Saving songs on iPod before reformatting

So I have a 120GB iPod Classic that was formatted originally on a Mac. All of the songs on that Mac were downloaded. I now have a PC laptop with new songs on my iTunes. I made sure I disabled the automatic synching on the iTunes for my PC. I plugged my iPod into my laptop, and it said I had to reformat it since it was done before on a Mac. I assume that means I need to save those songs on the iPod somewhere else before I reformat it, right? How does one go about doing that? If I bought a portable hard drive, could I download the songs from my iPod on to that hard drive? I can't do anything on my computer without reformatting it the iPod, and I'm worried that means I will lose my songs. Am I being paranoid? What might be the best way to take care of this?

If your iPod is formatted for Mac it won't run natively on a PC because Windows operating systems don't recognize Mac OS-formatted disks (HFS or HFS Plus formats). A portable hard drive would have to be connected to a computer so you could load anything on to it so you'd still be accessing the drive through Windows unless you intend connecting it through a Mac first.There are third party programs that will allow you to use a Mac formatted iPod on Windows. XPlay for instance gets good reviews and has the added functionality to let you copy your songs back to iTunes. Once you have your songs saved to the PC you can go ahead and restore the iPod on your PC and reformat it for Windows. You can purchase XPlay at this link: XPlay

Similar Messages

Saving songs on iPod before reformatting it to new laptop (how?)

So I have a 120GB iPod Classic that was formatted originally on a Mac. All of the songs on that Mac were downloaded. I now have a PC laptop with new songs on my iTunes. I made sure I disabled the automatic synching on the iTunes for my PC. I plugged my iPod into my laptop, and it said I had to reformat it since it was done before on a Mac. I assume that means I need to save those songs on the iPod somewhere else before I reformat it, right? How does one go about doing that? If I bought a portable hard drive, could I download the songs from my iPod on to that hard drive? I can't do anything on my computer without reformatting it the iPod, and I'm worried that means I will lose my songs. Am I being paranoid? What might be the best way to take care of this?

If your iPod is formatted for Mac it won't run natively on a PC because Windows operating systems don't recognize Mac OS-formatted disks (HFS or HFS Plus formats). A portable hard drive would have to be connected to a computer so you could load anything on to it so you'd still be accessing the drive through Windows unless you intend connecting it through a Mac first.There are third party programs that will allow you to use a Mac formatted iPod on Windows. XPlay for instance gets good reviews and has the added functionality to let you copy your songs back to iTunes. Once you have your songs saved to the PC you can go ahead and restore the iPod on your PC and reformat it for Windows. You can purchase XPlay at this link: XPlay

Can I recover disappeared songs from iPod before I reformat?

Hi, I have a 20GB Clickwheel iPod (black and white screen), Mac-formatted, and the computer I primarily use it with is an iBook running iTunes 4.8.
Sometime on Saturday my iPod started acting funny, first giving me the dreaded exclamation point/folder, then working but randomly skipping (and not playing songs). Finally, after I did a force-reset (menu+select), the iPod now says it has "0" (zero) songs on it, despite the fact that it also says 18.4 of the 18.6 GB are used up.
Making matters worse, when I connect the iPod to my computer, it says that the Mac doesn't recognize the drive plugged in, giving me the option to ignore, initialize or eject. The iPod does not show up on my desktop, in iTunes or in Finder. It does, however, appear in Disk Utility. This happens regardless of whether I plug the iPod in through regular or disk mode. I downloaded the latest iPod software update, and if I choose open it, it does seem like it will allow me to do a "reformat", but the "update" option is grayed out.
Therefore, here's my question: Is there any way I can save the mp3s on my iPod before (or without) doing a reformatting? This problem happened to me years ago on my old 10GB PC-formatted iPod and I was just able to plug it in and pull the files out of the hidden folders. Now, I can't seem to do this (or don't know how on this Mac). I read something on one of these posts about using the program terminal, which gave instructions to get ALL the mp3s off a crashed iPod, but I haven't tried that because the final complication is that the iBook I'd be moving them to only has 5gb free, so I need to move them a few pieces at a time.
Can anyone help me here??? I'm using all the patience and will i can possibly muster to withhold doing the reformat until i'm certain i won't be able to save these mp3s.
Thanks so much!!!
-Ben

Hey man, I'm in the same hole. I hope to get to the local Apple Store today. Will post if I get an answer. Hope you figure it out, and if so, please pass the knowledge.

Getting songs off Ipod after Reformatting

Hello, I reformatted my hard drive earlier this week, and I need to get my songs off my Ipod and put them onto Itunes. What is the best way to do this?
Thanks

Hey there,
There are several ways you can pull the music off your iPod and onto iTunes. The first link after the Apple support document below provides step-by-step instructions for the direct method if you have a PC as well as a few third party applications (for both the Mac and PC) if you choose to go that route instead. You can also do a simple google search for "copy music from iPod to computer" and you should receive a number of sites that can help you out.
Just make sure that when you have your iPod plugged into your computer, that you don't hit "Erase and Sync" before completing the task of copying your music over.
Also, if you have any purchased music, you will probably have to re-authorize your computer by heading to the Store drop down menu and choosing "Authorize computer."
[5 Ways to Copy Music OFF your iPod and onto iTunes|http://www.metaphoriclabs.com/articles/5-ways-to-copy-music-off-your-ipo d-windows-mac-os-x>
Here are a few more helpful sites.
[Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide|http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipo d-to-computer]
Or
[How to copy songs your iPod to your PC|http://lifehacker.com/software/ipod/how-to-copy-songs-from-your-ipod-to-your -pc-105256.php]
Hope this helps.
B-rock

Saving songs on iPod without syncing w/ iTunes

I have songs that I want to keep on the iPod that are not in the iTunes.
I had the iPod set for syncing, but now I don't want it to sync.
How do I set the iPod for manual mode without losing the songs that will be lost when I hook up the iPod?
The syncing happens too fast to make the changes before any loss.
Home built 5 years ago. Windows 2000

Hold the keys down and then connect the iPod. iTunes will open and you'll see the iPod icon in the source list, give it half a minute if you are really worried and you can let go. Another thing you can do is connect to a different computer. You will get a message that your iPod is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all songs from your iPod. Your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list from where you can change the update setting to manual and use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. You can also use the method described in this article: How to keep iTunes from automatically updating your iPod

Itunes locks up before completely transfering all songs to ipod

I recently had my 20G 3rd Generation replaced with a refurbished model through Best Buys service exchange program.
When I sync the new ipod to Itunes, it only transfers around 9 gb of songs (I only have 12 gb of music), then itunes just freezes.
After I disconnect the ipod, I see that only 500 mb of songs actually made it into the Ipod. What happen to the other 8.5 gb of songs that was suppose to be transfered?
After syncing the ipod for the second, third, and fourth time, only 500 mb is stored shown in the ipod, even though 6-8 gb of music was transfered before locking up.
#1. Why is itunes freezing up before completely transfering all 12 kb of songs?
#2. Where did the initial 8.5 gb go that supposedly transfered over to the Ipod before itunes locked up?

i have somewhat the same problem...
my ipod is the 4gen 20gig and it started to skip and pause and was getting progressively worse... i then attached it to my computer and it said something about it not being recognized and then i had no choice to reformat it and then would only transfer some songs and not all that i had dragged and dropped ... and then some songs would skip again and i would go thru it all again

I updates my iPod before syncing it and lost all my song how can I see what song i lost?

I updated my iPod before syncing it and lost all my songs how can I see what songs I lost?

From your backup that is in iTunes or in iCloud or resync them from your computer.

How to download songs from icloud before i can copy to ipod

need assistant how to download songs from icloud before i can copy music to ipod. i have downloaded itunes/i cloud. but have this problem downloading the music from i cloud. can someone please help me?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
In order to copy songs to your iPod, first you need to download the song you want from iTunes. If it was already purchased in the iTunes Store, follow the steps for iTunes on a PC or Mac > http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519

My Ipod starts a song ten seconds before the songs before that finished. Also it wont fast forward.

When I listen to a song, ten seconds before its done, the song after will start playing. It's actually very annoying. I don't know how to E-mail Ipod support. >.< Also, when a song starts, and I click the center button, it goes to the screen that I can move a song forward or backward. Whenever I move a song forward, It just replays a few seconds where I was before. So I can't go forward at all.

When you click Apple Support, you click onto CONTACT. enter you ID and contact them about your problem if what i said didnt help you. Thats real wierd, what you prblem is I mean.
kenneth262 wrote:
When I listen to a song, ten seconds before its done, the song after will start playing. It's actually very annoying. I don't know how to E-mail Ipod support. >.< Also, when a song starts, and I click the center button, it goes to the screen that I can move a song forward or backward. Whenever I move a song forward, It just replays a few seconds where I was before. So I can't go forward at all.

My Ipod starts a song ten seconds before the other song ends. Also, it wont fast forward.

When I listen to a song, ten seconds before its done, the song after will start playing. It's actually very annoying. I don't know how to E-mail Ipod support. >.< Also, when a song starts, and I click the center button, it goes to the screen that I can move a song forward or backward. Whenever I move a song forward, It just replays a few seconds where I was before. So I can't go forward at all.

When you click Apple Support, you click onto CONTACT. enter you ID and contact them about your problem if what i said didnt help you. Thats real wierd, what you prblem is I mean.
kenneth262 wrote:
When I listen to a song, ten seconds before its done, the song after will start playing. It's actually very annoying. I don't know how to E-mail Ipod support. >.< Also, when a song starts, and I click the center button, it goes to the screen that I can move a song forward or backward. Whenever I move a song forward, It just replays a few seconds where I was before. So I can't go forward at all.

I have my favorite song saved with the ipod App on my phone and cant move it to my ring tone. am I trying to do something that is not possible?

I have my favorite tune saved within the ipod App of my iphone 4 and cannot move it to my ring tone.
Am i doing something wrong?

Follow the link bellow, it will teach you how to do it using the iTunes in your computer, you do not need any additional software to create ringtones.
Good Luck.
http://osxdaily.com/2010/09/04/make-free-iphone-ringtones-in-itunes-10/

Could not copy song to Ipod Touch due to unknown error (-50)

I just received a new third generation Ipod Touch as a gift and installed the latest iTunes directly from Apple's website onto my computer (Windows 7 32-bit). I added my music folder to the library and imported an m3u playlist to iTunes. Then I connected my iTouch, followed the instructions to set it up, and then I wanted to sync my songs to my iTouch. I only wanted to sync the songs on my "Favorites" playlist that I imported, so under the Music sync settings, I selected the option to only sync selected songs, playlists, etc. and selected the Favorites playlist.
Then I attempted to sync the songs, but only a few songs would sync before an error popped up saying that it could not copy a specific song to the device due to an unknown error (-50). This error sometimes repeats for multiple songs and then the syncing stops. Each time I try to sync it again, it might sync a few more songs, but will always be interrupted by the error, after which it stops syncing. These songs are MP3 files. I have already tried uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes.
This is extremely frustrating and I don't know what to do. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

I've managed to fix the problem and discovered the reason for it. When I dragged the playlist to the iTouch section in my iTunes (instead of pressing the "Sync" button) to sync the playlist to my device, it synced everything except for the handful of songs that were giving me errors. Then the error messages it displayed were more helpful in indicating what the problem was. They could not locate the song in the playlist on my computer because I had changed the MP3 tags a long time ago, sometime after I added them to the playlist, and it never updated. (Note: the playlist I was syncing was originally made in Zune player and then I saved it as m3u format) Hope this helps someone with a similar problem in the future.

How do I put my songs from iPod on my comp??

I restarted my whole entire comp today, so all my files were erased. But all my music was saved onto my iPod, and I would like to put all 744 songs on iTunes. How do I go about doing this???? I thought I had this earlier, but I'm totally confused now. PLEASE HELP!!

DO NOT attach & sync your full iPod to an empty iTunes!!!
These links will give you several methods of recovering whatever songs remain on your iPod; some free, some third-party software, some more comprehensive for restoring Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. Read them and their associated links before deciding on a strategy that works for you. There are many various third-party software programs that will offer a more robust process, or an easier GUI. Do a Google search for them if the links below leave you wanting…
Don King Resurrected: Deleted files from hard drive (free user steps – music recovery only)
MacMuse: Computer Crashed (free user steps – music recovery only)
Copying music from iPod to computer (a primer on various methods and software)
Copying Songs from Your iPod to a Mac or PC (resource for 3rd party software)
iPodRip Software
PodUtil Software
Senuti (Mac OS X v10.3 or higher Recovery Utility)
XPlay (Windows software For Music Recovery &/or Cross-Platform Functionality)
XPlay Photo Browser (For recovering Photos)
Extremely Simple Method: (just to recover the song files – may not work on a Mac)
1 - Open iTunes
2 - Edit=>Preferences=>’Advanced/General’ tab
2a --- Select ‘Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library’: checked
2b --- Select ‘Keep iTunes Music folder organized’: checked
2c --- Click OK to store changes
3 - Attach your iPod to the PC and hold down the ‘Shift+Ctrl’ keys until the iPod is fully recognized (this will defeat the auto-sync process)
4 - If you get a dialog box to link the Library, decline this option
5 – Within iTunes: File=>Add Folder
6 - Browse to and open ‘My Computer’ (click on the ‘+’) and select the iPod
7 - Click OK
8 - The music files should start to transfer back into iTunes
8a –- this will take some time depending on your PC and the amount of songs on the iPod
No Playlists, or Ratings, Last Played, & Play Count attributes will be transferred from the iPod to iTunes using this method
After recovering your song files, strongly consider developing a thorough backup strategy for just this type of situation (and many other potential disasters).
You need at least two full sets of your music, not including what is on the iPod:
-- One full set on the PC within iTunes (on internal HD or ExHD)
-- One full set on an separate external backup medium (CD/DVD/ExHD/other)
-- One (full or partial) set on the iPod
Music files on just the iPod and only one other medium is not considered having any backup.
If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer’s internal HD, then create and maintain at least two external sets (any multiple combinations of ExHDs, DVDs, CDs).
Backup both the music files and the Library database file (iTunes Library.itl). What are the iTunes Library files?
Here is a post on developing a thorough backup strategy:
http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=1498152

Deleting songs on iPod-deleted library in iTunes instead

I was trying to update my husband's iPod, so he created a new playlist, and I was trying to delete all of the songs on his iPod before uploading the playlist (his iPod doesn't automatically sync with iTunes).
Well, a message came up asking if we wanted to delete these songs or just delete them on the iPod. We clicked to delete them from the iPod.
Instead, the songs on his iPod were not deleted, but my ENTIRE LIBRARY was deleted instead.
UGH. I have most of the songs backed up (and no iStore songs, just CDs), but still. YUCK.
Is this a bug? Has anyone seen this before?
Thanks,
Amy

Amy-- No, but something similar. I wanted to clear my harddrive and just keep the songs on the ipod. So I cleared the library. The next time I connected the ipod, it automatically "updated" by deleting all the songs on ipod.
My granddaughter told me to select the manual update option. I think that prevents the problem. But I am amazed that Apple doesn't have some large warning posted to prevent your type and my type of unintended deletion.
tlt

Transfer songs on ipod to a new itunes

I have new computer as old one stolen. Trying to get songs of my ipod onto new itunes or new songs onto ipod. It says allready synced with another itunes. Please help

Hello melfaggotter,
There are several ways you can pull the music off your iPod and onto iTunes. The first link below provides step-by-step instructions for the direct method if you have a PC as well as a few third party applications (for both the Mac and PC) if you choose to go that route instead. You can also do a simple Google search for "copy music from iPod to computer" and you should receive a number of sites that can help you out.
Just make sure that when you have your iPod plugged into your computer, that you don't hit "Erase and Sync" before completing the task of copying your music over.
Also, if you have any purchased music, you will probably have to re-authorize your computer by heading to the Store drop down menu and choosing "Authorize computer."
[5 Ways to Copy Music OFF your iPod and onto iTunes|http://www.metaphoriclabs.com/articles/5-ways-to-copy-music-off-your-ipo d-windows-mac-os-x>
Here are a few more helpful sites.
[Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide|http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipo d-to-computer]
Or
[How to copy songs your iPod to your PC|http://lifehacker.com/software/ipod/how-to-copy-songs-from-your-ipod-to-your -pc-105256.php]
*Also, here is an article for the direct method that is for both Windows Vista and XP.*
http://ipodtips-tricks.blogspot.com/2008/10/howto-transfer-music-from-ipodto-itu nes.html
Hope this helps.
B-rock

Saving songs on iPod before reformatting

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