I-tunes Library was deleted, contents is on Ipod, how can I get back to lib

Question

My I-tunes Library was deleted, All contents is on Ipod, how can I get all my music back into my library? Is it possible?

Answer 1

There is another way to retreive music from your iPod when it has been accidently deleted from your PC (I don't own a Mac, so cannot help there)which doesn't involve buying rip-off software. This is a very basic thing to do and following the instructions below, it is something a novice can do - tested it on my wife who is a total technophobe (and I hope you appreciate the moaning I got from forcing her to test it lol)
First change the settings in iTunes that automatically sync the iPod with the current iTunes library (or you will end up with a blank iPod too!)by clicking on "Manually manage songs and playlists" and also click on "Enable disk use". These are on the "iPod" tab within the preferences on iTunes (click on "Edit" then on "Preferences").
Next, double-click on "My Computer" and then on the iPods icon, which shows as a removable drive. In the iPod folder you now have on screen, click on "Tools" and then on "Folder Options". Now click on the "View" tab and then look for "Hidden files and folders". Just under that is an option to "Show hidden files and folders"
Now you have done all that - now comes the part where you recover all that music!
You should now see a folder called "iPod_Control". That is where your music folder is hidden. Now you have to add the Music folder within the "iPod_Control" folder to your library using iTunes itself....
First close iTunes down and then run it again. Click on "Edit" and then "Preferences", click on the "Advanced" tab and make sure that the "Keep iTunes Music folder organised" tab and the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" tab are both ticked and click on "OK".
Next, click on "File" then click on "Add Folder to library". You need to point iTunes at the "Music" folder on your iPod, to do this scroll down the locations until you see "My Computer", click on it and then look through the locations for the iPod and click on that. Next, click on "iPod_Control" and finally onto "Music".
Now click on "OK" and prepare to wait for quite a while while iTunes recovers your music.
When you have finished that, you should tidy up by returning a few settings back to their original places. Just go back through the process and re-hide hidden folders (open "My Computer" and click on "Tools", "Folder Options", then the "View" tab. Change the "Hidden files and folders" to "Do not show" and click on "OK". Lastly, in iTunes, click on "Edit", "Preferences", "iPod" and change the setting to "Automatically update all songs and playlists", then untick the "Enable disk use"and click on "OK"
Windows XP Pro