Topic: iTunes Question, this is crucial!!

My computer broke. Everything I had will be gone once it's fixed. The 800+ songs, everything! So I'm gonna have to redownload iTunes anyway. All the songs I have on my iPod, when I sync it with the new iTunes for the first time, will they all appear on iTunes, or will they all be erased when i sync it for the first time (because there will be nothing on in iTines). I don't but my stuff off of iTunes either so it would be a pain to have to re-download and re-store everything all over again. Remember, I have 830 songs...So would that happen? Would all the songs currently on my iPod be added to the new iTunes after the first sync, or will the iPod be erased? I need all the info I can get. Thanks in advance.

It's unlikely that your hard drive failed, so just pull the hard drive out of the old computer and put it in the new one.
Unless you disposed of the whole thing already...

If your iTunes lacks all of the songs from your iPod, then they will be erased from your iPod the next time you sync

the songs will most likely be erased

Well the problem with my computer is a virus. So I can't really do much with the hard drive anymore...this really sucks, can any of you imagine how long it'll take to have to re-download 830 songs? (Alot of these songs are hard to find, as well as the artwork for songs released only as singles in the 70's and 80's...)

The same thing happened to my old computer, but for about 15 dollars, you can get a "portable hard drive adapter" that allows you to use the hard drive through USB ports.

So what you're saying is...I can get all the stuff on my old computer onto one of these little adapters and use it on another computer? If so, I'm pretty happy to find that out...

Well, it's not THAT small. It's about 1' x 7", but yes, it basically just acts as a very big USB flash drive. You don't lose any data, but it might be a bit harder to find things.

Just an FYI, if all you wanted was the music, there are ways to get the mp3 files off of the ipod itself and on to another computer (just plugging it up and opening iTunes elsewhere won't do the trick)

Check this article for a starting reference point, http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/25/how-to-get-music-video-and... they talk about Sharepod, which I believe is free...

Yes, sharepod is free
my sister always used it for her iPod
You can just remove/add any song from/to your iPod without having it sync with iTunes
I approve it

I have a Zune, and when my PC became infected with a nasty virus I wiped everything. When I reinstalled the Zune software I was wondering the same thing, when I sync up the Zune and all of my music is no longer on my hard drive will it erase what's on the Zune? I looked around the program and found an option to not automatically delete content that does not sync up.... maybe there is an option like that in itunes.

Cheezy, there are many ways to get your music back from your old drive. Among them are paying someone to do it for you, and another is booting to Linux image CD with USB drivers to offload your data to a thumb-drive. Your comfort-level with techie tricks will determine which of the many options you should choose. But unless your old drive was erased or physically damaged, then the last thing you need to worry about is whether or not you can get your music. It's still there.

Gah this is confusing, I had no idea there were so many options. What's the best, easiest way to do it before we send our hard drive out to get refubrished? I'm not computer wiz. Although, treyoshi's sounded best. Is it basically just a free app download that lets you add the songs from your ipod and stuff? And what about album artwork? Would I still have the artwork?

@Cheezy. Depends. If you bought any music from iTunes then yes, your album artwork will still be there, songs downloaded elsewhere who knows. Also, all songs that you bought from iTunes on you iPod, will be sent over to your computer if your logged in with your account.

I can only tell you one thing without knowing more about your system. But if you learn only one thing in this thread, this is what that thing should be:
GET EVERYTHING YOU CAN OFF THAT DRIVE BEFORE YOU SEND IT OUT. Once you send out a drive, there is virtually NO CHANCE that you will get it back with any of your original data on it. Please, take this seriously. This is how years of pictures and personal files are lost forever.

Find a friend or a friend of a friend that knows his stuff and have that person help you out. I do this kind of thing in my sleep, and if you were nearby, I'd hook you up. Hopefully you'll find someone close by.

That's what I'll try to do, my uncle knows his way around computers so if it's not too hard to get data off of the hard drive then he should be able to do it. If not, I'll try to get one of those USB hard drive things that 110percentful mentioned earlier, those don't sound to bad either.

But I just realized, I'm not sure how easy this will be if I can't even access my computer (it goes to a blue screen when I turn it on) so is this stuff done like litteraly ON the hard drive or would I need to be able to use the computer?

(P.S. thanks for all the help so far guys, I really apppreciate it)

Glad it's working out for you, Cheezy. Seems like you're on the road to recovery. However, the tool you're using belongs to a shady group of utilities that allow people to work around copyright laws and digital rights management. I'm going to lock this thread now, as Nintendo Life doesn't support the use of such utilities - whether for games or music or software, etc. - and we don't want a tutorial thread on it here. I'm certain you can find tons of help for that off-site. Good luck and thanks for understanding.