Hw can I transfer Mp3's from my Ipod to an external hard drive?

December 15, 2005 10:47 AM

I have a 60gig Photo Ipod. In order to keep my computer's hardrive relative clean, I do not keep my MP3's stored in the Itunes library. All 9500 are strictly on my IPOD. I know I run the ris of losing all that upload work should my ipod get lost or break, but it was by choice. I recently bought a 250 gig external hard drive for the sole purpose of keeping all of my MP3's and important computer files on there....What I want to do and havent been able to figure out is, how could I go about transferring all the MP3 files from my IPOD to my computer and then to the external drive. (more inside)

I have been told that Apple incodes their MP3's so that if I was able to transfer the MP3 data to another drive, it would come up all discombulated. This was done to thwart sharing of mass amounts of MP3's. I think thats it at least. So, is there any safe way, to transfer them, while keeping them sorted in files like they already are? thanks. long time reader, first time question asker.

posted by TwilightKid to Computers & Internet (16 answers total)

PodWorks?

I've never used it for large scale transfers, but it worked pretty well on a few albums.
posted by samh23 at 10:49 AM on December 15, 2005

Are you on a PC or a Mac?
posted by reverendX at 10:50 AM on December 15, 2005

I used ephpod to transfer my work computer's music library to my iPod and then to my home computer. No problems at all. The interface is a little crappy, but it worked.
posted by goatdog at 10:57 AM on December 15, 2005

EphPOD can take stuff off your ipod...from which you can do whatever you want.

Also, there are some good potential other options in this Engadget article, "HOW-TO: Get music OFF your iPod"....
posted by tpl1212 at 10:57 AM on December 15, 2005

I have been told that Apple incodes their MP3's so that if I was able to transfer the MP3 data to another drive, it would come up all discombulated. This was done to thwart sharing of mass amounts of MP3's. I think thats it at least. So, is there any safe way, to transfer them, while keeping them sorted in files like they already are? thanks. long time reader, first time question asker.

Not true. What the iPod sostware does do is toss the mp3's into all sorts of hidden, strangely sorted folders. What I've done before is revealed the hidden folders and copied the main one (titled Music, if I remember right) to another drive. THen I just dropped that folder into iTunes and let it sort itself back into fodlers by Artist>Album. Didn't need any 3rd party software like ephpod.
posted by Evstar at 10:58 AM on December 15, 2005

Typos abound!
posted by Evstar at 10:58 AM on December 15, 2005

MP3s are by definition not encrypted or protected by DRM. So the stuff about having your files messed up by transfering them to another drive is hogwash. There are many free utilities for doing so. Moving them will not disturb the id3 tags which hold the songs' metadata (e.g. artist name, album title, track title, etc.)

Also, assuming they are both connected to the computer, you can copy directly from the iPod to the external drive, skipping the intermediate step of the computer's internal HD.
posted by TonyRobots at 11:02 AM on December 15, 2005

I used ipod.tunes that you can find here and it worked perfectly on a mac.

(on a pc, I think you just have to "show hidden files" when the ipod shows up as a harddrive and then transfer then as you would any normal file).
posted by jasonlatshaw at 11:17 AM on December 15, 2005

Here's what I"ve done: copied the entire iTunes from the original harddrive, to another drive. Then I made an alias of the folder and put that alias where original iTunes folder was. Worked like a charm. I've done this on OS 9, 10.1, 10.2 & 10.3 with no problem.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:24 AM on December 15, 2005

Response by poster: Im on a PC.
Im gonna explore some of those options. thanks.
posted by TwilightKid at 11:29 AM on December 15, 2005

This all seems like way too much rigamarole -- seriously, if you've got the coin to buy a 250gb external, why not get another internal too and put all your media on that drive? It's a LOT easier to deal with itunes and such if the stuff on your computer matches the stuff on your ipod. But whatev. It's just time that you're a-wastin.

/judge
posted by incessant at 11:45 AM on December 15, 2005

You should also keep backups of any music you purchase from the iTunes Music Store. If the song file is deleted or lost, it's gone. You cannot download a replacement copy.
posted by ryanrs at 11:53 AM on December 15, 2005

If you don't mind spending a little, I would recommend Anapod Explorer from . It's regarded as one of the best commercial, PC-based 3rd party products for iPod. It's allows you to drag and drop music from your hard drive to the iPod and copy music from the iPod to PC. It's especially good at managing the music on the iPod and allows you to create standard playlists and "morphlists" (similar to SmartPlaylists in iTunes). It works with iTunes purchased music (requires iTunes installed). It has a SQL-searchable database front-end, streams from the iPod to a media player on the PC, will sync new music, and handles photos, videos and Outlook contact sync.
posted by lhauser at 12:32 PM on December 15, 2005

I like mediamonkey, it is awesome.

<3 br> me.
posted by twiggy at 1:16 PM on December 15, 2005

I use copypod. Even though you have to pay, it's worth it.
posted by bikergirl at 2:42 PM on December 15, 2005

I use SharePod. It's small, sits on your iPod, doesn't require you to install anything when you hook up to a new computer. That's for Windows.

Other options:

For OSX: Rob's iPod Exporter

For OS9: escapePod
posted by dsword at 2:49 PM on December 15, 2005 [1 favorite]