iTunes Library Recovery Option Two- Shareware
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:
- It can mean that it is good for - say - five hundred tunes and no more.
- 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
- Or, it will let you transfer songs but not let you use all the features available Read more »

Posted September 22, 2008
Comments(1)
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!
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
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.

