downloading songs from a ipod to itunes?

Question

want to download songs from a ipod to my laptop without erasing the songs on it

Answer 1

Not many people are aware that you actually CAN copy songs from your iPod to your computer, as long as you have the latest version of iTunes (which is now Version 7.5). It used to be that it was a one-way street FROM your computer TO your iPod, but not any more - Yay! I see this question a lot, so I guess Apple finally realized that they needed to let people do this or they were going to start losing business. There also are some different programs you can download and use, but I have the following very-detailed and easy-to-follow instructions (complete with pictures) on using iTunes to copy from your iPod to your computer:

http://deadpoetscave.com/2006/12/copying-music-from-an-ipod-to-a-computer-pc-windows/

I should tell you that I personally haven't done this, but know of people who have and it works. If I should ever need to copy music from my iPod to my computer, this is how I will do it.

One other thing though - if you got some or all of the music in your iPod from someone else who purchased it from iTunes, then you will need to have both of your computers authorized to play each other's music. You are allowed to authorize up to 5 computers to play your music. When you are dealing with purchased music, they are protected, even though you bought them, so you are the only one who can play them -- unless you authorize other computer(s) to play them. How you do that (and you will have to do this with both your friend's computer AND your computer) is to pull up your iTunes window, and at the top left-hand side are the buttons that say: File, Edit, Controls, View, Store, Advanced & Help. Click on "Store" and then click on "Authorize Computer" and enter your iTunes account information. Once you do this with both of the computers, you will then be able to play each other's purchased, protected music. One last thing - if you ever should get a new computer, don't forget to "Deauthorize your old computer" (by doing the exact thing you did to "Authorize" only when you click on "Store" it will now say "Deauthorize" instead of "Authorize") or you will be one computer short of the 5 you are able to have authorized to play music. I actually learned this the hard way, so now I can only authorize 4 computers because I forgot to authorize one of mine and it's too late now. Good luck and enjoy your music!

EDIT to "VickyStarr": Hello! Yes, I got this info from YOU back a while ago and have been using it ever since with answering questions like this! Maybe between the 2 of us, we will finally get the word out to everyone that this can be done. I actually didn't know you could do this until I saw your answer, so if this question goes to voting, I will vote for you as a "Thank You" for teaching me this new thing about iPods/iTunes! (I'm surprised that we haven't crossed paths before now with this answer.)

Answer 2

*gasp*

Zomg! I've been posting this same answer for months now, and I've never seen anyone else post it!

http://deadpoetscave.com/2006/12/copying-music-from-an-ipod-to-a-computer-pc-windows

That person was right - I've just never seen anyone else put up a link to this site. Maybe all those months of copying/pasting the URL have finally payed off ....

Anyway, the site is great and I HAVE done it before. You don't have to download anything, just follow the steps. It took me like 15 mins to get my 600 songs from my iPod to my computer. =D

Answer 3

My brother has a 20 gig ipod photo, and it is hard to impossible to get the songs from the ipod to itunes. You might be able to with a ipod nano or any ipod that is flash based (doesn't have a hard drive).