New PC, old iPod, uncooperative iTunes

November 2, 2006 11:27 AM

iPod to PC challenge. My old PC died completely (fried motherboard) and my new PC arrived today. In researching how to get my music off my iPod onto the new machine, I'm only finding answers that require changing settings on the old PC, which, of course, I can't do. I can manually copy individual mp3 files off the iPod and then import them into iTunes, but that will cause me to lose all playlists, play counts and other settings. Any thoughts?
posted by judith to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

Try using the shareware program ipod rip. You can download it here.
posted by brookeb at 11:32 AM on November 2, 2006

I believe the free YamiPod can do all of this.

(I don't have an iPod so I have not used it, but I have it for problems like this with friends)
posted by niles at 11:34 AM on November 2, 2006

Just a guess (I don't have an Ipod), but can you boot the new computer from the old hard drive, then change the settings you need to change? Presumably the fact that your old motherboard is fried doesn't mean that your old hard drive is gone, too.
posted by leapfrog at 11:46 AM on November 2, 2006

Go with the HD copy method. It's the only way to match up the XML files. I'd make sure to install the same version of itunes to your new computer, then copy the xml files ( i think all the stuff in my music> itunes should be enough) over the new files.

I've never done it before, but it could work....
posted by eleongonzales at 11:56 AM on November 2, 2006

Copygear does a good job of this too. It actually backs up your iPod to whatever folder you specify, writes the files with useful names, and rebuilds your iTunes database automatically. You gotta pay, though.
posted by chuma at 12:17 PM on November 2, 2006

If your old hard drive is still in working condition, you can mount it (using a USB disk enclosure is the easiest way) on your new computer and possibly transfer the settings that way.
posted by blister at 12:39 PM on November 2, 2006

The winamp ipod plugin is good for getting the music off too.
It won't save your library file though, which contains all the times played / rating data.
posted by defcom1 at 12:49 PM on November 2, 2006

Whoops, reread your post. If your motherboard is fried, your hard drive may still be ok. Add it as a slave, and copy the itunes libary off it. (the standard place is My Documents|My Music | Itunes.)
posted by defcom1 at 12:51 PM on November 2, 2006

Once you recoved your files and installed them on your new computer, go donate to the EFF. The workarouds you are using today are already illegal under the DMCA, and, if the industry has its way, they will be impossible to build althoghter. See wikipedia for TCPA, DRM, and NGSCB
posted by gmarceau at 1:40 PM on November 2, 2006

Thanks niles, I needed to do something similar after a crappy hard drive ate my mother's collection. Yamipod works great.
posted by krisjohn at 3:06 PM on November 2, 2006

I've used several other PC-based freeware solutions for doing just this, but all seemed to end up corrupting my iPod's database at some point or another, forcing me to re-format the iPod and start again.
XPlay 2.2 from Mediafour has never failed me, and it was an inexpensive bonus when I bought it bundled with MacDrive (I own an Intel Mac, and wanted MacDrive to be allow Windows XP to read the files on the Mac partition -- particularly my iTunes library on the Mac partition, so I could listen to them when doing Windows work)
Also: Xplay will read Mac-formatted iPods in the Windows world and let you copy your tunes from them (It uses a subset of the MacDrive software that only works through Xplay)
BTW: I am not a shill for Mediafour -- I've just had better luck with XPlay than with any of the freeware alternatives I've tried.
posted by I, Credulous at 5:16 PM on November 2, 2006