Maybe you have an old iPod you haven’t used for a long time but still have old music that you no longer have copies of anywhere else. If that’s the case, the good news is that you can transfer music from your iPod to your computer.
To do so, you simply treat your iPod as an external hard drive that can pull music from. After ripping from iPod, you can add music to your iTunes library and even sync it to your iPhone.
First, you’ll need to make sure you can transfer music on your iPod without iTunes deleting it during sync.
The method to prevent iTunes from automatically syncing with iOS devices is:
1. Make sure to disconnect all iOS devices from the computer. Then open iTunes. In Windows, go to Edit > Preferences . On a Mac, go to iTunes > Preferences .
2. On both platforms, click the Devices tab and check the box for Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically . Then click OK and close iTunes.
However, Macs running macOS Catalina or later use Finder instead of iTunes to sync iOS devices. Therefore, you will need to open your device in Finder and uncheck the Automatically sync when this iPhone is connected box.
You can now connect your iPod to your computer. It will show up as a drive in File Explorer on Windows and Finder on Mac. Open the iPod drive and navigate to the iPod_Control > Music folder. You will see many folders labeled F with numbers.
If your iPod drive is empty, you need to show hidden files and folders on your computer. Windows users can follow the article: How to hide files, show hidden files, view hidden folders and file extensions on Windows 7/8/10. For those using macOS, press and hold Cmd + Shift + Period to enable or disable hidden folders.
Select all the folders in iPod_Control > Music , and then copy and paste them to a location on the hard drive. This will transfer iPod music to computer.
When you’re done copying files, you can disconnect and take out your iPod. On a Windows PC, right-click the iPod drive in File Explorer and select Eject. Mac users should right-click the iPod icon on the desktop and select Eject.
After transferring music from iPod to computer, you can start tuning. First, add music from your iPod to your iTunes library on your Windows PC or Mac. Note that on macOS Catalina and later, the music library will appear in the Apple Music app because iTunes is gone.
By default, on Windows, adding items to the iTunes library creates a reference to the file’s current location. The original files are still in the current location. Therefore, if you move the original files, iTunes will no longer see them.
You can ask iTunes for Windows to make a copy of each file and place them in the iTunes media folder. Moving the original files afterwards will not affect the music in the iTunes library.
If you need to change or fix tags on added tracks, you can do so directly in iTunes/Apple Music.
To edit tags on Windows, right-click the song and select Song Info . If using a Mac, hold Ctrl and click to select Album Info .
On the displayed dialog, you will see several tabs containing information about the selected song. You can edit items such as song title, artist, album, and genre. Click the button at the top to view and change other information.
To go to the next song in the list, click the arrow at the bottom of the dialog box. When finished editing the tags, click OK.
You can also edit general information for multiple songs at once. Use the Shift or Ctrl keys ( Cmd on Mac) to select the songs you want to edit. Then right click on the selected songs and select Get Info .
A confirmation dialog box displays. If you don’t want to see this dialog every time, check the box Do not ask me again . Click Edit Items to continue.
Only tags that apply to all selected items are displayed in the window. Click the button at the top to access different types of information. Edit the tag as desired and click OK.
If you use playlists on your iPhone, you can create them in iTunes and they will sync with your iPhone. Whether using Mac or Windows, the process is the same.
To create a playlist, select the songs you want in the playlist. Then right click on the selected songs and click Add to Playlist > New Playlist .
To transfer added music to iPhone, make sure iTunes is open and connect your device to your computer. Then follow the instructions in the article: How to copy music to iPhone, iPad from computer?
If your old iPod still works, you can easily transfer music from that iPod to your computer. After transferring music from iPod to iTunes or iPhone, use it for a new purpose, like an ebook reader or secondary music collection.