats it my ipod doesnt come on the side or it doesnt show the sync screen and its sorta annoying please reply.
i bought an ipod 30gb from a friend,i got home connected it to my laptop(vista).it said the ipod is locked and cannot be written to.i scanned it and saw viruses so i took it out and formatted it.but when i got home i tried it but it is not reading nor showing on my itunes library but showing in my computer.pls help me!!!!
I’ve had my ipod vido nano for about a year now. and all of a sudden my pc can’t detect it. I’ve put hours into finding a solution but nothing is working. Does this mean my ipod is broken? should i get a new one? I havent dropped it or anything it just wont connect. It’s very frusterating.
thanks, Heather
Hey i bought a ipod shuffle the other day and took it back to the shop as it was on charge for over 4 hours and it didnt turn green and the set up asisstant did not load for some weird reason ? = S the other ipod is doing the exact same??????????? can someone help me please arrrrrrgh!
thanks amy.
xzamy2003xz@aol.com
When I plug in my Ipod Chromatic, nothing happens. It doesn’t even show in My Computer as the F file. The Ipod also doesn’t charge. But when I plug in my Ipod Nano, it shows and it shows on itunes and it said “Do not disconnect” on the ipod screen. And when I plug my chromatic to another computer, nothing happens eithier. But when i plug my Chromatic into my Radio Stereo, the ipod charges and it works perfectly fine. Please help!!!!!!
i have the same problem but i have a windows vista computer and when i put mmy cable in , something pops up and it says removable disk ad it says options like play or copy disk and things like thay and whenn i go on itunes it doesnt recognise my ipod..
ever seen anything like that
im new on ipod and i need help…
can you email me and tell me what i should do my email is zbk_101@hotmail.com
I have read all the responses but not sure if this scenario is covered. I have an IPod Nano 2nd generation. I have registered it, received confirmation from Apple but still the registration screen comes up and it doesn’t go away when I choose Never Register or Register Later. Also I don’t ever see a “Source” pane. I’m a senior but never thought I was dumb until now. thanks.
the ipod mini and nano are supposed to open by default with itunes…my itunes is not opening my ipod by default…HELP ME!
HEY HEY HEY HEY!!!
READ THIS!!!
I had the same problem with not being able to see the other register button on the right side of the screen.
Go into your control panel. Then push Display. The go to Settings and in the part where it says Screen Resolution. Make sure it is 1024 x 768!
Then go back to the itunes page.
It should work!
i have the new ipod nano the improve one and i restored it and now it shows a message to restore it in itunes but now i doesnt detect it in the computer,itunes or anything please help the ipod is my cousins she let me put music in for her please help and that’s the only thing it say to restore it in itunes
I am replacing my iTunes library with the new iTunes Plus versions of the same songs I have already purchased. I have to download 2100 replacement songs. Every two minutes, the download stops, and a popup window asks me if I want to delete the old files,or move them to a file on my desktop. So, every two minutes I have to mouse click “delete files.” This is going to take days to download all these songs! How can I just get iTunes to STOP asking me what I want to do with the old files every two minutes? I want it to just automatically delete all the old song files without asking me every two minutes! How do I get rid of this irritating pop up box?
Okay, so I have this iPod nano. No future problems of it connecting or anything, but I recently switched monitors, nothing really happened.. it’s all the same stuff. But now, since it’s also a new tower as well, I have to register my iPod to the computer.. which I can’t do because the “Accept” button is off the screen, and when I try to make it larger, it doesn’t let me. Some sort of solution would be great!
Thanks 🙂
~Kirsten
I got an ipod touch for x-mas and been trying to register it ever since. when i go to register it, i cant scroll over to the register now button. so i decided to go to apple’s web page and register it there. It was registered succesfully on the website, but every time i open my itunes library, it says its not registered and i cant scroll over to register it. please help. thanks
oh and ya my email is brownly@live.com
how do view my files on my new ipod cause i put songs on it but i registered but nothing happens when i plug my ipod in it still says register and create account but i created a account and registered. pease email me back
hi dave
i just got a brand new 150 gig ipod classic. though every time i plug it in to my pc it connects for a second and then ejects itself. i hav plug the same ipod in to another computer and it works fine and i hav lso pluged another idop in to my computer and that one works fine. what can i do to fix this problem.
ps when i first plugged in my ipod a note poped up saying that new software needs has been installed and once i rebooted the computer as asked another pop up appeared that said there was a problem with the installation of the new software and it may not run properly. this may have something to do with it but again i dont know how to fix it.
thankyou
I have a nano 4g, itunes cannot see it, I have followed the 5 rules, I have downloaded and reinstalled itunes but no good, my pc can see ipod and itunes starts when i connect my ipod but ipod does not show in itunes, I don’t know what else to do? I’m running vista ultimate with sp1 and kaspersky, any ideas Dave something that will make a difference, oh I have also reset my ipod, help please?
well i got a new ipod yesterday and i plugged it in to the computer and set it up with itunes and it was all good, and i put songs on it and that was good too, but now when i plug my ipod in to the computer, it says on the ipod connected. and the it says ejecting and it ejects it self from the computer so then i cant put songs on it.. please HELLLP!
hey, i just got the new ipod nano and i cant get to the user agreement button on the page… i tried moving the screen to get to it but nothing will work and i see more people had the same problem.. please help me haha,
zach
My iPod plays music but I cant sync it through itunes. I cant see the ipod in my computer or itunes when I hooked it up to my PC. I followed all instructions for tropubleshooting but none worked (5 rs etc…) Of course I always end up at the format or resore your iPod section but cant do this because I cant access it. Thanks for the help.