iPod shuffle help requested!! And they say Windows technology

[hyphenate]

is complicated! I'm really trying to figure out why the frickin simple effort of trying to put the contents of my shuffle on my computer is so fucked up.

I guess Mac users accept things a lot easier than those of us "reared on" Windows. I'm just so pissed off that this task is getting me so frustrated.

My shuffle was synced to my now dead older computer. And the itunes on the new one tell me that it needs to erase the shuffle's contents before it can do anything. And I lost a LOT of my songs and other content with the old hard drive. So before I can ever think about erasing the shuffle, I want my fucking songs back that are on it!!

So why is it so difficult to do that?

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Because that's the way Apple designed it to be.

I'm not sure about the Shuffle, but I assume it works the same on any iPod. The files are stored in a hidden folder on the device and the file names are changed to random alphanumeric gibberish. There might be software out there to extract them automatically, but otherwise you'd have to set Windows to show hidden files and folders, then either rename the files manually based on the ID3 info or find a program that'll rename the files based on ID3 tags automatically.

If there IS a program out there to do that, I don't know what it is, unfortunately.

[hyphenate]

2. We have smilies to describe this debacle:

:argh: :banghead:


I think I will stick to Windows for the rest of my life. That scenario just pisses me off.

[supernova]

3. 2nd PC and portable storage

You're going to have to get a 2nd PC loaded w/ ITunes so that you can restore your shuffle collection to ITunes.

From the ITunes file folder. copy the music to a storage device, for example, a USB key.

Take the USB key to your new Mac and upload the songs to a different directory, not ITUnes.

Let ITunes on your new Mac "discover" your music files. Bingo. You're back in business.

Oh, you may have to let the Mac reformat the shuffle to Mac format, but that's OK because you'll have all your music.

[yewberry]

4. You can't use "transfer purchases from iPod" under the file menu?

Doesn't that generally work (unless the music is from a source other than iTunes)?

Sorry to hear that you're struggling--for what it's worth, I don't find the iTunes particularly intuitive, either, and I've been using macs for a long time.

[hyphenate]

6. Most of the sources

are my own 45s and LPs for some of them. Thankfully, that IpodRip, though it doesn't look like it will work for me (I downloaded it and am trying to use it) but at the very least, it tells me what is on it without me having to go and listen to 120 songs to write down the names of each and everyone of them. With that in hand, I should be able to start ripping tracks again to make up what I lost on the old hard drive.

[huskerlaw]

5. It's difficult to do that

because if it wasn't, everyone would just slap their shuffle into their friends' computers and "share" music with reckless abandon. Apple made it that way on purpose.

However, try this: http://www.thelittleappfactory.com/application.php?app=iPodRip

[AlCzervik]

7. have you tried Ipod Ripper? i used that when my hard drive finally committed suicide

http://www.thelittleappfactory.com/application.php?app=iPodRip

i got all my songs off my nano and my mini.