Recover deleted songs from iTunes using iPod

I will preface by saying, I am an idiot, so please phrase your answers like you're talking to a 10 year old. I have a new Mac (my first) and I had iTunes all set up and working correctly until somehow I deleted a folder with half my music in it. It is all on my iPod, however. How do I get it from my iPod back into iTunes? There is some SINCERE gratitude here for anyone who can help.
iMac   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

If your iPod is set to update automatically you can use a keyboard command to prevent it auto-syncing with iTunes. While connecting the iPod to the computer on a Mac hold down the Option and Command (⌥ and ⌘ Apple) keys. This will stop the iPod from auto-syncing with iTunes and it will appear in the source list. Wait until you are sure the iPod has mounted, and that it will not auto sync and then you can let the keys go. This may take between 20 to 30 seconds depending on your computer.
Change your update setting to manual so that you can use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Also when using a lot of the utilities your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button: Managing content manually on iPod
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. If you have any iTMS purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers has been introduced with iTunes 7. A paragraph on it has been added to this article:: Transfer iTunes Store purchases using iPod
The transfer of non iTMS content such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there's a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to your Mac. The procedure is a bit involved but if you're interested it's available at this link: Two-way Street: Moving Music Off the iPod
If you prefer something more automated there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve music files and playlists from your iPod, this is just a selection. I use Senuti but have a look at the web pages and documentation for the others too, you'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos and games as well. You can also read reviews of some of them here: Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Senuti Mac Only
iPodRip Mac Only
PodWorks Mac Only
PodView Mac Only
iPodAccess Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac & Windows
PodUtil Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac & Windows
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. 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 relatively inexpensive these days and you can get loads of storage for a reasonable outlay.

Similar Messages

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    Now anytime that I delete something from the external hard drive, it ends up in the recycling bin on my desktop. But that does not seem to be the case with songs that I delete from the "MUSIC" library on my hard drive.
    I'm confused. When I accidently deleted this song, where did it go? The folder containing the mp3 file is gone, it is no longer in iTunes and it never appeared in the Recycling Bin. In the past whenever I've accidently deleted a song, I simply went to the Recycling Bin and clicked on "Restore File".
    Does anyone know where to find the missing file(s) and how to restore them to my 'MUSIC' folder in iTunes?
    Note that this has nothing to do with my iPod, but rather the external hard drive associated with my PC.
    Thanking everyone in advance who can help!
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    How I wish it were that simple.
    My Recycling Bin is empty, which is what is perplexing. Just to see if this function was working properly I deleted a song from the LIBRARY and guess what? It appeared in the Recycling Bin.
    Its a mystery what has happened to these songs.
    This has happened on several occassions. I waited years for a few rare songs to come out in digital because only vinyl copies existed. When Apple finally reached a licensing agreement to sell these songs, I downloaded them and created a playlist. Somehow the playlist disappeared including all of the songs from the library. I didn't think anything of it because I thought that I could simply go to iTunes, select PURCHASED songs and add them. To my suprise iTunes does not have a history of my purchase.
    Finally, after much trouble back and forth with Apple customer support they sent me a link for two of the most recent songs that I downloaded, but the ones that I downloaded a year or more in the past.
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  • Recover deleted songs from itunes library

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    There are restrictions on what iTunes will transfer from the iPad to the PC, but there are paid and free 3rd party apps that do a good job of transferring just about any type of files that you have between the iPad and your PC.
    Do a search on Transferring music from iPad to PC.

  • How do I delete songs from Itunes without losing them in my IPOD?

    How do I delete songs from Itunes without losing them in my IPOD? I don't want 11gb of music stored on my computer when I already have it in my Ipod. Anyone have some info?

    You can Transfer music manually, then delete the files from the PC without having it sync to the iPod.
    HOWEVER.....
    Deleting songs off of iTunes or your computer is a very bad idea unless you have created one or more backup files of all your songs.
    Using the iPod as the sole repository of any of your songs is a very risky practice. When (not ‘if’) you need to restore the iPod, return the iPod for service, or it's song files are somehow lost or damaged, you will be re-ripping all your CDs back into iTunes and re-purchasing all your iTMS songs. Restoring the iPod is a common ‘fix’ to many small issues that arise.
    If you cannot store your songs on a PC or within iTunes, then you will need to have some storage medium in use (an external hard drive, DVDs or CDs). You should also consider a secondary backup medium for additional safety. Whether you keep your music in iTunes or on an external source – Multiple copies of your music files are a must!
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    iTMS REMINDER: While you can always take the time to re-rip the CDs you own to restore your iTunes music, if you lose your iTMS purchased music and have no backups, you will have to re-purchase them. Few exceptions are made to this rule – at least none that I am aware of.
    Here is a post on developing a backup strategy:
    http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=1498152

  • HT1386 after i transfer songs from itunes on ipod can i delete songs from my itunes will it effect erasing songs on ipod

    after i transfer songs from itunes to ipod can i delete songs from itunes and will it effect erasing songs from ipod

    It will not effect the iPod unless you sync with the iPod again.

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    Unless I repair my hard drive every other day I am unable to delete songs from iTunes or email messages from Postbox. I've only had an iMac for a few weeks, is this normal?

    Back up all data.
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    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
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  • Can not transffer some songs from itunes to ipod

    I have down loaded some hindi song from net , I am trying to transfer song from itune to ipod but can not can some one help me?

    Are you using a 1st or second generation shuffle and what format are the songs that won't move? Some formats that play in iTunes are not compatible with the 1st generation iPod shuffle, Aiff and Apple Lossless for instance. Apple Lossless is not supported on the 2nd generation shuffle:
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  • Transferring songs from ITunes to IPod Nano

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    I don't think the late/great Steve Jobs had this "new and improved" version of ITunes to be so darn frustrating.  It used to be relatively simple to put songs into a playlist or to import purchased songs from ITunes into an Apple device such as the IPOD Nano.  "Simple" used to be the selling point of Apple products.  What happened?  With this new version, I feel like I've got to contact Apple Support to do simple tasks.  It seems like I'm not the only person having this problem.

  • Cant put songs from itunes to ipod

    Cant put songs from itunes to ipod, i have itunes on my computer at my house and i have i tunes on my computer at work.
    It will only let me have songs either from my house or my work not both, if i try to drag the songs into the ipod symbol it wont let me put it in my ipod
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    If you want to connect and use an iPod on more than one computer (As in your case where you have one at home and one you use at work) you can change the update preference to "manually manage songs and playlists. By doing this, you can listen to your iPod at work where you may have iTunes but no songs or a different set of songs on the computer.
    See these links for more detail:
    Using iPod with Multiple computers
    Managing Your Songs Manually
    For info: iPod 101
    The iPod offers three ways to transfer music from your computer. You can select one of the following update modes from the iPod Preferences menu in iTunes (Edit=>Preferences=>'iPod' tab):
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  • How do you delete songs from Itunes? I have many that show up as many as 7 times and itunes will not allow me to remove them.

    How do you delete songs from Itunes? I have many that show up as many as 7 times and itunes will not allow me to remove them.

    I have tried to Hilight them and hit Control Delete nothing happens. I tried to just Delete one, but when you hit delete nothing happens.

  • I am trying to delete songs from itune 11 library and i want it to delete the song from my hard drive as well.  All my songs are in the music folder but not in the itunes folder??  itunes did not prompt me to move file to trash nor is there an option??

    I am trying to delete songs from itune 11 library and i want it to delete the song from my hard drive as well.  All my songs are in the music folder but not in the itunes folder.  itunes did not prompt me to move file to trash nor is there an option to remove file to trash bin.  How can i  delete songs from both the itunes and hard drive at the same time?

    aespinoza2210 wrote:
    could it be in the itunes folder or does it have to be in the itunes media folder, which is within the itunes folder??
    A Espinoza,
    The iTunes Media folder is set in Preferences > Advanced, and is the key to most iTunes folder organizational activities.  So I doubt that the automatic deletion will work for files that are somewhere else within the folder structure.
    However, I have not experimented with that issue in quite a while, so you are welcome to give it a try in iTunes 11. 

  • How to delete songs from itunes backup file

    how to delete songs from itunes backup file

    There is nothing to delete, as no iTunes content is included in any iPhone backup.

  • I want to delete songs from iTunes Match by unchecking them in my iTunes library on my Mac. Is this possible? If so, how do I change the necessary setting(s) in iTunes or iTunes Match?

    I want to delete songs from iTunes Match by unchecking them in my iTunes library on my Mac. Is this possible? If so, how do I change the necessary setting(s) in iTunes or iTunes Match?

    I have seen this page, but it seems that this involves deleting songs from my iTunes library in order to remove them from iTunes Match. I want to keep them in my iTunes library, but not in iTunes match (I am over my limit for songs in iTunes Match, and would like to decide which songs to keep in iTunes Match).

  • I have MBP 13 late 2011:Will it be able to support a 3tb hardisk?Secondly, if i delete a song from itunes,is that song removed from the mac and is the space freed up?If not then what should I do to free up space when i delete songs from itunes?

    I have MBP 13 late 2011:
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    Secondly, if i delete a song from itunes,is that song removed from the mac and is the space freed up?If not then what should I do to free up space when i delete songs from itunes?

    Your MBP will support a 3T HDD provided it is formatted correctly and has sufficient power.  Most large HDDs require an outboard power source.
    When you delete songs from iTunes you will get a message if you want to send it to trash.  If you send it to trash, space will be freed up only when you empty trash.  An individual song does not consume much space so if your HDD is becoming full, more drastic action s should be considered, such as moving an entire file to an external HDD.
    Ciao.

  • Need help getting songs from itunes to ipod shuffle/ help

    i seem to having problems getting songs from itunes to ipod?
    any one want to hwlp me with this?
    m

    Perhaps if you posted what the problem os we can try to help. And also what steps you have taken to try and fix this mystery problem.
    Patrick

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