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iPod Help - Transferring to new computer

15 years ago

I have about 35G of music and podcasts on my desktop PC and in an 80 G iPod Classic. I just purchased a laptop and would like to transfer the contents of the iPod into this new beast.

Having said that, I don't want to leave the desktop out of the update loop regarding the number of podcasts I download daily.

Can I 1) - use the iPod to safely transfer the entire contents to the new computer?

- will iTunes allow the use of two computers to be the 'home' for one iPod?

Both computers are PC one with XP, the other has Vista.

Any assistance gratefully received.

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Comments (2)

bpgreen
15 years ago
Do you have any DRM protected content that you purchased from itunes? That may make a difference in how you do this.

You can copy protected content to more than one PC, but there is a limit (I forget what the limit is). You can simply copy the contents of "My Documents\My Music\iTunes" from your current PC to the new one to start. Since you can have the content on 2 PCs, this works for the protected content, also.

If you're using itunes, you can use the ipod with both PCs, but I don't think you can use the ipod to transfer between the two PCs (at least not readily). You can use it with both PCs. To do so, when you connect it, on the ipod summary page, check the Manually manage music and videos button. Then, when you want to copy to the ipod, you drag from the left bar to the ipod. If you click help and search for manually manage, you'll find detailed instructions.

You can also check the box to enable disk use, but itunes doesn't copy files to the ipod with the same names as it uses in Windows, so that won't be much help, I don't think.
keithbc
Original Author
15 years ago
Many thanks, bpgreen. I will digest that info and give it a try. I understand that the iPod 'loves' only one machine. I learned some time ago that it will download the library it is plugged into - I nearly lost some irreplaceable cuts.
I have about 15 hours of iTunes purchases and, to my knowledge, no WMA files left. I started my iPod journey with WMA but went to iTunes mainly for the podcasts.
There is no 'illegal' content - all from CDs but I no longer have access to about 5G.
Again, thanks!!
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