itunes help

[purpledreams]

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this, but i'm at wits end with my itunes and I was hoping someone on here might have some suggestions. Basically, my itunes library is gone. I didn't do anything specifically. My sister was the last person to use my computer, and although she *claims* she didn't do anything, when i turned my computer on the next day, there were no songs in my library. So basically i can't sync my ipod even if i get new songs because it will erase everything that's already on it. My question is, does anyone know how to transfer all the songs/playlists/apps/videos from my ipod back to my itunes library? The only thing itunes will let me do is transfer the purchased songs from my ipod to the library, which would be only about 300 out of 2,000 songs total. 🙁 I know there are programs you can download that supposedly let you transfer everything, but the only ones i've found are either scams or they're expensive. There's also supposed to be some way to get into the files of the ipod and copy all the music, but i haven't been able to figure that out. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd really appreciate the help.

 

[Marisa]

A similar thing happened to me once but it was because i plugged my ipod into the wrong log in account so don't know if that helps at all. Bump for you to see if someone knows.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Why, yes, there is. (Assuming you have Windows) What you need to do is connect your ipod. Then go to Windows Explorer, and find your ipod listed under all your drives. If no files are shown in there, you're going to have to unhide them. So you right click the window pane and choose properties. And uncheck the hidden box. You can now copy the files onto your harddrive.

Now, the files won't be named anything coherent, but when you add them to itunes the song title etc will then be shown.

It's hard to tell you how without doing it myself so I'll look and see if I can find some official instructions lol

PS are you sure the actual files are gone? Maybe she just deleted the library?

---------- Post added at 10:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 PM ----------

Here you go: How to Copy Songs From an iPod to PC | eHow.com

 

[NY State of Mind]

Try mediawidget thats like $15/$20...but check the files like Buffy said above first

 

[AndrewCrossett]

First make sure the location of your library hasn't changed, and that iTunes is still pointing to the correct location. In iTunes, go to Edit--> Preferences --> Advanced and see what it says in the box marked "iTunes media folder location." It should say something like this (depending on which operating system you have):

C:\Users\Yourname\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music

See what it says in that box, and then check that directory on your hard drive and see if your library is there. If it is, but your iTunes can't see it, you might want to ask in Apple's support forum:


http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=800

If it says something different in that box, or nothing at all, then try typing in the directory path where the library is located and see if iTunes can find it then.

It's possible your or someone else could have moved your library to a different location or deleted it, but that would be hard to do accidentally without knowing it.

 

[purpledreams]

I got it back!! Thanks Buffy and AndrewCrosset, you both helped me figure out what the problem was. I went into the preferences to see if it was set on the right path, and I found out that it was. That made me realize that all the files were in fact still on my computer, like you thought Buffy, so I am now in the process of adding everything back to the library. I won't have the playlists, and I think there are still going to be some songs missing but i guess i'll get over that. 😉 I guess i'm missing songs that I randomly downloaded off the internet that have files that are saved in other places, but i'll look for them. At least I've got almost all of the music and all the apps and stuff. I feel like a retard for freaking out when the solution was actually quite simple, lol. But thank you guys for taking the time to respond and help me out. 🙂

 

[Buffy Summers]

I think itunes has a choice to search your hd for music files. You could see if you could find that 🙂

 

[AndrewCrossett]

I got it back!! Thanks Buffy and AndrewCrosset, you both helped me figure out what the problem was. I went into the preferences to see if it was set on the right path, and I found out that it was. That made me realize that all the files were in fact still on my computer, like you thought Buffy, so I am now in the process of adding everything back to the library. I won't have the playlists, and I think there are still going to be some songs missing but i guess i'll get over that. 😉 I guess i'm missing songs that I randomly downloaded off the internet that have files that are saved in other places, but i'll look for them. At least I've got almost all of the music and all the apps and stuff. I feel like a retard for freaking out when the solution was actually quite simple, lol. But thank you guys for taking the time to respond and help me out. 🙂

If you add mp3 files into iTunes, it won't copy them into the library unless you specifically tell it to. When I moved my library to a new computer recently, it was missing all the files I added in from mp3's. They came back when I moved my mp3 folder onto the new computer. (But they have to be in exactly the same folder in exactly the same path, or iTunes will lose track of them.)