Getting songs from iPod to mac?

[sopo]

Crazy scenario...but here we go.

I've got an ipod (3rd gen) chock full of some great live recordings ang such (for which I don't have CDs available).

The other night, my iMac decided to forget that it had anything on the hard drive. Luckily, I have an external firewire drive with os9 installed. I ran Norton from that drive, and my mac apparently thinks that the hard drive is clean.

I'm going to be trying a few things for data recovery. (Oddly enough, most of the stuff I had installed is fairly easily replacable -- except for the tunes). If that fails, does anyone know whether it's possible to get the songs from my ipod onto a hard drive. I've not plugged the ipod into any computer for fear of losing the playlists on it.

I'll take any (hopefully positive) answer, and there is some room on the external drive if that's an option.

[yellow]

Absolutely possible. Hit http://www.versiontracker.com and search for iPod. There's a plethora of utilities out there that will copy your iPod songs back to your Mac. Make sure you look at the dates of the last update. You want to choose an app with a "recent" update and make sure that it also recognizes and copies AAC files (assuming you have some on your iPod).

[sopo]

Bless you and the horse you rode in on!

Are there any settings (ipod software, itunes, etc) that I need to be aware of?

[yellow]

Nope. These are 3rd party apps that just copy the music off your iPod and import them into your iTunes lib. You can do all this by hand, but it requires familiarity with Terminal.. something not everyone has. So unless you're comfortable there, I'd just let a 3rd party app take care of it for you.

[sopo]

I can work in Terminal....but only if I have very clear and careful instructions. :) I'll take your advice. Many thanks. You're a godsend.

*go bruins*

[yellow]

Well, then looking around won't harm you. In the Terminal with your iPod plugged in (and mounted):
ls -laF "/Volumes/name-of-your-ipod"
The double quotes aren't necessary unless your iPod name has a space in it. That will list all the directories, hidden and otherwise on your iPod. I don't have my iPod with my right now, so I don't remember the name of the directory where the music is, but it's something like ".iTunes Music". Use cd and ls -laF to your hearts content to drill down into the directories looking for music. You won't hurt anything with those 2 commands.

[yubbie2]

i'm a huge fan of "PodWorks". i found it to be faster than a few of the other utilities i tried, and has a very nice and clean interface.

PodWorks at MacUpdate (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10273)

enjoy

-jesse

oh and: go bruins!

[sopo]

You'll forgive my faulty memory (I hope), but assuming I have to go the "reinstall everything on the hard drive" route, doesn't iTunes automatically "update" the ipod? Since iTunes isn't going to have playlists or music in it, I don't want that to happen.

Can one mount an iPod (for the first time, so far as itunes is concerned) so that this doesn't happen? (I'm showing my ignorance here, aren't I?)

[yellow]

I don't believe that iTunes will erase your iPod automatically. That wouldn't make much sense. At worst iTunes will ask your what you want to do when you plug in the iPod. At best, you plug in the iPod and quit iTunes as soon as it starts to open. Without an iPod plugged in, you cannot get to the preferences that control what happens in iTunes when you plug in an iPod.

[sopo]

If nothing else, yellow, I appreciate that you tell me what I want to hear.

Too bad the Bruins decided to do their impression of the Red Sox and choked in the playoffs.

[chris_on_hints]

SOPO -

iTunes WILL erase your iPod contents if it is set up to 'synchronise' music between your hard drive and your iPod. if you hard drive is clean and you plug your (full) iPod in, iTunes will wipe the iPod clean.

MAKE SURE that the iTunes is set up to let you manage your iPod contents MANUALLY.

Also - can I put a vote in for PodWorks? Im backing up my iPod with it at the moment before i update it to version 2.2

[sopo]

And you can't change your ipod settings without plugging it in. Catch-22.

[dj]

Thanks for the info...

Is it possible to add music via these apps? eg I'm at work and buy a new CD, but my iPod is registered at home, but I want to use the PC at work?

ta.

[bramley]

This is bonkers. I had a similar problem quite sometime ago, which I didn't manage to solve, and eventually I had to grin and bear it.

I tried to find a plist that would allow you to turn off the "start iTunes when connected" option but no dice.

I think the only way around your problem, Sopo, is to find someone with a Mac already set to treat the iPod as a Firewire Drive. Otherwise you are trapped.

Maybe that Belkin Card Reader will let you transfer data to it? Need a big card, and it's not cheap. Best I can think of.

[sopo]

This is an easier maneuver to pull off with the dockable ipods than previous generations, but it works (I tried it).

Holding down the option and command keys connect your ipod. Keep those held down until after iTunes boots up and the ipod is listed as connected. This will prevent automatic synching.

For the record, podworks worked wonderfully. It was a little tedious, since I don't like to have my music automatically "organized," but it worked. This was one shareware program that I'm more than happy to pay for.

[redman71]

I'm about to unbox my new G5....I have all my music stored on my iPod. Through reading the above posts it seems as if PodWorks is the best way to get the songs on my iPod onto the hardrive of my new G5. However I am a bit concerned reading that there is a chance that my iPod could be erased by a new un-used version of iTunes which would be on my G5. Im sort of confused as to which precautions I need to take in this situation. Any help much apprecitated!

Thanks
redman71

[sopo]

Hold down option and command while you plug in your ipod, and keep those held down until after itunes comes up. This will prevent automatic syncing. Then you can change your preferences (if you've got automatic syncing enabled).

[nkuvu]

I just created a new user, started up iTunes, and plugged in my iPod. I was pretty sure that it wouldn't just erase the music on my iPod (but just in case, the music was on my HD, just not in the library for that user).

I got the attached message -- so iTunes gives you an option to synchronize your iPod with the empty library.

[lgrw3919]

what i have done in the past is open the ipod software updater (located applications--> utilities) so that when i plugged my ipod in, itunes would not sync up with it. if you open that first, then your ipod will not be synced and you don't have to worry about that. at that point, your ipod IS MOUNTED, so you can open an iPod utility and get all your music BACK from your ipod. wallah.

[gfg123]

Has anybody done this successfully with OS X 10.3.4? I tried a couple of the above-mentioned solutions (short of downloading any new software), but was unable to achieve success. Any advice?

Thanks.

[redman71]

What I'm wondering is...does any of this even matter if you have a new fresh G5 and have never added an iPod as a device to iSync......as soon as you dock the iPod, if it has never been added to iSync no worries of erasing your iPod right?

This is the scenario Im faced with...I have a new G5 on order, my MP3 are erased off my old G4 (it only had a 10GB hard drive) and reside only in my iPod. I'm hoping that with Podworks I will be able to copy all of my music on the iPod to my new G5's hardrive. I just have to get around this frickin' erasing issue that I'm just finding out...wish I knew exaclty what to do!

[foreverfadesx]

is there a way to juts copy certain playlists or all the music but broken up into the playlists like on the ipod?