ITunes empty! is there anyway that i can sync my itunes to my ipod?

Question

I opened up my itunes today to find that it was completely empty. nobody else has access to my comp so i know that it wasn't that someone erased all my music, playlists, videos, podcasts.... is there anyway that i can sync my itunes to my ipod, so that way i dont have to re-rate all my music? ~or~ is there anything else i can do?

Answer 1

You can use Explorer to search your computer for missing songs.
On the Start menu, click "Search".
Select "All Files and folders".
In the "All or part of the file name" field, type the song name and then click "Search".
If you see the file you are looking for in the Search Results window, you can add it back into your iTunes library.
See: How to add songs from your hard drive to iTunes.
If you've done that and can't find the music, you can get it back from your iPod.
First of all try this method which works on some Windows PCs.
Enable your iPod for disk use.
See: iPod Disk Use.
Open iTunes and select edit/preferences/advanced/general. Put a check mark in the box marked "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" and also "keep iTunes music folder organized", then click 'ok'.
Connect the iPod whilst holding down the shift/ctrl keys to prevent any auto sync, and if you see the dialogue window asking if you want to sync to this itunes library, click 'no'.
Then go to file/add folder, open 'my computer', select your iPod and click 'ok'.
The music files should transfer to your iTunes.
If this doesn't work (and it may not because officially it's not supposed to), check out the instructions/suggestions here.
Music from iPod to computer (using option 2). This a manual method using "hidden folders" and although it works, it can be messy.
Much easier ways are to use one of the many 3rd party programs that copy music from the iPod to the computer.
One of the most recommended is Yamipod. This is a free program that transfers music and playlists etc from iPod back to the computer. However, it does not transfer playcounts/ratings etc.
Another free program is Pod Player.
There is also CopyPod. This does preserve ratings/playcounts etc if those are important to you but this program is not free. It also supports video transfer.
If you are using iTunes version 7 or later, then you can transfer purchased iTunes store music from the iPod to an authorized computer by using the "file/transfer purchases from iPod" menu. Note that the maximum of 5 authorized computers applies here.