Hard drive crashed. I lost iTunes.

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lodingi

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The hard drive in my daughter's computer crashed yesterday. With it went iTunes and all its contents. There were 2 iPod Touch devices using this account.

I Googled around and couldn't find any info on my issue. I'm not too concerned about the music, as nothing was purchased from Apple. There are however, many purchased apps that I'd like to not have to re-purchase.

Is there a way to re-build the library from the iPods? Thanks for your help.
 
You don’t have to re-purchase apps. Once you download them they’re linked to that account permanently, even if the price changes.

As for re-building the library via the iPods, it might be possible if you set iTunes back up on the replacement hard drives and re-authenticate those computers. If you get a prompt to sync information from the iPod to the computer, you’re good. If it asks if you want to overwrite the iPods, then abort and do everything manually.

And, time to look into backup solutions.
 
Terpfen said:
You don’t have to re-purchase apps. Once you download them they’re linked to that account permanently, even if the price changes.

As for re-building the library via the iPods, it might be possible if you set iTunes back up on the replacement hard drives and re-authenticate those computers. If you get a prompt to sync information from the iPod to the computer, you’re good. If it asks if you want to overwrite the iPods, then abort and do everything manually.

And, time to look into backup solutions.
Click to expand...

I will give it a try. As for backing up, I back up all important info to an external hard drive as well as an online service. It never occured to me to do the same with iTunes.

Side question; what happens if I use a 5 authorizations for my account?
 
lodingi said:
Side question; what happens if I use a 5 authorizations for my account?
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You can authorize up to 5 computers. If you need to authorize more than that, then you need to de-authorize one to add another.
 
Ok, I was able to transfer purchased music and apps back into iTunes. Now how do I transfer free apps & cd rips into the program?
 
lodingi said:
Ok, I was able to transfer purchased music and apps back into iTunes. Now how do I transfer free apps & cd rips into the program?
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Transfer from where? The iPod to iTunes? Just sync your apps, it should ask if you want to add all your apps on the iPod to your iTunes library. Again, if not, just manually re-download from the App Store in iTunes.

As for ripping CDs, just insert them and iTunes should prompt if you want to rip them. You can configure the encoding format and quality in the preferences menu.
 
I know I can re-rip the CD's. What I am hoping is to transfer the 1500+ songs already on the iPod back into iTunes.
 
lodingi said:
I know I can re-rip the CD's. What I am hoping is to transfer the 1500+ songs already on the iPod back into iTunes.
Click to expand...

No can do, thanks to the RIAA. You cannot transfer music from an iPod to a computer. It’s an anti-piracy mechanism Apple had to agree to.
 
Terpfen said:
No can do, thanks to the RIAA. You cannot transfer music from an iPod to a computer. It’s an anti-piracy mechanism Apple had to agree to.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't put all the blame on the RIAA apple has a big part of it, there are plenty of other services/ devices that allow you to remove songs off of the device apple just gave in.

Also last time I had to do this the music was on the ipod just renamed to something like 5avs3 or something like that and I had to just rename all the files.
 
munkle said:
I wouldn't put all the blame on the RIAA apple has a big part of it, there are plenty of other services/ devices that allow you to remove songs off of the device apple just gave in.
Click to expand...

Those other services and devices don’t operate or interact with the largest music store in the US. Sort of a mitigating circumstance.
 
TekSomniaK said:
*nvm didn't see you already got your songs back into iTunes
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I actually haven't gotten all my songs back into iTunes. Only purchased songs have transferred back. I still have over 1400 songs sitting on the iPod that are not transferring to iTunes.
 
iPod Touches and iPhones are different that normal iPods. Apple doesn't allow computers to see Touches and iPhones as hard disks, you can only manage them within iTunes, while normal iPods its easy to go in, view hidden files, and copy your whole library onto your computer. You gotta start back from step 1 and re-rip your cd's. :(

And like Terpfen said, look into backing up your computers ;)
 
That being said, there are a couple of programs that will work around the protection and allow you to recover songs from your iPod. Look into one called Senuti. It can transfer songs back from an iPod or iPhone.
If you are still missing some purchases from the iTunes store, you can try emailing their customer support that your computer crashed and they will usually allow you to re-download any purchases.

Good luck. Backing up is always easier though.
 
I appreciate all your responses & I apologize for not following up sooner. I wound up purchasing a software called TouchCopy. It transferred all my daughter's music & videos back into iTunes. Well worth the $25. Thanks again.
 
TouchCopy is good. There's plenty of third party programs to handle your situation, most of the good ones aren't free though.
 
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