# Recommend me a program to transfer music from iPod to computer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033 "2009-05-29T15:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ad\_Astra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Ad\_Astra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Astra)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/1 "2009-05-29T15:44:34Z")
My computer’s motherboard failed earlier this week, and for some reason, that necessitated us replacing both the motherboard and the hard drive. Unfortunately, my parents don’t want to shell out the cashola to get the data off of our old drives, so we’ve basically lost everything, though we haven’t lost anything of any great importance. Luckily, nearly all of our music was on my or my brother’s iPods, so we still have a copy of it. My question: is there a good-quality FREE program that allows you to transfer files from an iPod to a computer? I’ve looked at a handful, but all of them have extremely stringent limitations on the free trial versions. Also, I do know about the transfer technique of going through the iPod’s files to iPod\_Control, and copying the music files directly from there. I’m not terribly averse to doing that, and I will do that if this query doesn’t pan out. I’m mostly just asking because it’d be neat to know if there was a good free program floating out there. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/2 "2009-05-29T15:49:27Z")
Does iTunes let you do that to recover the music? I would go that route first. If that’s not the case, if the files are in mp3 format (as opposed to AAC format), you can actually just plug the iPod into your computer and it will look like an external hard drive. The files will be there, with bizarre names and under pretty random folders. However, once you copy the files to your hard drive, you can rename them using a program called mp3tagtools that will recreate the file name using the id3 tags inside the file itself. I don’t know what to do if they are AAC files, though. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/3 "2009-05-29T15:55:01Z")
Are the old hard drives non-operative, or just incompatible with the new motherboard? If the former, you should be able to get an external enclosure or an interface card and read it out. As for getting music off of an iPod, you should be able to access the iPod as a USB disk drive and pull it off. It’s in a “hidden” folder so you need to configure Windows to display hidden files/folders. In XP you go to the folder, and go to the menu bar \> Tools -\> Folder Options -\> View, and under Adanded Setting click on “Show hidden files and folders.” In Vista I think there’s an item in Control Panel called Folder Options or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_Astra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Ad\_Astra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Astra)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/4 "2009-05-29T15:58:25Z")
Thanks **RitterSport** , that’s actually the second option I was talking about. It actually looks like the way I’m going to go, rather than mess about trying to find a program. It does bring up another question, however. I’m able to use my brother’s iPod Nano (2nd or 3rd gen) as an external hard drive, and I’ve gotten all of the music off of his. But whenever I plug my iPod Touch (1st gen), it shows up in the “Scanners and Cameras” panel rather than a “Device with Removable Storage”. Because of that, I’m not sure how to access the iPod\_Control folder and all of its subfolders that contain the music files. How do I make Windows recognize my Touch as an external hard drive rather than a camera? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/5 "2009-05-29T17:50:18Z")
No idea, sorry. I’ve never plugged an iPod Touch into my computer. On my mp3 player (non-Apple), there’s a choice for MTP mode or MSC mode. In MSC mode, it just looks like a drive, while in MTP mode it looks like an mp3 player. (MTP mode is like Media Transfer Protocol or something, whereas MSC is like Mass Storage C(something), I think) If there’s something like that in an iPod Touch, then change the mode. Hopefully, a more knowledgable expert will be along shortly. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/6 "2009-05-29T17:55:15Z")
There used to be a way to “Show hidden folders” to pull the songs off of the iPod but Apple has changed that. The best option is to buy software that can pull the data off of your iPod. If you have a Half-Price Bookstore nearby, they always seem to have types of these software on the cheap (I picked my copy up there). ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/7 "2009-05-29T17:57:13Z")
AAC files can be changed to other formats using a couple different programs, but since the OP should still have the license to those songs, that should be no problem. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/8 "2009-05-29T17:59:54Z")
iPod Rip. Free Trial for 10 uses, or at least it used to. Works great. [www.ipodrip.com](http://www.ipodrip.com) ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_Astra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Ad\_Astra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Astra)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/9 "2009-05-29T18:10:54Z")
Thanks all! I ended up using the manual technique for my bro’s iPod, and for my Touch I found a program, [Pod to PC](http://www.nirmaltv.com/2009/03/07/transfer-copy-or-rip-music-from-ipod-using-pod-to-pc/), that is A) free, B) limitation-free, and C) seems to have a pretty good track record, from what I can find. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/10 "2009-05-29T18:41:15Z")
A bit late now but [YamiPod](http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/home/) also serves as a means to copy tracks on/off an iPod. It’s also freeware, doesn’t require installation and can run off the iPod itself, so you can modify contents from a computer without iTunes or equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/11 "2009-05-29T19:12:29Z")
A belated response for any future Windows users with this question: 1.) Enable the use of your iPod as an external HDD (thru iTunes, IIRC). 2.) Jack the iPod into a USB port. 3.) Navigate to the folder mentioned above. 4.) Copy all of the music to your iTunes music folder. 5.) Import said music to your iTunes library–if you have the option selected to let iTunes organize your music for you, it will automatically rename all of the files and folders and resort them properly. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/13 "2014-10-11T08:36:52Z")
> [@Ad\_Astra](#): > > My computer’s motherboard failed earlier this week, and for some reason, that necessitated us replacing both the motherboard and the hard drive. Unfortunately, my parents don’t want to shell out the cashola to get the data off of our old drives, so we’ve basically lost everything… I don’t understand this part. It seems really unlikely that a motherboard failure would damage the hard drive. So if it is still functional. all you need to do is buy an external enclosure (about $25-$50) and plug it into your new computer, and then copy the files from it onto your new machine. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-program-to-transfer-music-from-ipod-to-computer/498033/14 "2014-10-11T08:49:16Z")
**Moderator Action** This thread is a zombie that was bumped by a spammer. Since the OP has probably figured out sometime in the last 5 years how to get their files where they want them, I am going to close this to prevent it from being further spam bait. Thread closed.