As time goes by, digital devices tend to accumulate, including old iPods that might still have music that you want to retrieve. However, the process can be complicated since iPods were designed to play music and sync with iTunes in a one-way process to prevent piracy. If you’re facing this issue, don’t worry, as we’ve come up with some solutions to help you recover your old music.
How to Retrieve Music from an Old iPod
1. Prevent Automatic Sync
Before connecting the old iPod to your computer, open iTunes without any devices connected and turn on ‘Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically’. This will prevent iTunes from wiping your device clean before you have a chance to retrieve the music.
2. Verify Your Devices
Make sure you have all the necessary devices for retrieval by verifying their presence and condition through the system tray. Check your computer access, playlist, and settings to ensure everything is in order.
3. Launch iExplorer
Install and launch iExplorer, which will allow you to view and preview files before exporting them.
4. Use the Media Library
For all iPods and iOS devices, select the Media Library in the sidebar and choose the tracks you want to save. Click ‘Transfer from Device’ and choose whether to send them to iTunes or a Finder folder.
5. Try the ‘Auto Transfer’ Feature
If you want to save only those tracks that you haven’t saved in iTunes yet, you can try iExplorer’s ‘Auto Transfer’. This feature requires registration, though.
6. Verify from iTunes
After transferring your music to iTunes, verify that they’re in the app and play them to ensure they sound well. If the album art is missing, right-click it and select ‘Album Artwork’.
7. Use Senuti for Shuffle
For the iPod Shuffle, you can try Senuti, a tool that allows you to define the save location of your tracks and choose whether to add them to iTunes automatically or not.
8. Retrieve Your Tracks from the iPod Shuffle
Select the Music folder and retrieve your desired tracks. Use File > Transfer Songs or the toolbar buttons to transfer the tracks to your computer. Be aware that audio files on the Shuffle may be of lower quality than your other digital music.
9. Sync Your Device Again
Once all your music is back in iTunes, you can use the standard sync to wipe your device clean and re-add any music you still want on your iPod.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I recover music from a broken iPod?
It’s possible to recover music from a broken iPod through various data recovery software tools, but the success rate is not guaranteed.
2. Can I recover deleted music from my iPod?
If you’ve deleted your music from iPod accidentally, you have an opportunity to retrieve it from the trash or use third-party software.