Is it possible to copy a playlist from an iPod to iTunes? It’s my understanding that a playlist is just a list of songs, and not the songs themselves, so I don’t see any copyright issues.
Do you mean is it actually “possible” to do so with technology, or “possible”, by way of avoiding legal ramification by some sort of run-around loophole in the law?
I’m probably just not following you though.
Um, both. As I said, since it’s just a list, and not the actual songs, I don’t see a copyright issue. But I still can’t get it to work.
Yes, you can. Unfortunately, you can’t do so with standard iTunes. While you can export playlists from iTunes into a text file and can then import that text file as a playlist back into iTunes, it won’t pull the playlist off the iPod; the Export option in the File menu is disabled when an iPod playlist is selected. I think that’s a bit silly since you’re not getting the songs, only the info about them, but I’m not the one who designed the thing. As far as I know, this isn’t even close to a legal gray area.
If you’re on a Mac, Doug’s Applescripts has several scripts for various kinds of information import/export. There’s also a donation-ware program called Senuti that can transfer playlists from your iPod to iTunes, among other things. I’ve used it, it works as advertised, and even looks a bit like (the brushed-metal version of) iTunes.
On Windows, there are probably a few workarounds. There’s a free program called Sharepod that will do what you want, and another program called Anapod Explorer.
Going really nuts, you can install a version of Linux onto your iPod.
If you created an on-the-go playlist on your iPod, this page at Apple describes how that is synced with iTunes.
If you’re trying to grab a playlist that one of your friends made that you really liked, the easiest way is probably to ask him to export it from iTunes and either whack it onto your iPod as a text file (enable your iPod for hard disk use if you haven’t already) so that you can import it into iTunes when you get back home, or email it to you as an attachment.
Thanks, Sleel. I ended up buying Copypod.