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Need to copy or extract music or movies off your iPhone, iPod or iPad? Learn how to get your songs back on your Mac in this article.
iTunes is a great media manager application and makes syncing with your mobile device, whether it be an iPod, an iPhone or an iPad, a breeze. However, iTunes is a one-way street when it comes to syncing: it can take content (music, podcasts, movies, TV shows, etc) and copy them to your mobile device, but it won’t copy anything back to your Mac. This may be fine most of the time, but there are legitimate cases where extracting files of music, movies or songs may be needed. (Extraction of music from an iPod is sometimes referred to as iPod ripping.) For example, if your hard drive on your Mac dies and you don’t have a working backup of your iTunes music library, then retrieving the songs from your iPod or iPhone is your last resort. Fortunately, there are several third party applications that let you do just this, and some of them are even free!
DeTune
One of the first ones to check out is DeTune available for free from www.headlightsoft.com/detune. This nifty iPod music extraction utility supports all iPods, iPhones and iPads, and allows you to easily copy your songs back to your Mac. It includes support for music, movies, tv shows, ringtones, books and more. It even lets you copy files to and from your iPod’s file system. And for you programmers out there, it also includes the source code of the app so you can see how it works or extend it if you feel so inclined.
Music Rescue
In the category of paid iPod music extraction utilities is Music Rescue available for a small fee from www.kennettnet.co.uk. Described as an iPod recovery tool, Music Rescue will copy your music, video, podcasts, audiobooks, audio recordings and notes right back to where they came from, be it iTunes, a custom media server or anything else. It supports all current model iPods and iPhones, and there’s even a version that runs on Windows if you should need that. See their website for current pricing.
Pod to Mac
Another paid music recovery app for the Mac that’s worth checking out is Pod to Mac from www.podtomac.com. This iPod music extraction utility supports all models of the iPod, iPhone and iPad, including the iPod Touch. Not only does it support the usual access to songs and movies, but also supports extraction of photos, playlists, address book contacts, and even things like SMS messages and voice mail messages if you have an iPhone. See their website for current pricing.
If the above apps don’t fit the bill, here are a few more you can check out:
Of these utilities, iTunesFS is free and the rest are paid apps. Enjoy!
Category: Apple iTunes
