How to Retrieve Music From an iPod
Losing your music library can be upsetting. Most of us have hundreds of songs that we've invested the time and money into downloading. If you didn't back up your music on a separate drive before it was lost, you can still restore it with your iPod. All you need is a few minutes to transfer your songs back onto your computer in a couple easy steps. You don't have to be a computer whiz to get back what you've lost.
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Things You'll Need
- An iPod (any generation)
- An iPod USB cable
- The Houdini program (for Mac OS users)
Instructions
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Retrieving Music on a PC
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1
Connect your iPod to the computer using the iPod USB cable.
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2
Change your computer's settings to "View/Show Hidden Files and Folders." You can either do this from the Windows menu, or by right-clicking on any folder and changing your folder preferences.
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3
Go into "My Computer." Here, you will see your iPod as a connected disk (:E drive).
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4
Double-click on the iPod drive's icon. You will be able to see all of the previously hidden data folders stored within the device.
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5
Open the iPod's "Music" folder to access your song files. Click and drag onto your desktop or an allotted folder on your computer.
Retrieving Music on a Mac
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6
Download the free Houdini program (see references below) to view the hidden files and folders with your Mac.
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7
Double-click on the .dmg drive once Houdini has finished downloading to successfully install the program onto your computer.
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8
Connect your iPod to the Mac using the iPod USB cable.
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9
Launch the Houdini program by double-clicking on its icon in your Applications. You will see five options: "Hide," "Create," "Move," "Open" and "Delete."
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10
Select the "Open" option. This will bring up the Finder window in which you can select your iPod under the listed devices.
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Click on the "Music" folder in the list of the iPod's data folders. You can now click and drag songs from the device onto your desktop.
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Tips & Warnings
Your song files will be titled as numbers when transferred from the data folder onto your computer. You will have to manually rename each title.
