Thank you for the instructions! One note: iTunes never did anything when I used the "Add Folder to Library" command (the last one in the instructions). I finally got around this by dragging and dropping songs into the music folder in iTunes while it was open. Slightly tedious (could only drop a folder's worth of songs at a time; had about 20 folders) but far better than reloading dozens of CDs.

Many thanks for your detailed description. The only glitch I had was having to remove the 'hidden' status of the Music folder once I had copied it to my PC, before iTunes would add the folder to the library. Worked like a charm after that and saved me from having to re-rip 60GB of music when I replaced my dead laptop hard drive.

Will this process also restore my playlists as well ?

Thank you Thank you! At first I had problems with the restore because the folder was hidden but then it worked like a charm. I want to kiss you! Besos from Silicon Valley

Had to replace the hard drive on wifes PC. Completed all the software setups and was about to sync her iPod but found a referance that sync was iTunes to iPod, only a one way transfer. Further searches in Apple support showed I would have to have the old iTunes to do a transfer. Your instructions were clear and complete. My only issue was iTunes wouldn't add the folder till I made it unhidden, other than that well done and thanks.  

You saved me and more importantly you saved my 7 year old son who inadvertantly deleted our music. Great write up.

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To get to the info page, connect your iPod to your PC, then select its icon from the source column on the left.I can't find this icon on the source column on the left. Please help!

I was TERRIFIED of trying to transfer my iPod library to my new PC, having lost it all before with a previous "new" pc!  I followed your instructions and am SO DELIGHTED, it worked perfectly! Only trouble I had was finding where the copied files had actually copied to on my new hard drive (i.e. the Folder); however I found it by searching for a file I knew had been on my iPod and it had obviously been transferred to the PC, and it was then easy to Import into iTunes. Watched it happen as if by magic (over 4000 files)!Many, many thanks for your so useful help!  

 THANK YOU SO MUCH! seriously. because my hard drive was corrupted and had to be replaced, i didn't even have a old library to transfer so all I had was all the existing content in my iPod and iPhone and I didn't even back up on another external hard drive. This is really very good to transfer all your existing songs back to the iTunes library and have it restored! :) THANK YOU! :) xoxo

 This was such a great help.  I'm not great with computers and relatively old (!) and I still managed to transfer thousands of songs from my ipod to my itunes library on my new computer after my last computer wiped everything.  Thank you so much. 

I always have hidden files and folders showing but my iPod Touch 4G never appears unless there are photos on it--and even then it's just the DCIM folder that appears. So I'm curious to know how other people are getting their iPod's to show up in Explorer in Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. 

Hi, I allready transferred the hidden music folder from the ipod to my new computer, I see the folder, and the music organized with the 4-letter itunes method, I play it, and itunes gives me all the data from the file, but I do not see how this method is supposed to transfer my playlists from the ipod, how does this work? Or this method does not recover playlists? Is there a way to recover my playlists, sorry but I have more than a 100 playlists, and I am looking for the best method, easy, cheap method to do such. Have a nice Day, SALUDOS DESDE MEXICO!

My computer has no folder options, or tools option when i open my computer. Is there another way to change the settings? properties maybe?

 In addition to "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised" it is best to also set "Copy Files to iTunes....adding to library" - at least for my setup.Setting both will create the original iTunes library file names (stored as attributes in the file) and will hence NOT use the 4-letter iPod filename. Obviously this does mean that depending on your setup the transfer can be slow - but worth it.Deleting the current iTunes library (if you feel brave enough) before "Add folder" or drag/drop will stop any duplicates in the library - one with a file and one without.Didn't need PodtoPC for this simple task. 

This was a huge help. Lost my hard drive months ago due to a virus; thought I was out of luck on recovering my iTunes library...until I found your very easy and effective directions. Thank you!!! 

Worked like a champ!

 So basically everything that you have on your ipod to listen to can already be accessed and restored? sick

I don't have the disk mode option that I can see and I have changed to manage manually.   I can't see anything under my computer... not even the ipod.  HELP PLEASE!! :(

to save time just click transfer purchases from Ipod in the file menu on itunes. all your purchased music will show up.

I don't have the 'enable disk use' under options. I have ticked the manually manage music and video's but stuck after that. when I try to look for hidden folders using my computer I still only see the folder with the photographs! Help

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 I can only see pictures when i double click on the iphone icon in My Computor to reveal its contents, there is no other files showing ( I have completed the step to "show hidden files") can anyone help with what am i doing wrong?

Many thanks.  Worked like a champ.  Lost playlists, but no big deal.  Now I need to eliminate duplicates.

 I followed all the steps cearfully and was able to restore over 15,000 songs . WOW VERY HAPPY!!!!!!!!!

I can get all the pieces of music back into iTunes but all the titles are four alphanumeric characters.  The files on the copy to hard drive were also these four letters. Is this fixable ? Tah  

I have tried the steps above, but cannot get past the first step.  When I check the box to manually manage music and videos, I have to click the apply button at the bottom - when I do this, a warning box pops up that says "The iPhone "My iPhone" is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library?" and the buttons are labled 'Erase and Sync' and 'Cancel'.  It has not given the option of applying and not instantly syncing. I am using iTunes 10 and have tried on both a Windows XP and Vista machines.  I have not updated the iPhone to the 4.2 software yet.  Am I missing something?

ThanksThis was one of the few advice tips I've gotten on the internet that actually worked. My only fear is that should I sync my iPod the whole thing might still come crashing down. I guess I'll know shortly.JR

Thanks for the article and it was very good method of copying music back. However in my case due to formating, I lost my playlists not the songs. Is there any way to restore playlist from iPod?

Re-Open Windows Explorer and right click on the Music folder you copied to your hard drive, and select properties.On the properties window un-check the hidden box then select All Sub Folders and Files in the dialog box that appears. this is after you copy the music folder to your hard drive, VERY IMPORTANT:)

These instructions are GREAT!  But as one person said, "Everyone, please know that once you copy the files you have to change the properties of the folder so files are not hidden.  At first it did not work for me but once i changed the properties and added the folder then all the music came back."  That did the trick for me!

Has this worked for iPod Touch because it says that only works for the classical iPods?

Thanks so much for the help....it worked great.  Everyone, please know that once you copy the files you have to change the properties of the folder so files are not hidden.  At first it did not work for me but once i changed the properties and added the folder then all the music came back.Thanks again

I am struggling to follow those steps in Windows 2007. Maybe I am just not familiar with it but my computer does not show my iPod as another drive even though I have asked it to show hidden files. Can someone please help? I am getting desperate. Many thanks in advance. Tim

After struggling for awhile, I determined these steps cannot be used to recover an iTunes library (music, downloaded apps, etc.) from an iTouch. Is there a way for me to do it myself, or must I purchase a utility program to do it? If so, is there a "best" one? Thanks in advance!

There's a great article on how to recover an empty iTunes from your loaded iPod.It works, and wont erase the music from your iPod.It lets you copy all your music back from your iPod to your Hard Drive, and import the music in to iTunes.This is great if your computer died, and you have a new one, that you are trying to set up!It lets you get your iTunes back!Here's the link:http://www.bestyoucanget.com/education.htm#Computer_Related_Reference_InformationThis is a godsend!!!