Written by: fwaggle
How to get your music back off your iPod
In a perfect world your hard disk would never crash, you'd never need a new computer, you'd have unlimited storage and your family members would never delete your mp3s from the hard disk. Hands up everyone that fits this profile please?
Yeah, I didn't think so. For some reason (probably anti-sharing and to push up iTunes sales) Apple thought average joe iPod user wouldn't need to get his/her tunes back off the cute little device after putting them there. But thankfully due to inherent weaknesses in the security (or lack thereof) of the FAT filesystem, you can grab all your tunes back in case of catastrophic file loss.
Note: there are a ton of helper apps out there that can rename the files for you and speed this process up considerably. If you're running Windows I suggest you check these out. This method is for those who don't want to download any extra tools.
First, plug your iPod in and be sure the computer reckognizes it. Install drivers, load kernel modules, do whatever it is you need to do to make the PC reckognize it as a drive.
If you're running Windows, make sure your folder options are set to show all files (not "hide hidden/system files"). If you're running Linux/BSD, mount the scsi device as a FAT filesystem on a suitable mountpoint.
Next, find the directory on the iPod called iPod_Control/Music. Windows users replace the forward slash with a backwards one. In here, you'll find an assortment of directories starting with the a letter and working upwards in numbers. These contain all your tunes, with cryptic looking filenames.
Copy 'em all over to your machine and drop 'em into your favourite ID3-enabled player. With any luck, you can use the ID3 tags, match 'em up to the filenames, and put your music collection back together. If you're on Windows, you can probably speed this process up by just importing it all into the iTunes library and having iTunes sort 'em out for you.
Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky. So there you have it - a time consuming, but tool-free method to rip tunes off your (or if you're otherwised convinced of the ethics and legalities of it, someone else's?) iPod.