# How do you empty an IPod?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-empty-an-ipod/325610>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 10, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-empty-an-ipod/325610 "2005-10-10T18:39:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-empty-an-ipod/325610/1 "2005-10-10T18:39:58Z")

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My new Nano Pod arrived today. I am going to give my son my Mini. How do I go about deleting all the songs so that he has room to store his music on his new Mini?  
BTW he is working off a different computer than I am, so different copies of I Tunes.

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**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-empty-an-ipod/325610/2 "2005-10-10T18:42:29Z")

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iTunes will offer to delete all the songs and set it for use on your son’s computer when he plugs it in for the first time.

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**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-empty-an-ipod/325610/3 "2005-10-10T19:56:51Z")

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> [@Cleophus](#):
>
> iTunes will offer to delete all the songs and set it for use on your son’s computer when he plugs it in for the first time.

boy that sounds almost too good to be true. 🙂  
Thanks!

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**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-empty-an-ipod/325610/4 "2005-10-10T21:25:41Z")

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Don’t let the magic smoke out!

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**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-empty-an-ipod/325610/5 "2005-10-10T22:13:57Z")

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If the nano uses the same software updater as the mini or normal model, you would go to Start-\>Programs-\>iPod-\>iPod Updater and from there choose Restore to reformat it. If you are on a Mac just search for ipod updater on your hard disk and do the same thing.

I’ll give a crazy amount of bonus points for anyone who can figure out how to reformat an iPod’s hard disk without using a computer. Mine freezes my computer when it’s hooked up to XP so I’m unable to do a Restore.