Monday, April 27, 2009

Brilliant freeware app for copying files from iPod

A baffling aspect of iTunes/iPod is the inability to copy mp3's back from the iPod to your pc. Data transfer is strictly one-way.

I spent a lot of time trying to find an app that would do this simple task, and finally bought one. It failed; I got "Error:The parameter is incorrect," and most files failed to copy. I contacted their technical help, and it didn't. (Help, that is.)

Then a coworker recently pointed me to Sharepod. It's a very simple bit of freeware, and I gave it a try.

Initially, it gave the same error. So I checked Sharepod's Help page, and it suggested a repair on my iPod, as if it were a disk drive. I did it, then all the files copied like a charm.

And now... you know that.

9 comments:

Fred Butler said...

Can it take podcast so I can make a playlist to burn a CD?

Michael said...

I've switched over to using WinAmp with the iPod plugin. It works great -- copies files in both directions and will even transcode down to a lower bitrate when putting the files on your iPod if you are trying to maximize the tunage on your iPod.

WinAmp is not iTunes -- that can be both great and not-so-great, but I prefer the user experience and the fact that WinAmp has less of an impact on your system than iTunes.

DJP said...

I would think so, Fred. Aren't podcasts just stored as mp3s? It will transfer everything, as far as I can tell.

Anyway, it's free, so give it a try.

Solameanie said...

Dan,

Saw in USA Today that Verizon and Apple might be making a deal for the Iphone. YESSS!

Kate said...

Thanks for the tip. Taking a plane trip this week & didn't want to wait until June, so got my new iPhone as soon as I was eligible, which was this past weekend. That's a very useful piece of info you've shared with us, Mr. Phillips!

LeeC said...

I am still very bitter about the campaign to destroy the vastly superior Pocket PC.

I do not want my phone to be slaved to my other devices. I will proably get an Itouch eventually since my Dell Axim will die soon and there are no more apps being written for them pretty much but the Iphone/touch is a completely inferior product pushed by fad over function IMHO.

Ken said...

Hey Dan...is Sharepod different than I-Dump (which I think is maybe Apple's version of the same thing)? I'm just curious how versitile Sharepod is. I-Dump is fine...it just does what it's name says it does. It takes everything off your I-pod and puts it into a file on your PC.

Anyhow...I was just wondering. Thanks for sharin' the info...

Aaron said...

LeeC:

I like Windows Mobile better since it works seemlessly with Windows on my PC. And there's no worrying about proprietary music formats, etc. The problem is the phone hardware. Nobody makes the hardware as good as Apple. If I could get a pcoketpc that had the look, size, and function of the IPhone, I'd totally forgo my transition to the IPhone. But there isn't one. And the supposed "IPhone" killers are thicker, heavier, and more expensive.

P.D. Nelson said...

Thanks Dan boy you can find everything on this blog. Freeware, opinions, movie reviews, theological discussions. Its unbelievable.