So my archaic laptop, which was a hand down from me mum, has ceased to work and I'm told that it's because the hard drive has crashed. Damn. I only really used it for my itunes, that was the only info on it apart from what may or may not be porn, so now my whole library of music seems lost. So my questions for you computer literate people (from a computer invalid like me) are: 1) Is there any way to retrieve my itunes, and put them on another computer? 2) Alternatively, can I just use my ipod and download all the songs that are stored on there to a new computer? 3) Am I screwed? I'm really not good at this sort of thing. I appreciate and value all your comments and suggestions (except anything DarkHelmet might say).
No - this has never happened to anyone else, so no solution has been invented. No. Ignore the post from Thuriasz above. Yer fucked. Son, your flight status has been revoked - you've been grounded.
If you plug in your ipod to another computer (which also has itunes) it will ask you if you want to transfer your media from your ipod to itunes.
I didn't know that. Well, doesn't that suck. Try the ipod-to-computer transfer software on cnet. http://www.download.com/iPod-to-Computer-Transfer/3000-2141_4-10665647.html
I think some of these software options will transfer playlists, and some just songs. So download a few until you find one that copies the playlists too, so you don't lose that info. Of course, it will only transfer the ones on your iPod. I have about 5 playlists on my iPhone but 30 on my computer. If you're in the same boat you're not going to get those back. The lesson is: BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER. You got lucky with the songs, but I'm sure you've lost some files you'd want to have that you wouldn't have on your iPod. I'm going to yell again: ALL HARD DRIVES FAIL EVENTUALLY. COME UP WITH A BACKUP PLAN.
You can ABSOLUTELY use third party software to pull music off your iPod onto your new computer. I used to do it all the time on my old iPod Mini. try YamiPod and if that doesn't work search for more. But it can be done.
You don't need software. If you have the iPod (and it's not an iPhone or an iPod Touch), you can connect it to a PC and access it as if it was an external disk drive. You need to enable the viewing of hidden files. You will find a directory with loads of strangely named folders and equally strangely named .mp3 (or whatever other formats you've used) files. That's your music. Copy that entire folder to your PC somewhere. In iTunes, go to File->Add Folder To Library and add the folder you just copied. This should add all your music back to your iTunes Library. One last step, you need to use the "Consolidate Library" menu option which has moved a few times in different versions of iTunes. In 8 it's under File->Library. This will copy the music out the temporary folder you created and in to your actual iTunes Library folder, and it will do it in an organised fashion. Once you are sure that's worked, you can delete the temporary folder.
You, sir, are a wonderful wonderful man! I had to switch laptops about six months ago and much of my (legally purchased) music was stranded. I tried a few different things but just got frustrated and eventually gave up. Thanks for rescuing my music collection!
I've done this myself, transferring the media files direct from the ipod's hard disk, but the filenames are bizarrely numbered and organized into seemingly arbitrary folders. I use winamp to manage my ipod, btw. I'm sure I had some software which gave an option to "use natural filenames on the ipod, not renaming them with numbers." I can't seem to find that now This will be a problem for tracks which don't have an mp3id. They'll appear like this if you try and reinstall the ones you pull direct from the hidden folders: artist name: 4a59b8745 song name: 33c93d075 album name: f823986e There are also additional problems for those who use DRM protected tracks aren't there? Do you have any suggestions here? Also, the OP may not have his whole library on his ipod. In which case, he may want to salvage media files from the laptop hard disk. So can we suggest software to do this? It will only be the FAT that's screwed, and maybe a couple of file -- most of the data on hard disks remains in perfect condition after a crash. At least with mp3s, you have the 4CC you can scan for at the beginning of each cluster to know where a file is, and a bunch of &h00 at the end of a cluster to a mark the end of the file. Can we come up with a solution?
Using "Consolidate Library" will sort the folder names out, and iTunes doesn't use the filenames for listing your music in its library if the ID3 tags are correctly filled out. iTunes' Fairplay DRM scheme allows you to copy your music to up to five computers without a problem. Just copy the DRMed files along with the rest and then when you try to play them just enter the username and password for the account you used to buy them. You can deauthorise a computer by going to Store->Deauthorise Computer. If you lose access to your library on an authorised computer then you can also, once a year, completely reset your authorised computers list. I can't offer too much more advice to someone using WinAMP. Using WinAMP is not supported so if it works, great, but if it stops working then that's not really Apple's problem.
Apple's FairPlay DRM system allows you to copy content to an unlimited number of iPhones and iPods (or a few older Motorola mobile phones) as long as those are synced using an authorised account on an authorised computer. An iPod or an iPhone does not count as a "computer" for the purposes of the five computer limit.