How to copy music OFF your iPod

iTunes is set up to transfer your music and videos from your computer to your iPod, and it does not work the other way around. There are cases where you may want to copy your files off your iPod onto another computer, such as when you get a new computer (probably has more memory and is faster). Or your computer hard drive crashes, leaving the only copy of your music on your iPod. If you are able to de-authorize your old computer before it dies/gets replaced, you should do so (Apple limits you to 5 computers).

Here is how to transfer the files on your iPod to your new computer:

Plug your iPod into your new computer using the regular cable you usually use. If iTunes starts up YOU DO NOT WANT TO SYNC. You would be syncing to an empty library and all your music will be lost. You will want to eject out of iTunes. You can skip this step if you configure your iPod for Disk Mode, which on some iPods you can do from the Summary tab within iTunes. (Disk mode:http://www.ipodwizard.net/wiki/index.php/Forced_Disk_Mode)

From the Desktop, go to My Computer and find the iPod (which will be designated by a drive letter. like D: or E:)
Open the iPod drive by clicking it.

You will need to be able to see Hidden Files to get to your files. In Windows, Go to Control Panel - Folder Options - View (click the tab) - Hidden Files and Folders and click on Show hidden files and folders. Click OK.

Go back to your iPod drive, and you will see a new folder called iPod_Control (which is lighter gray because it is a hidden file).
Open it.
Inside the folder called "Music" will be many folders named F00, F01, etc.... Inside these folders are your MP3 files. The way these folders are organized is not human-logical, so you will have to copy this whole group of folders into a new folder on your computer (remember what you named it and where you put it!). You will need to have as much available memory on your new computer as you have on your iPod.

Eject your iPod using your computers eject drive function. (Right click on the drive and hit Eject). Don't ever just disconnect your iPod if it is blinking "Do not disconnect". This can mess up your iPod.

Open iTunes: add the new folder you created to your library. iTunes will sort it out for you and you will then be able to see the music organized in a logical way. This is because iTunes and iPods use a database to correlate your music locations with the meta data such as title, artist, album. If you want to delete some of the music (that you didn't really like for example) do it within iTunes, NOT by deleting the files from your computer. Otherwise, iTunes can get "out of sync" with your files, and this can mess up your ability to copy all your files from iTunes to your iPod during sync. (A "file not found" error will stop your sync and leave nothing on your iPod).

Now connect your iPod. At this point (if you can see all your music in iTunes) you can sync your iPod without risk of losing all your music.

 
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