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Gummi Bear · May 15, 2003, 06:20 AM

So far, i've been transfering music from my computer to my iPod. But is it possible to reverse that. If i hook up my iPod to my second computer whcih has no music, can i then put the music i have on it??

AssassyN · May 15, 2003, 06:32 AM

Sure you can! Just use a program like Escape Pod to extract audio files from the iPod and drag them onto your hard drive.

Astounding setup by the way, have any pics?

-Q- · May 15, 2003, 08:42 AM

There are quite a few programs to remove the music from the iPod. Just do a search for 'iPod' at http://www.macupdate.com and you'll find a fair number...

jcarr · May 16, 2003, 07:21 AM

Is it possible to fool your iPod into thinking that two comptuers are really one (same hard disk name, same user name & UID, same iTunes prefs file, etc.)?

I'd like to be able to move back and forth between home and work machines. Or is the iTunes 'sync' simply one way?

I realize there are third-party utils, but with a 15-20GB library, this can be a little tedious.

Thanks!

Eug · May 16, 2003, 09:21 AM

Is anyone running the iPod with iTunes on their primary computer, with NO MP3 files on their primary computer?

I'd like to have my primary MP3 list on my PC, but with a Mac iPod.

I'd be willing to transfer all my MP3 from my PC to iTunes, and then sync with the iPod, and then delete everything in iTunes. (My primary computer is a PowerBook, and I don't want to use up 30 GB of space on it.)

Severed Hand of Skywalker · May 16, 2003, 09:35 AM

Originally posted by Eug:
Is anyone running the iPod with iTunes on their primary computer, with NO MP3 files on their primary computer?

I'd like to have my primary MP3 list on my PC, but with a Mac iPod.

I'd be willing to transfer all my MP3 from my PC to iTunes, and then sync with the iPod, and then delete everything in iTunes. (My primary computer is a PowerBook, and I don't want to use up 30 GB of space on it.)

I still don't understand if you know what an iPod is for. You seem to only want to use it for to carry all 60 Gigs of your song with you everywhere and play them though a laptop. That is why you keep pointing out that you have portable drives for that.

An iPod is a WALKMAN. It is not make to use as a way to carry your songs from one computer to another and always listen through a computer. If that is all you want you use a portable hard drive.

With the iPod you can listen to songs in the car, or without having to haul around a laptop.

Eug · May 16, 2003, 10:12 AM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
I still don't understand if you know what an iPod is for. You seem to only want to use it for to carry all 60 Gigs of your song with you everywhere and play them though a laptop. That is why you keep pointing out that you have portable drives for that.

An iPod is a WALKMAN. It is not make to use as a way to carry your songs from one computer to another and always listen through a computer. If that is all you want you use a portable hard drive.

With the iPod you can listen to songs in the car, or without having to haul around a laptop.

Ummm... You're confused.

I want to buy the Mac version of the iPod, but I DON'T want any MP3s on my laptop. ie. The ONLY Mac version of my MP3s would be on my iPod, to be played back like a Walkman. (I would have a second set of MP3z backed up on my PC.)

What I'm wondering is if iTunes will work with the iPod this way. For instance, I assume if I delete files in iTunes, it won't necessarily delete the same files on the iPod right? Also, can I rip files thru iTunes directly to the iPod without having to have a copy on the laptop, yet still have it play as a Walkman-type file on the iPod? (The only Mac I have is a PowerBook, and I don't want to fill it up with MP3z.)

Of course using the iPod simply as an external hard drive would defeat the point, and yes I already have a 60 GB drive for that.

itai195 · May 16, 2003, 12:42 PM

Well first of all, there is no more Mac version of the iPod, the Mac/Windows versions are the same thing now. If you delete songs from iTunes, it deletes them on the iPod as well. You'd have to use a 3rd party app, or Terminal, and turn off the iTunes auto-sync. Since the Mac and Windows iPods are the same device now though, you may as well sync with your PC.

dreilly1 · May 16, 2003, 04:23 PM

I don't have my iPod near me right now to give specifics, but if you have OS X, you don't need a special program to get songs out of the iPod, just use the terminal!

It's in a series of directories that are invisible to the Finder, but are visible under the terminal. Just go to /Volumes/<iPodname>/ and you'll see the special folder. (I believe it's named "iPod Control" or something like that.

There's a "music" folder under there that has a series of folders labled F?? underneath it, where F is a number. Songs are placed in each F?? directory, apparenty at random. So you will have to hunt to find a specific song.

But you can copy any (or all) songs back to your home directory from the command line. After you are done, you can re-import them into iTunes.

All the commands you need are
cd <directory>
ls
cp * <destination>

People who have even a little bit of command-line experience should be able to do this. If you're not one of them, let me know and I'll elaborate...

Producer · May 16, 2003, 07:03 PM

Ok so I wasn't sure about this either let's say...(this is all theoretical) that I have this friend.. who has a PC...any I wanna transfer his mp3 files to my iPod and then to my computer...

well Problem 1 is there is no USB adaptor for the new iPod yet so I guess I will have to wait for that... it's coming in june right?

2 should I enable firewire diskmode and just drag the files off his pc onto my ipod? should I install software that came with the ipod on his pc and then do a sync? will I loose the tunes I have on my ipod that way until I resync with my computer?

And then I get home and use one of these programs to get them onto mine?

michaelb · May 17, 2003, 12:16 AM

Originally posted by itai195:
Well first of all, there is no more Mac version of the iPod, the Mac/Windows versions are the same thing now. If you delete songs from iTunes, it deletes them on the iPod as well. You'd have to use a 3rd party app, or Terminal, and turn off the iTunes auto-sync. Since the Mac and Windows iPods are the same device now though, you may as well sync with your PC.

There's some real stupid advice floating around these forums.

1. You do not need the freaking terminal to turn off auto update mode, it's an iPod preference. A simple screenshot might clear up the confusion in the majority of these posts:

2. iTunes only "deletes" (really, updates the library) music in auto mode when it is tied to one iTunes. It is very easy to manually manage the music on an iPod - you just treat it as another library like your main iTunes library.

3. Although iPods are shipped as being Mac/Windows compatible out of the box, if the intended machine is Windows the drive format is changed and iPods used on Mac/Windows are not interoperable except as FireWire storage drives.

4. Buy your own iPod before giving advice. You don't help anyone with misinformation.

Originally posted by Eug:
Is anyone running the iPod with iTunes on their primary computer, with NO MP3 files on their primary computer?

Yes, I am.

I have a 30 GB iPod which is connected at various times to my PowerMac desktop, an iBook, and a Cube. None of these has as much music on it as the iPod. I use a PC running Kazaa to collect certain music I don't have - DON'T JUDGE ME! - I transfer these MP3s back to any of the Macs to put onto the iPod, and often delete them from the Mac as soon as I've done this.

kovacs · May 17, 2003, 03:46 AM

Originally posted by michaelb:

2. iTunes only "deletes" (really, updates the library) music in auto mode when it is tied to one iTunes. It is very easy to manually manage the music on an iPod - you just treat it as another library like your main iTunes library.

This only works when you manually manage songs and playlists otherwise the library on the iPod will be greyed out...

michaelb · May 17, 2003, 08:32 AM

Originally posted by kovacs:
This only works when you manually manage songs and playlists otherwise the library on the iPod will be greyed out...

Hence the screenshot showing this preference...

Eug · May 17, 2003, 08:38 AM

So this will work fine I assume then?

1) Buy CD
2) Rip in iTunes
3) Manually transfer to iPod (with auto-sync turned off in iTunes).
4) Delete from Mac.
5) Play on iPod without need for a computer.

And this would work too?

1) Copy all MP3z from PC to Mac.
2) Manually transfer to iPod.
3) Delete from Mac
4) Play on iPod without need for a computer.

But this won't work?

1) Buy CD
2) Rip in iTunes directly onto iPod, without ever saving to the Mac.
3) Play on iPod without need for a computer.

I'm guessing that you could rip to the iPod, but only as a standard external hard drive and the files would not be playable by the iPod, correct?

OB1 · May 17, 2003, 01:01 PM

If I've got this right, you don't want to store music on your Powerbook, but have iTunes recognise your iPods drive as being its library? and still be able to play those same files on your iPod itself.

I have songs stored on my iPod that are not stored on my Powerbook. With my iPod prefs set to 'manualy manage songs and playlists' iTunes will happily play those songs. And iTunes prefs allow you to select an iPod as your 'music folder location'. But then you'd end up with 2 copies of each file on your iPod.

I've tried a few iPod utilities, none of them allow what you're looking for.

So I haven't been much help at all then.

I understand where you're coming from, I think we'll all end up with little portable 'libraries' of our stuff that you can plug in and play anywhere. Or something.

Eug · May 17, 2003, 04:54 PM

Originally posted by OB1:
If I've got this right, you don't want to store music on your Powerbook, but have iTunes recognise your iPods drive as being its library? and still be able to play those same files on your iPod itself.

I have songs stored on my iPod that are not stored on my Powerbook. With my iPod prefs set to 'manualy manage songs and playlists' iTunes will happily play those songs. And iTunes prefs allow you to select an iPod as your 'music folder location'. But then you'd end up with 2 copies of each file on your iPod.

I've tried a few iPod utilities, none of them allow what you're looking for.

I guess I'll have to do it the hard way then. I have some extra space on a backup Firewire drive, which I'll have iTunes recognize as the library. From that I'll sync the iPod.

That way my laptop is still MP3-free, but the iPod will be able to "sync" with the laptop.

By the way, although I have 60 GB on my TiBook, I prefer to keep space open for DVD-related stuff.