Copying Music Off an iPod

Get the songs, playlists, play counts and covers on an old iPod back onto your Mac, without changing anything on the iPod.

Found an old iPod with music you don't have any more? Its songs are all still there, but you can't simply drag them off.

#Why Finder can't do it

An iPod keeps its songs in a hidden folder, iPod_Control, under scrambled names like F12/KQXB.m4a. The song names, artists, albums, playlists and play counts are in the iPod's database, not in the files' names, and Finder doesn't read that database. Finder and the Music app only copy music to an iPod.

#Copy everything with ClassicTunes

1. Connect the iPod. It appears in ClassicTunes' sidebar; click it to open its page.
2. Click Import Media from iPod…, then Import to Library.

ClassicTunes adds everything on the iPod that isn't in your library yet:

• Songs, videos and audiobooks, with their covers.
• Play counts, ratings, last played dates and audiobook positions.
• The iPod's playlists, including On-The-Go playlists and smart playlists.
• Its podcasts, as shows you're subscribed to.

Songs you already have aren't copied twice, and nothing on the iPod changes. See Import Media from iPod for the details.

#Keep a complete copy too

A snapshot saves the whole iPod to your Mac, so you can put it back exactly as it was later: worth doing before you restore an iPod, replace its disk or give it away.

See also: When Finder won't sync your iPod.