How do I back up the songs from my entire itunes library (plus extra)?

I want to update my iTunes from iTunes 7 to iTunes 8. And I want to back up my entire iTunes library first (just in case some crap goes down, lol), but I don't want to just back up the songs without all the information that comes along with it (Date Added, Rating, etc.). Is there a way I could do that? Thanks in advance.

Consolidating pulls in copies of any files that are outside the iTunes Music folder. It's up to you where you store your music but if it's outside the iTunes Music folder then this approach may cause problems. If you want to back up your library then backup everything. There are two approaches - one is to copy everything exactly as it's laid out now to a new location from where you could pick & choose what to copy back in the event of a disaster. The other is to use iTunes built-in backup program, or that of a 3rd party, to backup to DVD or files in some proprietry format and hope you can restore them when the time comes.
I use SyncToy 2.0, a free tool from MS. Copy your entire iTunes folder & any other media folders onto another hard drive or network share. After making your initial backup copy use SyncToy to periodically synchronise or echo your library to the backup. A preview will show which files need to be updated giving you a chance to spot unexpected changes and during the run only the changed files will be copied saving lots of time.
If you do keep all your Music inside the *iTunes\iTunes Music* folder then, as a bonus, a library backed up in this fashion can also be opened and tested using the "Hold down SHIFT while launching iTunes" feature which lets you choose a new library.
If you are only interested in backing up the organisational part of the library, so you could roll back after upgrading for example, copy all of the main iTunes folder and it's subfolders, except for *iTunes Music*, to your backup location.
tt2

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I used to have this problem.
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as such,
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I recently lost my entire Itunes library but still had songs on my Ipod. Now when I try to rebuild my library by transferring songs FROM my Ipod TO the Itunes library, I am unable to. There are a million help subjects of how to transfer your songs from the library to the ipod but none about how to transfer them back and I can't figure it out. Please help!

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Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. The transfer of content sources such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
SharePod Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
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How to move songs from ipod to itunes library?

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You can't sync or drag your non iTMS music back directly from an iPod to iTunes, the transfer of music is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there is a manual method of accessing the iPod's hard drive and copying songs back to iTunes on Windows posted in this thread: MacMuse - iPod to iTunes
If you prefer something more automated then there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod, this is just a selection. Have a look at the web pages and documentation for these, they are generally quite straightforward. As iTunes 7 is just out some of these may not have caught up with it yet though I haven't experienced any problems with the Mac software I use.
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iGadget Windows Only
iPodCopy Mac and Windows Versions
iPod Access Mac and Windows Versions
PodUtil Mac and Windows Versions
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Whichever of these retrieval methods you choose, keep your iPod in manual mode until you have reloaded your iTunes and you are happy with your playlists etc then it will be safe to return it auto-sync again. I would also advise that you get yourself an external hard drive and back your stuff up in case you have problems again. External drives are comparatively inexpensive these days and you can get loads of storage for quite a small outlay.

How do i transfer songs from ipod to itunes library?

my original computer was destroyed
got a new computer
but itunes will only download itune-purchased songs into the harddrive
is there a way i can manually download all the songs from my ipod to itunes library in the computer?
thanks

cranky-d wrote:
i had music that was only on my harddrive
harddrive's destroyed, its only on my ipod now
Not a good idea at all to only have info in one place.
You could try , at your risk, purchasing a third party program that may extract info ( not supported by Apple).

Deleting songs from a single iTunes library?

I recently got a new laptop, and transferred many of my songs off of my desktop computer to my new one. I have home sharing turned on between the two. I want to delete songs from my laptop's library that I don't want, without deleting them from my main desktop. Every time I attempt to delete a song, it pulls up with the option of deleting it with computer's synchronized with mine, as well as from iCloud. I don't want to delete it from the computer synchronized with mine (Desktop) or from iCloud. Even if I turn off homesharing and try to delete music, it won't remove the music without my checking of the 'Remove from iCloud' box, only making a little cloud download sign next to the song. I'm trying to get organized and I need help.
Thanks!
- Jordan

gsusser wrote:
Regarding the feature to reduce the files to 128k... is it possible to change this setting to something like 192k or 256k?
not in iTunes, but you can use this:
Lossless to AAC Workflow v2.2
Two scripts assist with importing/managing Apple Lossless or AIFF audio files and sending converted AAC copies to a mounted iPod set to "manually manage songs and videos".
Lossless to AAC Workflow (CD->iPod):
Imports each enabled CD track as an Apple Lossless or AIFF file Makes a converted AAC copy of each imported file Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes.
Lossless to AAC Workflow (iTunes->iPod):
Makes a converted AAC copy of each Apple Lossless or AIFF track selected in iTunes Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes. In this way you can keep archived lossless files on your hard drive, and manageable AAC files on your iPod.
Yes, iTunes 9.1 will auto-encode tracks to iPod, but only 128 kbps AAC; these scripts enable use of your Custom AAC encoder setting.

My old pc crashed. How do I get all the songs from that pc to my new one?

My old PC crash. How do I get all the previous downloaded songs from the crashed PC to my new one?

The music sync is one way - computer to ipod. The exception is itunes purchases: File>Transfer Purchases
It has always been very basic to always maintain a backup copy of your computer. Use your backup copy to put everything back.
Certainly you did not reinstall your OS without making sure your backup copy was current.

How do I back up the songs from my entire itunes library (plus extra)?

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