iHelp needed...

Skip Miller

Skip Miller

Final Approach
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Skip Miller
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Actually, iTunes help...

I use an older 80-gig Ipod as my music server. I have (had?) an older PC clone laptop that held iTunes and consequently my iTunes library. I guess the actual size of the library is around 30 gigs. The vast majority of this library came from CDs that my wife and I had purchased over the years, and virtually none of this music was purchased from iTunes.

Nothing lost, at least on paper. I did backup the iTunes library to CDs or DVDs (can't remember which, right now...) and have a collection of them back in the closet somewhere. I need to restore this library to my new-ish MacBook Air. Which doesn't have a CD installed in it... but I do have an external CD/DVD drive that worked fine in the PC environment.

I've been looking through the help files on the latest version of iTunes on my MBA. I can find nothing about backing up or restoring the library to the MBA using CDs or DVDs as the storage medium. I can, however, play the still functional library on the iPod through the MBA. But I have to back this up before this ancient iPod goes away, too....

So two problems. Well, at least two. I am trying to restore the library across different opsystems, and I am trying to restore it after a giant leap in iTunes version numbers. It was created at least several years ago, maybe more. That is back when clouds were something that only pilots worried about. (Hah! :goofy: Aviation related!!!) I can't remember the last time I synched the library to the laptop.

So in this case the usual advice "you should get a Mac" isn't helping! I did! It isn't!

Any advice will be appreciated. There is lots of distracting information above, so to reiterate more simply: How do I port the iLibrary from the iPod to the MBA? Failing that, how do I port the iTunes-created CD Backup to the MBA?

-Skip
 
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They're taking their cue from government. Just when you think you have it mastered they change the rules. :D
 
In iTunes, there's a menu choice in the "File" menu that says "Add to Library…"

It then opens a selection window.

I don't think there's any official way to move music off an iPod, though there used to be, and maybe still is, shareware that can do so. One was called "Senuti", and another "Escape Pod" I think.

But you could try inserting your backup CD or DVD and see if you can navigate to it from the "Add to Library" dialog box and import from there.

Just a first thought - I have not had to do any of this.
 
Go to the iTunes file and copy the files to a thumb drive or external drive. Plug into new computer copy over the files and have iTunes assimilate them.
 
Henning said:
Go to the iTunes file and copy the files to a thumb drive or external drive. Plug into new computer copy over the files and have iTunes assimilate them.
Click to expand...

Sorry, it won't work. I have no iTunes file any more. I can, however, pull each track off the iPod one at a time, and similarly pull one track at a time off the backup CDs. I am still hoping that somewhere there is a way to "restore" the files in bulk, including the indexing etc that lives in the iTunes library.

-Skip
 
FastEddieB said:
In iTunes, there's a menu choice in the "File" menu that says "Add to Library…"

It then opens a selection window.

I don't think there's any official way to move music off an iPod, though there used to be, and maybe still is, shareware that can do so. One was called "Senuti", and another "Escape Pod" I think.

But you could try inserting your backup CD or DVD and see if you can navigate to it from the "Add to Library" dialog box and import from there.

Just a first thought - I have not had to do any of this.
Click to expand...

I just did bring music from a back up drive. the add to library thing did the trick, but it was recursive for me. Had to go through every directory and select all the files I wanted. Also, the "Add to library" and File item are some sort of stupid icon in the latest iTunes at least. One of he music views, upper left corner.

ITunes sucks.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
ITunes sucks.
Click to expand...

Like iPhoto and iMovie, when they "just work", they just work.

It's when they don't that they can get frustrating.

For example, I have a nice little iMovie of puppies we've fostered, and when I revisited it recently, three of the clips (admittedly out of 80 or so) have little triangles and "Source clip is missing" displays at that point in the video. I can find the clips and reinsert them, but it will be kind of a pain.

Google tells me I'm not alone.

So far, no issues with iTunes, but you have my sympathy.

Did literally just update my late 2008 MacBook Pro to Mavericks and no issues so far (whew!)
 
Skip Miller said:
Sorry, it won't work. I have no iTunes file any more. I can, however, pull each track off the iPod one at a time, and similarly pull one track at a time off the backup CDs. I am still hoping that somewhere there is a way to "restore" the files in bulk, including the indexing etc that lives in the iTunes library.

-Skip
Click to expand...

Nope. It's well documented all the way back to the first iPods that iTunes only syncs one direction other than newer versions which will transfer purchases made on mobile devices back into the iTunes library.

On true iPods, recovery is possible via the way you mentioned. Disk storage mode on on the iPod, copy the files back into the machine as files from the hidden folder, reimport to iTunes as new files. Various metadata gets lost.

iOS mobile devices have no disk storage mode. You can't recover without a machine backup.

Which ... is what you should be doing anyway. ;) Not just for iTunes. This why Apple, who sells backup devices and built in a backup tool that talks to them on Mac... See where this is going?... Doesn't care on Windows.

Trash your iTunes on Mac? Just restore it from Time Machine/Time Capsule. That's their version of "just works" for those whining about it here. They designed it that way.

Whether you like it or not, so typically Apple, isn't their problem.

They do document this stuff too, usually...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1478
 
FastEddieB said:
Like iPhoto and iMovie, when they "just work", they just work.

It's when they don't that they can get frustrating.

For example, I have a nice little iMovie of puppies we've fostered, and when I revisited it recently, three of the clips (admittedly out of 80 or so) have little triangles and "Source clip is missing" displays at that point in the video. I can find the clips and reinsert them, but it will be kind of a pain.

Google tells me I'm not alone.

So far, no issues with iTunes, but you have my sympathy.

Did literally just update my late 2008 MacBook Pro to Mavericks and no issues so far (whew!)
Click to expand...
Glad it works for you. It's not an intuitive software package. For example, the same button is used to open an iPad connected to a computer and to disconnect it from iTunes. The action is determined by which side of the button is pressed. That's simply my user experience, it hasn't been happy.
 
I assume (implied, not said) that the old laptop died. Assuming so, and assuming further that you cannot remove the hard drive and recover its files, then you need to yank out the backup CDs and restore in bulk. You still should be able to copy all those to the Mac and have iTunes "find" the music and add it to your library.

Much Apple does is brilliant; some of what they do is borderline criminal. It's recognizing which is which, in time to do something about it, that's the trick!

When importing CDs, you should do so as MP3 files, not Apple-native. Apple's paradigm is the presumption that all music in your iTunes library is "rented" from Apple. Oversimplified, but essentially, true. What you are experiencing now is the logical result.
 
Thanks to all. I know from past discussions that Apple is very protective about copying i-Libraries from device to device to ward off the copyright infringement lawyers. I've searched the backups I have and have located relatively recent copies of the .itl and .xml files so unless I get the flu and have to spend a lot of time at home, I will defer the project and wait for my iPod to crash, and then address the situation again.

Fast Eddy, you mentioned two conversion programs (post #3). "Escape Pod" doesn't seem to be a correct name. Any others you might know of?

Again, thanks all. -Skip
 
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