How to Copy Music from Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to Your Computer for Free

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QueBert

QueBert

Lifer
Jan 6, 2002
22,951
1,140
126
alent1234 said:
open itunes
in settings set it to download new purchases
problem solved
Click to expand...

only works for songs you bought off iTunes, if your iPod is full of music you ripped yourself and you want to get it back on your PC/MAC there's no way to accomplish this using iTunes.
 
Red Storm

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
234
106
MotionMan said:
One word: Piracy.

MotionMan
Click to expand...

But how does that have any effect on piracy? You can still download all the songs you want and get them onto your device.

I remember when my old iPhone had the "USB drive" capability. Apple took an annoying step back when they got rid of that.
 
cheezy321

cheezy321

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2003
6,218
2
0
Red Storm said:
But how does that have any effect on piracy? You can still download all the songs you want and get them onto your device.

I remember when my old iPhone had the "USB drive" capability. Apple took an annoying step back when they got rid of that.
Click to expand...

I have had the iPhone since the 4 GB 2g came out, and there was never a USB drive capability that i remember. It was the same way with iPods too.
 
MotionMan

MotionMan

Lifer
Jan 11, 2006
17,124
12
81
Red Storm said:
But how does that have any effect on piracy? You can still download all the songs you want and get them onto your device.

I remember when my old iPhone had the "USB drive" capability. Apple took an annoying step back when they got rid of that.
Click to expand...

If you could plug your iPhone into a computer and drag and drop all the songs form your iPhone to the computer, then you could copy your library to all your friends' computers.

Duh.

MotionMan
 
Red Storm

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
234
106
cheezy321 said:
Dont be dense, you know the answer to this.
Click to expand...

No, I don't. I always assumed it was something like wanting to drive more people to iTunes and/or controlling what people do/put on their device. I didn't think it was piracy.

cheezy321 said:
I have had the iPhone since the 4 GB 2g came out, and there was never a USB drive capability that i remember. It was the same way with iPods too.
Click to expand...

I could have sworn when I would plug in my iPhone 3G I would get a pop up asking me if I wanted to use it as an external/USB drive...

MotionMan said:
If you could plug your iPhone into a computer and drag and drop all the songs form your iPhone to the computer, then you could copy your library to all your friends' computers.

Duh.
Click to expand...

Can't you do this now with apps (that Apple had to approve)?
 
Last edited:
Red Storm

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
234
106
MotionMan said:
Not that I know of, otherwise why would the article in the OP exist?
Click to expand...

I guess that was just another assumption then. I know you can take video files and drag/drop them by using the app's "shared" folder or whatever it was called in iTunes. I thought there would be an app that does the same for music.
 
MotionMan

MotionMan

Lifer
Jan 11, 2006
17,124
12
81
Red Storm said:
I guess that was just another assumption then. I know you can take video files and drag/drop them by using the app's "shared" folder or whatever it was called in iTunes. I thought there would be an app that does the same for music.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about?

MotionMan
 
Red Storm

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
234
106
MotionMan said:
What are you talking about?
Click to expand...

Apps like AVPlayer. In iTunes if you go to Apps, you click on say AVPlayer and then scroll down and you see a "folder sharing" or something (don't remember the exact name). I would drag my video files into there and they would copy to the phone and would then be playable by AVPlayer.

Anyhow, I guess it does stop the Average Joe from copying files(music) from one PC and dumping them onto another (his friend Average Moe).

Edit: Actually, it isn't stopping piracy at all. It's just stopping people from using their iDevice as a USB drive.
 
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Oyeve

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
22,060
880
126
cheezy321 said:
I have had the iPhone since the 4 GB 2g came out, and there was never a USB drive capability that i remember. It was the same way with iPods too.
Click to expand...

I dont know about iphones but I do know that the ipods did indeed have a disk mode. My 160gb classic has it and I still use it. I also use yamipod on the ipod. When I put the ipod in usb disk mode I run yamipod from the ipod and copy away. Been doing it for years. So yes, they used to have usb disk mode.
 
cheezy321

cheezy321

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2003
6,218
2
0
Oyeve said:
I dont know about iphones but I do know that the ipods did indeed have a disk mode. My 160gb classic has it and I still use it. I also use yamipod on the ipod. When I put the ipod in usb disk mode I run yamipod from the ipod and copy away. Been doing it for years. So yes, they used to have usb disk mode.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, I do remember that disk mode. Didnt they purposely obfuscate the music in that version tho? As in you can use it as a disk to store whatever you want on it, but you couldnt use 'disk mode' to pull songs and photos off of it. Right?
 
Oyeve

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
22,060
880
126
cheezy321 said:
Ah yes, I do remember that disk mode. Didnt they purposely obfuscate the music in that version tho? As in you can use it as a disk to store whatever you want on it, but you couldnt use 'disk mode' to pull songs and photos off of it. Right?
Click to expand...
Yep, but thats where yamipod came into play. :whiste:
 
A

alent1234

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2002
3,915
0
0
MotionMan said:
That assumes that all your music was purchased and not ripped.

MotionMan
Click to expand...

then you can assume you still have the songs in your itunes library or a backup somewhere

i did have the one time i bought some music and it put the songs in the wrong folder and i lost a few albums. just going to buy the CD's sooner or later
 
bucwylde23

bucwylde23

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2005
4,180
0
71
alent1234 said:
then you can assume you still have the songs in your itunes library or a backup somewhere

i did have the one time i bought some music and it put the songs in the wrong folder and i lost a few albums. just going to buy the CD's sooner or later
Click to expand...

No, you can't assume that.

This worked great to pull the songs off my iPod onto my work computer.
 
MotionMan

MotionMan

Lifer
Jan 11, 2006
17,124
12
81
alent1234 said:
then you can assume you still have the songs in your itunes library or a backup somewhere

i did have the one time i bought some music and it put the songs in the wrong folder and i lost a few albums. just going to buy the CD's sooner or later
Click to expand...

If the songs are still in your iTunes library or backed up, then this entire conversation does not apply to you.

Also, I suppose you should still have the CDs, but then you have to rip everything again, which is a HUGE pain in the ass compared to simply copying the songs from your iDevice.

MotionMan
 
Ravynmagi

Ravynmagi

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2007
3,102
24
81
A friend asked me about this last week. I guess I was surprised iTunes wouldn't let her sync the music from the iPhone back to her PC, but I guess it doesn't work this way. She has lots of music on her iPhone she synced from her previous PC and no longer has that computer or the original music files, so the only copies she has left are on the iPhone and she can't get them back onto her new PC.

So I'll check out these two articles to see if they'll work for her situation. Thanks.
 
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