[lutwey]

i'm oldfashioned i burn them to some discs and not put it on the case until i need them............the easiest and the cheapest way to do it too

 

[artears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4metta /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sometimes the ethical thing to do is pay for something. I know it hurts the wallet but... Trust me, it's a steal at $25. The guys did a great job on the software. You also get lifetime support. None of this "renew for another year" crap like so many software companies love to do.

Well, there is nothing unethical of me wanting to get a freeware for my needs. I never mentioned about getting the crack for the programs I told above, which would not have been ethical, that is for sure. I was just looking for free alternatives. Sometimes freewares are much better than their shareware (by the way, you get lifetime support with most of the sharewares) counterparts anyway. Having said that, I agree that it seems like a good software and it might be worth a try. $25 is not much for getting 40g of music out of the ipod IMO.

sebascrub, thanks for pointing that out. I will check it, I surely can click at every 50 songs, I wouldn't mind...

 

[hilikus]

This is very simple. Recently my laptop harddrive crashed. I like my music folders in artist > album folders, nicely arranged also renamed the files from the nasty names they have on the ipod. This free program did it for me and did not compromise any audio quality.
http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/downloads/
songs on ipod

song > select all songs > copy to

results:

all free

 

[sc53]

I bought and use PodUtil (the British program someone else mentioned). It works flawlessly and keeps a nicely organized backup of everything on your iPod on your hard drive or anywhere else you choose to back the Pod up to.
http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/software/podutil.php
I had so much music on my iPod that I bought the program because it was taking hours to keep clicking on the "do not wish to purchase" button. I have backed up all my iPods and highly recommend this program.

 

[Noya]

Hey! thanks for all the help!
is the podutil safe to use??? I'm very nervous to loose stuff on my ipod as a result of trying to back it up......

 

[sc53]

Yes PodUtil is safe. It doesn't remove anything from your iPod, just copies it over to your hard drive, external backup drive, CD burner or whatever. I use it all the time.

 

[hilikus]

YamiPod does not do any damage to your ipod either. It just copies and tags files.

 

[Mandrake]

I use Windows Explorer to essentially back up my Ipod Library. I have my songs at home on the computer. Put them on my Ipod. And at work, I use explorer to find the files and transfer onto my work computer. No problems, just got to keep the dates straight to make sure I am updating only new files and not missing any. I burn all my songs from CDs I own, so maybe lack of copy protection makes things easy for me.

 

[flamerz]

I can tell you a different way to do this.

Edit! Make sure you first plug in someone else's iPod into the computer first. Run iTunes with that iPod plugged in, and clear its hard drive when it asks if you want to make your computer the default computer for it. If you do not do this first, you won't be able to do the instructions after this.

First, enable vision of hidden files and folders. To do this, open My Computer, then click on Tools at the top, then go to Folder Options. Click on the tab that says View, then click on the bullet that says "Show hidden files and folders."
Once this is done, plug in your iPod, but make sure you don't clear the music off it if iTunes asks you to. Instead, go back to My Computer, then double click on the iPod drive. It should be titled whatever you named your iPod. Double click iPod_Control. Double click Music. Highlight all of the "F##" folders, and right click on them. Select copy. Paste them in a folder of your choosing. Once it's done pasting, you're done. You now have the music all on your computer. Even though they're split into dozens of folders, with odd file names, the ID3 tags are all fine, and that's what counts.

 

[Mandrake]

Flamerz,

That's what I meant to say, but you are much more specific and eloquent. I assumed all that pre stuff, projecting my settings onto others. And I didn't mention the F folders.... So thanks!

Bottom line, you can do this with the software built into your Windows PC!

 

[artears]

Although windows xp on my pc recognises my 4th gen correctly as ipod and an external hard drive, because of the different formatting of ipod I guess, it is complaining about the drive being not formatted. So, using explorer won't seem like an option to me (I tried this before posting here). I did not install itunes, since I wanted to copy the files first. I am new to ipods, so comments are very well appreciated. The reason about all this is that I purchased my ipod used and I don't want to loose what is already in there. YamiPod and PodUtil seem like the best shots so far (considering freewares or trial versions of sharewares, which might do the trick)... I did not have time to try either of them though...

 

[Sparky191]

I could be wrong but I think you need iTunes installed for windows explorer to be able to see the music folders on an ipod. otherwise all you can see is the space allocated as a data drive.

 

[Hendrix]

Ghost version 10 is a great way to back it all up!

http://radified.com/index2.html

It has save my butt many times!

 

[flamerz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mandrake /img/forum/go_quote.gif Flamerz, That's what I meant to say, but you are much more specific and eloquent. I assumed all that pre stuff, projecting my settings onto others. And I didn't mention the F folders.... So thanks! Bottom line, you can do this with the software built into your Windows PC!

Ah, sorry but I didn't really have time to read all of the posts prior to mine, otherwise I would've referred to your post. Good to see that others also know the simple way of doing this.

 

[The_Terminator]

I don't know which ipod you have, but if have one of the compatible ipods, you can use Sharepod. it's free, google for it and how to use it.
It is simple, requires no install, and it'll copy the songs from your ipod to your computer. Once on your computer, just back it up the way you would back up any other file.

You used to be able to use sharepod to put songs on the ipod as well, but that portion of it hasn't worked in the last few revisions of the ipod, but it still works to get songs from ipod to computer.

Sharepod: your iPod is naked without it.