So far I have looked at free software- or ‘freeware’ - as a way of getting hold of the tools you need to get your iTunes songs back from your iPod and onto your PC or Mac hard drive. The second option is shareware.

Shareware just means that you can download a program for free but there are strings attached. There are limitations built in to encourage you to buy it. With shareware you pay after a trial period and then you get what the people selling it call ‘additional functionality’. This means you can try it free to test it out for a limited time then it expires. Basically, the software company will share it with you - but put limitations on what the software can do to get you to buy it.

For example:

1. It can mean that it is good for - say - five hundred tunes and no more.
2. Or, it can mean that it will let you transfer maybe ten or twenty songs from your iPod music and then the transfer will stop. You will get one of those pop up messages asking you if you want to buy it now. You click something like ‘later’ and it continues for another ten or twenty songs and then it stops and you get the pop up again
3. Or, it will let you transfer songs but not let you use all the features available Read more »
   

So, ruling out free software (freeware) and shareware, that only leaves one option - pay for it! I have said that freeware and shareware can be great for a lot of things and I am usually really happy to use them when a software program is expensive or when the stakes are not so high. But this is my precious music we are talking about here!
Most of this software costs between $10 and $30 and at these prices I do not see the point of raising my blood pressure any higher than it is already! The full versions of these programs are surprisingly cheap. If you can raise the money why raise your stress levels?

There are programs out there that are good with Mac and PC, Mac only and PC only. But you’ve got to know what you are looking for. Amazingly, it takes a lot of searching to find what you want- and the detective work can just about finish you off! That is why I started writing this guide.

1. I have tracked down the main software programs that are available
2. I have checked them out
3. I have then researched what other people are saying about them in chat rooms and forums. Amazon is really good for that- in the ‘Customer Review’ section you get some really interesting feedback
4. I have then picked my recommendations of the best of the best
   

OK- Pay Pal time ( or maybe Credit Card) !

I am going to pay to copy my iPod music into my new iTunes library. So buckle up! Here we go!

OK- Your hard drive has crashed so you have had a good cry, shouted at the dog, blamed your other half, drowned your sorrows and cursed the fact you did not burn your music onto CD in the first place

First step- ask a buddy what to do. You’ll probably get the ‘I do not have a clue’ and a smug look because their tunes are safe. Do not worry- you will have the last laugh when their hard drive dies and they are left with all their tunes stranded. That is when they will be coming to you for the answers!
Second step- search the web. Type in “Restore iTunes music” “Copy iPod music” “Rescue iPod music” maybe “Transfer iPod music”. Largely you are going to get links to forums where desperate people are asking for help and where computer geeks make the answers difficult to understand. You will also get a few articles from computer mags which again are scary. Most importantly you will get sites where you can download software. But which one to choose? What is freeware? And what is shareware? And do they work? Which is the best? What if I screw up and lose all the music on the iPod? HELP!!!!
Third step- relax and keep reading the posts. Also, probably best to apologize to the other half as well and buy the dog a treat. I am going to sift through the options and tell you which programs are good for PC or Mac Hard Drives

It would be great if you could just plug your iPod into your PC or Mac and restore your music with a click of a mouse. Well, guess what? You cannot do it! In fact, one wrong click and you will lose everything on your iPod too.

Remember, the iPod and iTunes are designed to be, essentially, one way traffic. Unless you are really, really careful with the settings the iPod will simply copy everything that is in your iTunes library. That is OK if everything is working sweetly-it is a disaster if you have had a hard drive crash and lost all your music. You reinstall iTunes on your new hard drive but, of course, the iTunes library is now empty because the music went down the pan with the old hard drive. Plug in an iPod now and it will copy everything that is in iTunes, i.e. NOTHING! The iPod will copy a blank library. Essentially it will copy an empty iTunes library and delete everything it previously held and. Not good.

Losing your music off your PC or Mac is bad enough- losing the only copy you have left (on your iPod) is a disaster

The reason Apple makes life difficult is because of fears about piracy- the record companies were worried that we would all run around offering buddies free music off our iPods and demanded that Apple stop that happening. So, the designers of the iPod kept the record companies happy and made sure transferring files from the iPod to computer would be a nightmare.

But hang on a minute! Record label bosses might be grinning but I am not! Read more »