Not completely seamless
March 17, 2008
Remember I asked a few posts ago about transferring my tunes from my ipod to a computer since my laptop died and I didn't backup everything--just my itunes purchases.
Well, I looked into your suggestions and it all looks pretty good, except that I just bought a snazzy new Macbook so the plot thickens...
First, I love the new computer. New computers are not only slicker and faster, they're clean; no bookmarks in the browser, no mail, no files, no little bits of leftover who-knows-what on the hard drive. Being a Mac I also have the clean lines of the designs and the cleanliness of a non-microsoft OS too and while I feel a bit stupid because I'm not familiar with the world of Mac, and because the move isn't quite as seamless as the Apple hype proclaims, I'm quite happy with my purchase.
However, when it comes to moving my ipod stuff to the Mac, there is a little ripple. The act of plugging in the ipod to the Mac will cause it to reformat and wipe everything off. So, I still need to back up everything to a PC, find a way to transfer said back up to the Mac and then reformat the ipod. So I'll end up spending money for a program to move stuff to my old, old PC (which is really our server and computer for the kids to wreck) and then burn them all to disk to load them onto the Mac. Since I have 99% of my tunes on CD anyway, it'll probably just be faster to load it all back in manually while I'm watching TV.
Which means that I have no product reviews for ipod to computer software--sorry.
The way I see it, I have a small ipod (Mini) and was getting tired of listening to the same old stuff, so I can treat my ipod like a new computer and start fresh. I did consider upgrading the ipod but there's nothing wrong with it except that it doesn't look as cool as the new nanos. And it still works so why bother?
New toy! I still have my green Mini and its not going anywhere unless it breaks.
Posted by: claudia | March 17, 2008 at 05:11 PM
Congrats on the new Mac! When it comes to any sort of technology problem, I find it's usually easier to just start over. Which probably explains the number of times I've reformatted my hard drive.
Posted by: Suzanne V. (Yarnhog) | March 17, 2008 at 05:35 PM
New stuff is shinier, and who doesn't like shinier? No scratches yet. As for the mini not looking as cool as the nano, a related story. My husband had to have a Razr when they first came out. He pulled it out yesterday at Best Buy while we were checking out and the girl at the register said, "A Razr???" As in, you old fart, who told you that was cool? He was choking on that all the way home. Moral of the story; you only have the "newest technology" until you get it home, because by then it's obsolete.
Posted by: Muriel | March 17, 2008 at 05:49 PM
As a means of transferring the songs, you could buy an external hard drive and do it that way. They aren't that expensive, the whole process takes an hour (or more if you are backing up the first time), and then just drop and drag the songs onto the Mac. We use one and back up the iTunes library every month or so. Pretty painless and works quite well. Best of luck!
Posted by: Ava | March 17, 2008 at 06:53 PM
If I recall correctly, my dad just uploaded music from his Windows-formatted iPod to his new Mac. It'll ask if you want to reformat, but I think it'll work...
Posted by: naomi | March 17, 2008 at 08:09 PM
(I think the only thing it won't do is update the iPod software.)
Posted by: naomi | March 17, 2008 at 08:10 PM
The first thing you should do is download Senuti onto your new Mac. Start it up, and then plug in your iPod. If iTunes opens and it asks you if you want to sync, say NO! Then change the preferences of the iPod to manually manage music. Then quit iTunes and reopen Senuti or plug in your iPod, whatever needs to happen to get Senuti to read your iPod. Using Senuti, transfer your songs off of the iPod and onto your new computer. You can put them in your Music folder if that's where you were going to put them, wherever. It might take a while to do them all. When it's done, you can quit Senuti and eject your iPod. Then plug your iPod back in and start up iTunes. Now you can import the songs from your Music folder into iTunes and then reformat and sync the iPod back up. I've put the link for Senuti in the URL spot. I have had great success with this programme, that's why I'm suggesting it to you. I helped my friend with her Windows formatted iPod too and it worked well.
Posted by: Dalila | March 17, 2008 at 10:44 PM
Senuti is free and will talk you through this so that it doesn't reformat your ipod when you connect. I went through this holding my breath but it worked and it was free!
Posted by: josie | March 17, 2008 at 11:04 PM
You can also check out lifehacker.com, which regularly has suggestions for this sort of thing. I read a long post several months ago on lifehacker on exactly this issue. Go check it out.
Posted by: Jennifer | March 18, 2008 at 10:04 AM
I have a similar issue with my iPod, but for me it is remembering not to plug my iPod into my work computer. Mostly that means that once every week or so I remember that I need to recharge my little music maker and have to leave it at home.
Posted by: Seanna Lea | March 18, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Go for Senuti! It works. Congratulations on your new computer.
Posted by: Iris | March 24, 2008 at 07:21 AM