iPOD help please
 

OK, so I've turned on my computer when I got home from work, and my iTunes library is empty. Nearly 4000 tracks gone. I've searched my hard drive and every other drive I have, but they are gone.

Does anyone know if there is a way to transfer the tracks on my iPod back into the computer?

Yeah, I'm sure there's a feature in the software to extract the files from your ipod. Creative's softwares have that, but i've never used and ipod so I dont know.

Cheers.

what kinda computer are you using?

PC running windows xp

you can look in the iPod's drive like any other peripheral, but the names are all scrambled (you should still be able to copy them out of it, but you would have to rename them).

there are programs you can buy that will do it for you (I think, I don't have one though).

with the Mac there is a shareware program that will pull them off, so I use my wife's laptop when I have to do this.

if you really have a large amount of missing files, you might have a bigger problem than just your iTunes library though. have you tried searching for specific files rather than the iTunes music folder?

things don't (usually) self-delete.

jeezus. maybe it's just the library fucked up not the files missing? if so, i believe you could rebuild your library from those.

im so lucky i dont deal with itunes crapola. winamp FTW. sorry, not rubbing it in, it's just--- i hate how people get sucked into using these products.

hmm there is an import function in itunes, just noticed it. Its under 'file'. Try that maybe?

It's wierd. It's just the itunes library thats gone, all the titles still come up when I open itunes but I can't play them. I just get a nessage saying that the file isn't there any more.

agh. please allow me to vomit. if there's one thing that's worse than itunes, it's wmp.

you can try this:http://www.redsofts.com/soft/569/1079/PodPlus.html

it's freeware and just the first thing I found on google (but it might work).

I still say search a track name (Start>Search) before you do anything too drastic.


NOTE: if the files moved, iTunes will still say they are missing (but still list them from it's memory).

search your C: drive. unless they were deleted intentionally (and the delete confirmed), I bet they just somehow got moved.

this is for CD's.

iTunes will not let you import music from an iPod.

Just stay the hell out of any "synchronize"-buttons; they'll just delete all music on your iPod if it aint' found on your computer.

:edit: And i mean all synchronize-buttons in all programs, not just iTunes.

most people use it, that's why i suggested it.


and i guess windows detects your ipod as a removable storage device doesnt it? access it and manually copy the files to the hard drive.

yeah, exactly my point about people using software without checking what it does and how it works.

it foobar was a bit less geeky, i would use it.

jesus fucking christ how shit is that? I'm beggining to really dislike IPods.

everyone: Boycott IDods. okay?

Florya, an idea--

how about you install winamp, then let it "take over" the association with the music files, and see if it will open some of them? particularly the mp3 ones...

i mean, you don't have the files on the hard drive or what?

You are a diamond!!
Songs being transferred as I type.

Thanks a million :)

You must have moved the files to another location. When I moved all my music over to my external hard-drive it did this same thing. Find where you moved the music to, then delete everything in your library, and copy it in from the new location.

It worked for me.

Didn't finish reading the topic before I posted that.


Shit.

That's just it - They just aren't there any more.
Hopefully the link that floatingslowly provided will be my saviour. It's looking OK so far. Could take a while tho.

ipodrip

the iTunes aren't mp3 files. they are aac or mp4.

fuck winamp. iTunes is the best thing out there.

like it was mentioned above, disable auto-synch. I do this for every program I have that uses it. I also never install iTune updates until I HAVE to. most times, they seem to disable more features than they create. so unless it crashes on you, I wouldn't accept updates.

Florya, I still think that your files are on your computer. don't search by "music" type under Window's search funtion, just use the name of the track and specify "all files". it will take awhile, but I bet the folder just got moved.

barring imminent critical hard-drive failure, it would take TWO separate confirmations to have deleted all those files (the first for "are you sure?" and the second stating that the file is too large for the recycle bin and it will be deleted).

I'm glad that you can get the stuff off your iPod right now, but there's a good chance you are using up extra space on your hard-drive with duplicate files.

I have. I've searched using the most obscure song titles and the only versions that show up are the ones that I've just transferred back using tha program you linked to.

I'm mystified.

itunes is ""the best" YET you have to disable its obscure, potentially catastrophic functions? fuck if anything that eats your files is "the best" anything, unless you're talking about a "hard drive cleaner".

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnba..._7_ate_al.html

yes flotz, i know itunes sells AAC (AAC is a compression scheme, mp4 is only a container), but upon installation, icrap sets itself as default player for all manner of music files, therefore gobbling up all innocents, such as mp3s one would download from mutant sounds (florya's records have been featured on mutant sounds, presume he might keep a few), or mp3s purchased from such respectable outfits as emusic (which lets you play what you want where you want to, unlike icacas).

since mp3s dont have the nasty proprietary layers of mp4, and therefore can be access by any decent program (such as winamp), i figured they would be a good place to start looking for richard.

--

ps- is your hard drive dying? see comments:

http://ask.metafilter.com/65298/iTun...-all-out-again

winamp sucks, though.

nonsense. how does it "suck"? you click the fucking file, it plays it-- you can add plugins for flac and shn-- what else do you need? a button that eats your files? or something that sez "sorry but i am not allowed to play that". oh yeah. that's the apex of technology, huh?

simple = good

the ipod is as technologically advanced as i've gotten.

winamp sucks.

just cos you keep repeating it, it doesn't make it true-- you attended the george w. bush school of rhethoric? posit a decent argument for fucks sakes.

goddamn a-rabs.

oops i blasphemied and as a man of the lord's word i would never do that.
gosh darn a-rabs.

saddam wmd saddam wmd

vlc is the shit.

nucular weppens nucular weppens nucular weppens.

saddam.

sad-dum is how it is pronounciated correctly

my decent argument? winamp sucks. there. god bless america and fuck off.

really, to me, winamp was never very user-friendly, and i could give two shits about how many different file formats is supports, if i don't actually enjoy using the program, what's the point?

the only issues i've ever really had with itunes have always been with windows based machines, but that's no real surprise there.

i can get behind that, for sure.

hm, that looks interesting...

what kind of footprint does it have? HUGE??? or tiny?

reason i never got into foobar was the learning curve, & efforts better spent elsewhere

i have no idea of what you're talking about. speak portuguese or spanish or french or italian etc.