How-to: get music, videos, and photos off your iPod or iPhone

To think, it's been over five years since we last tackled how to get music off your iPod, as opposed to the other way around. Back then, the classic model had only recently added the infamous click wheel (while still rocking the monochrome screen, mind you), iPod nano was still called the mini, and viewing photos was a brand new feature worthy of having its own line. It's time to take another look at how to transfer media of all sorts -- audio, video, and pictures -- from a variety of iPods and iPhones back to your Windows or Mac OS X machine.

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[sharpie Posted Nov 25th 2009 2:57PM]

The seed 2.0 is one of my favorite roots songs.. Phrenology ftw!

[vlad the inhaler Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:26PM]

@(Unverified)great album, great song.

[Derrik Posted Nov 25th 2009 2:57PM]

On my Mac, I use a program called Senuti. Its quick and simple. I just recently did it for my cousin's iPod because he sold his HP for some quick cash and he needed a place to back up his music to. So I just hooked it up to mine and created a guest account (on Leopard not SL). The whole process took a couple of hours for about 2200 songs. The process shown above looks a little complicated.

[DaHarder Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:00PM]

I've used CopyPod for years with no issues whatsoever.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:01PM]

This post is GREAT for ALL my family members that call me 25,000 times to ask me "how can i take my music out of my iPod". Now I can say GO TO ENGADGET, here's the link........

[xbit Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:02PM]

The Roots = win.

[pankomputerek Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:03PM]

In some ways apple is kind of behind all the technology/solutions.
Some things they "disable" us from doing are just plain stupid.

[Barky Posted Nov 25th 2009 5:53PM]

@pankomputerek
No duh. Apple is usually behind the times. They take a good idea, cripple it, insult the potential buyers, and then collect the checks.

[Meng Bomin Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:05PM]

Judging from the screenshots in the Windows instructions, it looks like someone has a Zune (or at least uses Zune software).

[DopFat Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:09PM]

I'm amazed you didn't mention probably the most popular iPod back up tool out there, TouchCopy.

http://www.touchcopy.com

It's available for both mac and Pc and completely rocks!

[thethirdmoose Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:09PM]

Engadget: Today's google replacement!

[JakeMG Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:14PM]

+1 to the Roots Phrenology. ROOTS!!!

[Martin C Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:16PM]

If you have an iDevice, and OS X, I can't stress how awesome Senuti is to use.

http://www.fadingred.com/senuti/

[NAME Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:25PM]

I am goink to push "OK"

is that ok?

because you circled it as opposed to putting a big red X over it...

[c0lemancb Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:30PM]

The Windows article is wrong, there are several options for non-jailbroken iPhones / iPod Touch. Winamp with the ml_iPod plugin for example.

[Onijin Posted Nov 25th 2009 6:15PM]

@c0lemancb I'm genuinely suprised more people haven't mentioned winamp and either pmp_ipod or ml_ipod. They work and they work well.

[Cahlito Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:31PM]

lololol why are u verified

[pika2000 Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:32PM]

Transferring music from regular iPods (except iPod Touch and iPhones) back to your computer is extremely simple as iPods are recognized as simply USB mass storage device. The only challenge is that the folders are hidden (easily worked around by enabling "show hidden files/folders") and the filenames are gibberish, but all the ID3 tags are intact. So simply drag-n-dropping them back to iTunes will do it. Not so easy on iPod Touch/iPhone, although there are plenty of utilities to do it.

Yeah, it would be even easier with pure UMS device players, however, I have yet to find a pure UMS device player to have the ability to keep track of ratings, play counts, and last played that can be sync with a live-updating smart playlist.

As for the Zune, it's useless outside Windows. The point is I can connect my iPod to a linux box and simply copy back the songs. Cannot do that with a Zune.

[MarcusMaximus Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:49PM]

@pika2000 Right, but if you don't have a windows box then you're unlikely to be using a Zune(unless you're using a virtual desktop/emulation/whatever environment that works with the Zune software), since it's well advertised that it only works on Windows. And, within those confines, it's incredibly easy to transfer stuff to the computer from the Zune.

[poematik14 Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:33PM]

Wow, that silver/black iPod Nano really looks good with the macbook. I shouldve got mine in that color but I went for purple instead :D

[SHFT Posted Nov 25th 2009 3:36PM]

Just use Senuti ffs ...

[SmilinGoat Posted Nov 25th 2009 4:04PM]

this is one of the things i hate most about my iPhone. god damn the thing to hell!

my girlfriends Zune is so easy.

which pisses me off even more because i recently had to replace a computer, and all MY songs/videos/whathave you are on my iPhone, only about half of it is backed up elsewhere, which means i cant sync my iPhone without loosing so very much of my beloved music/video. i will get an andriod as soon as my contract expires with ATT.

[Kyle P Posted Nov 25th 2009 4:08PM]

Is that the Roots, Phrenology I see?

[NikNak Posted Nov 25th 2009 4:09PM]

You ARE aware that some of us run Linux?

[loismustdie Posted Nov 25th 2009 4:18PM]

@NikNak you can enable disk use in win/mac iTunes and then sync with the media player your distro comes with.

[loismustdie Posted Nov 25th 2009 4:16PM]

I've been doing this 3 years now, and everyone else just discovers it?

[pnutnam Posted Nov 25th 2009 4:22PM]

Sharepod has been doing this for years. I use it everyday with my iPhone 3GS and Touch.

[WixosTrix Posted Nov 25th 2009 4:31PM]

Once you get your music off just get a Zune and you'll never have to go through that again.

[migakira Posted Nov 25th 2009 4:32PM]

So if i manually copy all the music with the strange names and then throw them all into iTunes, it will copy everything to the right folder and give the files all the correct names?

For example, XMYASLKJ will be in \iTunes\Music\Arcade Fire\Funeral\01 - Wake Up.mp3 ?

Thanks!

[Ethan Posted Nov 25th 2009 5:02PM]

I prefer to just hold ctrl+opt on my mac to temporarily not sync.

[Slashee the Cow Posted Nov 25th 2009 5:18PM]

Whenever I need to get music off my Touch, I use iPhoneBrowser... it's free :).
http://code.google.com/p/iphonebrowser/

[davinci003 Posted Nov 25th 2009 5:31PM]

if you're on a mac and have an iphone or a touch, phoneview (http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/) does a great job accessing music/photos/sms/call log/voicemail/etc. it's $20 but it's worth every penny.

[wesley anthony Posted Nov 25th 2009 5:33PM]

Or if your a dirty pirate you could just torrent TouchCopy 09 and it does all this for you, along with videos and pictures

[chuckles Posted Nov 25th 2009 5:46PM]

Sigh. I have a shuffle. None of the above will bring all content off it. Sharepod won't see it. You can only choose to use a percentage of its total flash RAM as "disk", and that is separate from the RAM where the music is stored.

Paid apps Anapod and CopyGear (ImToo) claim to support the Shuffle. I am going to try the latter soon.

Ummm, can we say "incomplete reporting"?

[DopFat Posted Nov 26th 2009 4:15AM]

@chuckles
I have a shuffle, TouchCopy works with it...
http://www.touchcopy.com/

[Zertz Posted Nov 25th 2009 7:22PM]

iDump has always worked perfectly fine for me
http://www.escsoft.com/idump.php

Doesn't work on the Touch and iPhone though

[auzroz Posted Nov 25th 2009 8:45PM]

This just happened to my iPhone 3GS, I used i-funbox. (http://i-funbox.com/) It is FREE and standalone. Along with Media Monkey I was able to rename and resort them all back into their folders. Done in 20 minutes.

[auzroz Posted Nov 25th 2009 8:46PM]

@auzroz And it doesn't require the phone to be Jailbroken

[working dog Posted Nov 25th 2009 11:33PM]

try senuti... its a lot easier

[charlietokowitz Posted Nov 26th 2009 1:23AM]

Woah Woah Woah not cool, engadget! I literally emailed this to ask engadget 24 hours ago!

[gangler Posted Nov 26th 2009 3:08AM]

you've been able to do this for years i've used multiple programs to rip music from POD's pack to PC's anapod copy gear for instance were all i have had to do is install the program connect my pod and drag and drop to back up back to any folder on my desktop

[marvbloke Posted Nov 26th 2009 5:54AM]

Great guide - Engadget does it again!

[Eros Posted Nov 26th 2009 6:32AM]

I use Anapod Explorer http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/

[Picklesworth Posted Nov 26th 2009 11:51AM]

It Just Works!

[graywolf Posted Nov 27th 2009 1:28AM]

PodToPC...simple.

oh, wait, i own a zune. i'm not bound by absurd laws and rules. oh, well...the software does work, btw. i do it for friends all the time.

[rrrichw Posted Nov 27th 2009 11:28PM]

or you could just enable "show hidden files and folders" in windows and open the ipod in windows explorer and copy whatever the hell you want over, much easier than going through all the trouble in this article

[laa1688 Posted Dec 14th 2009 3:55AM]

Here is the best ipod transfer software. http://www.ipod-copy-transfer.com/