How to transfer iPod contents to a new iMac?

chris fitzgerald · August 1, 2005 9:24PM

Sorry if this is a repeat, but I did a search and it didn't come up. I've got a G4 iMac with my whole music folder on it, and my wife and I each have an iPod with our preferred tunes. I'm surprising her with a 20" G5 iMac tomorrow, and would like to be able to dump her tunes on to the machine as soon as she brings her iPod home from work. Problem is, I can't figure out how to do this on my own machine with my own iPod...looks like copy protection or something. I'll need to learn how to do this pretty quick, since I'd also like to be able to load my tunes onto the new iMac I'll be getting this week for my office at the U.

How hard is this to do? All of my tracks are "legal" (i.e. - ripped from my own CDs). Is this a copy protection thing?

cosmonut · August 1, 2005 9:51PM

The trick is not to move the music from iPod to Mac, but Mac to Mac.

Apple's iTunes Support should give you a good starting point.

NOTE: Hey admins, Safari...or something...is formatting that link above weirdly.

towel · August 2, 2005 7:10PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald

How hard is this to do? All of my tracks are "legal" (i.e. - ripped from my own CDs). Is this a copy protection thing?

Yes, it is. Apple intentionally hides and obfuscates the file and directory names on the iPod to make it difficult to download music from an iPod to a Mac in usable form (going the other way, of course, is an easy drag-and-drop in iTunes). It's still possible, and there are instructions floating around to do it, but it's not worth the effort if all your music is on another Mac. When the new iMac arrives, either transfer all the music from the old one by Apple File Sharing over ethernet, or, to speed things up, put the old iMac in firewire disk mode and plug it into the new one.

Alternatively, if your iPod has enough free space, you can use it as a portable hard drive to move the files. See, any music you put on the iPod in the Finder can be easily dragged to whatever other Mac you plug the iPod into. So you simply plug the iPod into your Mac, where it appears as a regular disk in the Finder. Copy your entire music folder onto it in the Finder, and then plug the iPod into the new Mac and copy the folder off. The reason you don't always drag music onto the iPod from the Finder is that the iPod won't let you play it. Apple set up the iPod so that you can either move files freely (put there in the Finder) or listen to files easily (put there in iTunes) - but not both simultaneously.

chris fitzgerald · August 2, 2005 11:06PM

Thanks gents. Man, that was easy! Both of our iPods had plenty of free space, and the whole "iPod transfer" thing was a breeze. And man, but is the new 2 Gig G5 a ninja, or what? reminds me of the roadrunner in those old WB cartoons...all I see is a trail of dust.

Thanks again for the help. This makes three Macs in the house, and I love every one dearly.

BTW, the new machine shipped with Tiger. Can I load that onto my 20" G4 iMac, or do they want me to buy the new OS again?

cosmonut · August 2, 2005 11:10PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald

Can I load that onto my 20" G4 iMac, or do they want me to buy the new OS again?

You're supposed to buy another license for it, but...

scott_r · August 3, 2005 4:33AM

This is a great thread as I have a similar problem. My iPod was setup on my PC/Windows laptop which not running properly any more and keeps shutting itself off due to overheating.

So would like to move my music over to my new Mac. Is there a utility that can copy my files off my iPod to the Mac with out getting over writing my iTunes library on the Mac?

Thanks!

-Scott

davette59 · August 8, 2008 5:39PM

I have a similar problem. My old PC computer crashed and I just purchased a new Imac. Since my old computer crashed the only source I have for my hours of download time is my ipod. Is there any way to download the info from my ipod to my imac? Actually I have not purchased any music from itunes, all of my music is from old vinyl or CD;s.

dylannn · August 10, 2008 1:45PM

If your want to get your music from your ipod to your mac or pc all u have to do is download this free program called Music Rescue

its free to use and its never failed me :P

http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/musicrescue/

kerryalan · January 29, 2013 1:48AM

Instead of using iTunes i prefer to online storage .That's more convenient way to backup your data .in case of your macbook crash you can still recover your data to your e-storage.and your can download a iPod to mac transfer to backup .

siencebruance · March 13, 2013 10:36PM

Try these steps:

On the new iMac launch iTunes.

From the iTunes menu bar click Store > Authorize This Computer

For your iTunes purchases ...

Connect the iPod.

From the menu bar again, click File > Transfer Purchases From ..

For non iTunes purchases you may need a utility.

hhhosssfly · June 17, 2013 2:05AM

There are many iPod to mac transfer app online, most of apps are free but they cannot transfer contact, text message and more files, my favourite app Vibosoft iPhone to Mac transfer app, it also works for my iPod touch, For more: http://www.vibosoft.com/ios/transfer-music-photos-from-iphone-to-mac.html

linconhon · February 19, 2014 3:26AM

My favorite is SharePod. It mounts the ipod like a drive with all the albums and artists. By far the best in my opinion

royallauker · May 9, 2014 3:56AM

The music from the iPod to linux machine without using iTunes,Because iTunes sometimes may get your data lost during the syncing process.using iTools.Because iTool is an alternative to transfer iPod music. Not expert in iPod music transfer.

How to transfer iPod contents to a new iMac?

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