Shocking iPod question.

March 18, 2006 9:27 PM

How do you get your music off a malfunctioning iPod?

My iPod is malfunctioning in a particularly spectactular way - it's giving me electric shocks through my headphones, into my ears. Obviously, this is bad, and the iPod is being turned in under Applecare this week. (I tried swapping out headphones, that didn't fix it.)

But - there's a lot of music on my iPod that isn't on my computer, because I had to have my hard drive replaced a little while ago, and that deleted a lot of music that I have on the iPod. Reripping the music isn't an option, as a lot of the music on the iPod are radio shows and misc. weird stuff I found on the internet. I really would like to get the music I have on my iPod OFF the iPod, and onto my computer, so when I get my replacement iPod, I can transfer it all back via iTunes. Any way to do this?

Details: iPod - 4th generation 20 GB. Software version 3.1.1
Computer - Mac Powerbook G4, OS X version 10.3.9. iTunes version 6.0.4 (3). My Mac has the latest iTunes, iPod, and security software installed.

posted by spinifex23 to computers & internet (11 comments total)

Senuti. I did it with my girlfriend's iPod. Really easy to use, worked perfectly.
posted by danb at 9:39 PM on March 18, 2006

Ipod Rip works too
http://www.thelittleappfactory.com/application.php?app=iPodRip
posted by starr226 at 9:47 PM on March 18, 2006

Google, Google, Google.
posted by booksandlibretti at 9:57 PM on March 18, 2006

Can't you mount it as a disk and copy the files directly from the hard drive? I'm pretty sure I can do this on Windows... the files are hidden, i think, but there.
posted by MadamM at 10:26 PM on March 18, 2006

you can, but all your music gets regrouped and renamed to work with the iPod software when you copy it over. (this may not be a bad thing, per se - they're all still mp3 and aac and whatever files, and the tags should let you know what they are when you pull them into iTunes). that said, you can technically take a disk image of the iPod and then just restore it to the new one when you get it. (you can use Disk Utility for this, I think.) I've never actually tried it so I can't vouch for the effectiveness of the disk image route. there's software that does it, though - TuneTech comes to mind. the Terminal would give you the easiest route to the hidden folders on your iPod, if you're comfortable with a Unix command line. you could find out what the name of the directory is and use the Finder's Go To Folder option to go there, and then just drag/drop the folders out.
posted by mrg at 10:43 PM on March 18, 2006

I use PodWorks. It costs, but I love the GUI.
posted by charmston at 10:53 PM on March 18, 2006

Senuti has given myself and others serious problems—crashing without warning or provocation, and so on—and I, personally, wouldn't trust it for critical applications such as yours. mrg's suggestion, creating a disk image, is probably the wisest: this will preserve any non-music data

One option (that will only preserve your music) involves a little manual work install TinkerTool and set it to display hidden and system files, and relaunch the Finder; open the folder iPod_Control/Music on your iPod; copy all the folders onto your hard drive. The mp3s will be intact and all, but the file names and folder structure are fucked. They can, however, be imported back into iTunes, and from there onto your iPod once it's fixed.

Hope everything gets sorted. I just got a 'Pod of my own and I already despair for the day it fails me.
posted by S.C. at 11:32 PM on March 18, 2006

I should finish my sentences, eh?

[creating a disk image] will preserve any non-music data your iPod has: contacts, calendar, anything you've put on it as an external drive, etc.
posted by S.C. at 11:34 PM on March 18, 2006

Yamipod works great with my 4th generation iPod.
posted by chrisch at 12:19 AM on March 19, 2006

Senuti has always worked great for me.

Another option I use which is good (and also free) is iPodDisk, which lets you browse and copy items from your iPod directly at the Finder level.
posted by melorama at 2:16 PM on March 19, 2006

OK - using iPodDisk now. Thanks, all!
posted by spinifex23 at 8:16 PM on March 19, 2006