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Of I Pods and I Tunes

post #1 of 16
4/20/12 at 7:08am
Thread Starter 

Just to make a link to skiing, I'm sure many Bears use iPod's/iphones and their dedicated software, iTunes at some point during a ski day. Don't want to open up any discussion of listening while skiing.

 

My laptop suffered a mother board failure and I need to get my I tunes library from that computer to my replacement. The file is available from a backup harddrive. I have downloaded from Apple, all purchased material, but, have a lot of other material to transfer as I Tunes does not support this function.

 

There are many third party software programs available claiming to be able to download music from I Pods/Phones and get it into the I Tunes library. Anybody have experience with these?  Any experience or benefits to using an alternative to iTunes as it's not a friendly way to manage the entire library. 

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post #2 of 16
4/20/12 at 7:14am

There was a program I used when my computer's motherboard decided to catch on fire and had to get stuff off my iPod touch. The method for recovery is going to depend on what type of iPod we're talking about. If its a touch there is a free program called iPhone browser that allows you to look through the file system and pull all the music and applications off. For non-iOS iPod's (nano's, classic, mini, shuffle, etc.) I believe you can directly browse the file system through my computer as long as you select the option to view hidden files and folders. 

 

What is the specific model and generation you have?

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post #3 of 16
4/20/12 at 9:02am
Thread Starter 

It's an iPod nano, I think it's a 4th generation. My understanding is that if I synch it with iTunes on my new computer, then it gets erased during the synch. So, I would like to be able to download the music library.

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post #4 of 16
4/20/12 at 9:31am

Yeah, all you need to do is open it like a flash drive, then go to Tools->Folder Options->View, and check the box that says view hidden files and folders. Then, you should be able to get all the music off the iPod. Also, what is stopping you from connecting the hard drive from your laptop to another computer and retrieving the files from it? The mobo is bad, not the whole computer. This is a good reason to have an external hard drive, or dual hard drives. I do some DJing, so I store all of my music on an external hard drive, and then on both internal hard drives. It would be a massive pain to get all of that music again.

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post #5 of 16
4/21/12 at 7:18am
Thread Starter 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by flatlandr View Post
, 

Yeah, all you need to do is open it like a flash drive, then go to Tools->Folder Options->View, and check the box that says view hidden files and folders. Then, you should be able to get all the music off the iPod. Also, what is stopping you from connecting the hard drive from your laptop to another computer and retrieving the files from it? The mobo is Tun.

 

Thanks for the post. I did find a YouTube video on that method with a lot more detail and screen shots on how to merge the files into iTunes.

I do have the backup file on a hardrive from my original computer, if I make that transfer ok, then I can use Itunes to reload my I pod, but that's a PITA. 

 

I'm still interested in any feedback about alternative software to either manage or replace iTunes

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post #6 of 16
4/21/12 at 6:02pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Living Proof View Post

I'm still interested in any feedback about alternative software to either manage or replace iTunes

 

There isn't really any one better than iTunes that I am aware of. 

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post #7 of 16
4/22/12 at 9:09am

Nope, nothing beats iTunes. It's a PITA sometimes, but it's still far better than anything else out there.

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post #8 of 16
4/22/12 at 9:22am

Pull the hard drive from the old computer, put it in an external USB case, hook it up to a new computer.

 

Meanwhile install iTunes on the new computer. Then copy the entire iTunes folder from your Music folder to the new computer. You may wish to rename the original iTunes folder in the Music folder on the new computer so you have the 'clean' install available.

 

When you start up iTunes on the new computer, it will know about your existing nano and sync with it, not erase it.

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post #9 of 16
4/22/12 at 12:29pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by MastersRacer View Post

Pull the hard drive from the old computer, put it in an external USB case, hook it up to a new computer.

 

Meanwhile install iTunes on the new computer. Then copy the entire iTunes folder from your Music folder to the new computer. You may wish to rename the original iTunes folder in the Music folder on the new computer so you have the 'clean' install available.

 

When you start up iTunes on the new computer, it will know about your existing nano and sync with it, not erase it.

 

Better yet, leave it as is and rename the one from the old computer. All you have to do is hold the Shift key when you open iTunes and it will come up with a prompt to select another library. Then you can just select the folder you copied over and it will import it all as a new library. 

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post #10 of 16
4/22/12 at 3:09pm

I aim to learn something new every day. Does the 'new library' choice 'stick'? It remembers the last library used?

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post #11 of 16
4/22/12 at 3:17pm

Yes. You can have multiple libraries on a computer that way too and then select which one you want. 

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post #12 of 16
4/24/12 at 8:36am
Thread Starter 

Well, ...I tried to upload my Ipod software using the above and

 

Now Itunes has disappeared from my programs and cannot be reinstalled from Apple's site due to a software incompatablility

 

Off to the local genius bar, I use a windows machine, sure hope they can resolve.

 

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post #13 of 16
4/25/12 at 5:08am
Thread Starter 

Itunes issues were resolved via complete uninstall and reload. I don't have a clue as to how a program just went away from my desktop.

 

I've been able to capture all my old music data files, still can't figure out how to merge into my existing itunes library. ITunes  Import file technique just does not produce results. Thoughts?

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post #14 of 16
4/25/12 at 2:46pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Living Proof View Post

Itunes issues were resolved via complete uninstall and reload. I don't have a clue as to how a program just went away from my desktop.

 

I've been able to capture all my old music data files, still can't figure out how to merge into my existing itunes library. ITunes  Import file technique just does not produce results. Thoughts?

 

Hit the "Add folder to library" selection from the File menu and then select the folder that contains all your old iTunes stuff. 

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post #15 of 16
4/26/12 at 5:10am
Thread Starter 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by tylrwnzl View Post

 

 

Hit the "Add folder to library" selection from the File menu and then select the folder that contains all your old iTunes stuff. 

 

Done that many times, still no success..the importing never starts.

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post #16 of 16
4/26/12 at 8:01am

D***ed iTunes has a mind of its own. Apple software on PCs is mighty slow, too.

 

The solution of taking a copy of your old iTunes folder and putting it on the new PC then having iTunes use the old library is the best solution, IMO. It won't require a resync with your devices as it will 'know' them already and your playlists will remain intact. I've done it a few times. Its how I 'share' my library on my many computers without having to use library sharing.

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