Talk:Exporting to iTunes and iPod

Peter 5Apr11: Redundant text moved from the page as I agree with Bill as it is down to users to use Apple's help and support infrastructure for this. This then saves us from having to update this Apple information if and when Apple change their UI.

Do we really need this section? Surely it's up to iPod users to use the help provided by Apple? - Bill

Syncing to your iPod
To load songs from your iTunes Library onto iPod, iPod nano or iPod mini:

1) Connect your iPod to your computer.

2) When the iPod icon appears in the iTunes window (below Devices), select it. If the "Summary" pane isn't showing, click the "Summary" tab. Make sure that "Manually manage music" is not selected. (If you have an iPod that displays video, the checkbox says "Manually manage music and video.")

3) Click the Music tab and do one of the following:


 * To automatically update your iPod with all the songs and playlists in your library, select "Sync music" and then select "All songs and playlists." iTunes loads the songs and playlists in your iTunes library onto your iPod, and deletes songs from your iPod that aren't in your library.

ToDo several broken links We need a current iPod user to verify if this still works. - Bill

Getting files off iPod when you need to
What happens if you need to get files off your iPod (e.g. if your computer fails, or you want to transfer songs from your home computer to your work one)? iTunes will not allow you to download your purchases again. To cover all eventualities, consider retaining all the files listed in Tunes Library in their original location on the hard drive, or ideally back them up to CD or DVD.

If you do want to copy files from iPod to a drive, open up iTunes with your iPod plugged in and go to Preferences. Under Options, select Enable Disk Use. Now your iPod will show up as a storage device in Windows Explorer or the Finder in OS X. Next you need to reveal the files as they will be hidden. In Windows Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > View tab. Select "Show hidden files and folders" then exit the dialog. On OS X, you can make the Finder show its hidden files and folders by entering this as a command in the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true

or try this to do the same thing.

Within the iPod storage device in Explorer or Finder you should see within a folder called a series of folders with names such as, , and so on. Your files are scattered about in those folders. You can now copy those to your hard drive or a flash drive or reimport them to iTunes.

You can also automatically transfer songs that you buy from the iTunes store from the iPod to another computer. The first time you attach the iPod to another machine, you'll see a pop-up window offering at the bottom to move your purchased files. iTunes allows you to play them on up to five different computers.