How to transfer music from an old iPod to a computer or iPhone

Maybe you have an old iPod that has been in use for a long time but still contains old music that you no longer have copies anywhere else. If that's the case, the good news is that you can transfer music from your iPod to your computer.

To do so, you just need to treat your iPod as an external hard drive that can take music from it. After extracting from iPod, you can add music to iTunes library and even sync it with iPhone.

First, you will need to ensure that you can transfer music on your iPod without having iTunes delete it while syncing.

Prevent iTunes from automatically syncing

The method to prevent iTunes from automatically syncing with an iOS device is:

1. Make sure to disconnect all iOS devices from the computer. Then open iTunes. In Windows, go to Edit> Preferences . On a Mac, go to iTunes> Preferences .

2. On both platforms, click the Devices tab and check the Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically box . Then click OK and close iTunes.

However, Macs running macOS Catalina and above use Finder instead of iTunes to sync iOS devices. Therefore, you will need to open your device in the Finder and uncheck the Automatically sync when this iPhone is connected box .

Copy music from iPod to computer

You can now connect your iPod to your computer. It will display as a drive in File Explorer on Windows and Finder on Mac. Open the iPod drive and navigate to the iPod_Control> Music folder. You will see many folders labeled F with numbers.

If the iPod is blank, you need to make hidden files and folders available on the computer. Windows users can follow the article: How to hide files, show hidden files, view hidden folders and file extensions on Windows 7/8/10. For macOS users, press and hold Cmd + Shift + Period to enable or disable hidden folders.

Select all the folders in iPod_Control> Music , then copy and paste them to a location on the hard drive. This will transfer iPod music to computer.

Once you have copied the files, you can disconnect and remove the iPod. On a Windows PC, right-click the iPod drive in File Explorer and select Eject. Mac users should right-click on the iPod icon on the desktop and select Eject.

Add music to the iTunes library

After transferring music from iPod to computer, you can start adjusting. First, add music from iPod to iTunes library on Windows or Mac PC. Note that on macOS Catalina and above, the music library will appear in the Apple Music app because iTunes is gone.

By default, on Windows, adding items to the iTunes library will make a reference to the current location of the file. The original file is still in the current location. Therefore, if you move the original files, iTunes will no longer see them.

You can ask iTunes for Windows to make a copy of each file and place them in the iTunes media folder. Moving the original files afterwards will not affect the music in the iTunes library.

Change or correct tags

If you need to change or correct tags on added tracks, you can do so directly in iTunes / Apple Music.

Edit a unique tag

To edit tags on Windows, right-click on the song and select Song Info . If using a Mac, hold Ctrl and click to select Album Info .

On the dialog box displayed, you will see several tabs containing information about the selected song. You can edit items like song titles, artists, albums, and genres. Click the button at the top to view and change other information.

To go to the next song in the list, click the arrow at the bottom of the dialog. When you are finished editing the tags, click OK.

Edit multiple tags

You can also edit general information for multiple songs at once. Use the Shift or Ctrl keys ( Cmd on Mac) to select the songs you want to edit. Then right-click on the selected songs and choose Get Info .

A confirmation dialog is displayed. If you do not want to see this dialog box each time, check the Do not ask me again box . Click Edit Items to continue.

Only tags that apply to all selected items will show in the window. Click the button at the top to access different types of information. Edit the tag as you wish and click OK.

Create a playlist in iTunes

If you use playlists on your iPhone, you can create them in iTunes and they'll sync with your iPhone. Whether using Mac or Windows, the procedure is the same.

To create a playlist, select the desired songs in the playlist. Then right-click the selected songs and click Add to Playlist> New Playlist .

Transfer music to iPhone

To transfer music added to your iPhone, make sure iTunes is open and connect your device to a computer. Then follow the instructions in the article: How to copy music to iPhone, iPad from the computer?

If your old iPod still works, you can easily transfer music from that iPod to your computer. After transferring music from iPod to iTunes or iPhone, use it for a new purpose, such as an ebook reader or a secondary music collection.