# Another "Fix my iPod thread" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fix-my-ipod-thread/499330 "2009-06-10T15:02:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fix-my-ipod-thread/499330/21 "2009-06-12T10:06:32Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Well, (A) that’s not what I do. I already explained how I only use iTunes as a conduit. I neither add files (they’re not songs, incidentally - they’re programs ranging from 15 minutes to two and a half hours per file) to iTunes nor delete them from iTunes. And (B) I’m an old-school kind of guy. It’s just easier to pick up the files directly and move them around rather than try to force iTunes to do it for me. Honestly, I never even open iTunes unless I’m maintaining the iPod. I never listen to anything on my laptop, ever. To me, it’s just the program I have to use to access the pod. That’s how I roll, baby. I don’t understand. How do you use iTunes as a conduit if you don’t add the files to iTunes in order to transfer them? If you keep the songs in iTunes (and stored on the external hard drive), when you do have problems with the iPod and need to restore it (erasing the files), you have the backup handy and ready to go, organized by playlist the way you originally had it. ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fix-my-ipod-thread/499330/22 "2009-06-12T13:10:17Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > There is a fairly easy and perfectly legal way to transfer all of your songs from the iPod to your computer hard drive (if you have the room) without needing any extra software. I’ve always been deathly afraid to do this, since I heard or read or dreamt somewhere that accessing the ipod like a regualr external drive would corrupt the ipod. Is this totally bunk? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fix-my-ipod-thread/499330/23 "2009-06-12T18:45:08Z")
> [@flyboy](#): > > I’ve always been deathly afraid to do this, since I heard or read or dreamt somewhere that accessing the ipod like a regualr external drive would corrupt the ipod. Is this totally bunk? Hm, I hadn’t heard that. I’ve done it maybe four or five times w/ my iPod (mainly to load all my songs onto my hard drive at work) and it still works as good as it did when I bought it over two years ago (_knock on wood_) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fix-my-ipod-thread/499330/24 "2009-06-13T08:02:34Z")
> [@flyboy](#): > > I’ve always been deathly afraid to do this, since I heard or read or dreamt somewhere that accessing the ipod like a regualr external drive would corrupt the ipod. Is this totally bunk? Pretty much. I mean, it’s always possible that you might corrupt the iPod, but I don’t think the chances are any higher than using any other external hard drive. Just make sure you unmount it, just to be safe. And, anyways, you aren’t going to have to worry about corruption if you’re just going to reset the iPod anyways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fix-my-ipod-thread/499330.md?page=1)