Backing up a 2nd Gen iPod

[Skyedriver]

OK it's a bit like raising the dead but I'm trying to copy the entire music library from an 11 year old ipod (2nd Gen) onto a newish lap top.
The old lap top is dying and I don't want to lose the connectivity. In addition I then want to transfer the music library onto a new iPad Air (2020 4th Gen).

I've downloaded the latest version of iTunes onto the new lap top
I've copied the iTunes folders from the old lap top, via Explorer onto an external hard drive then copied those folders onto the new lap top.
Looking at the Explorer folders, not all the music is there but they all still play on the old lap top so must be stored elsewhere??

I've sync'd the new iPad to the new lap top but only around 25% of the songs have transferred and similarly won't play on the new lap top. Presumably because they weren't copied.

All the music (1298 songs) is ripped from CDs, none bought from iTunes.

I've tried backing up the iPod to the new laptop, that doesn't seem to work. reading up, there isn't an option for transferring to disc on 2nd Gen. iPods.

I've looked for on line instructions, most of which deal with later versions of iPods or give instructions which lead to an option that doesn't exist or tell you to download a bit of software which I'm not happy to do without knowledge of it's safety.

Am I flogging a dead horse or is there hope?

Thanks

[The_Nugget]

There is a lot to unpack there!

Have you ‘built’ iTunes on your new laptop from the iTunes folder you have copied?

I would do this.

If you are confident that all of the music you want is on the old laptop....
Find a track in iTunes that won’t play on your new machine.
Right click on it in old iTunes and use the option to show folder location. That will show you where it is on the machine.
Did you copy that location? If not, there is your problem.

Do a search on your old machine for music files (.mp3 etc)
Then copy them all to a new set of ‘music’ folders on your new machine.
Then import them into new iTunes.

[Skyedriver]

Thanks for that, over 1000 m4a files with no obvious title just 4 apparently random letters (ie AFDT.m4a) in Users/administrator/ ...
Could this be the way early apple stuff saved music?
Will copy those into the new laptop and see where we go from there

[frisbee]

Back in the day Sharepod used to be the way to get music off of an ipod, I'm assuming it still exists.

[Skyedriver]

About to give up.
This is why I hate Apple.
Sharepod now seems to be a subscription, the free option no longer seems to work
The 1079 random lettered files in Users/ administrator need picking up and copying into the various Album names in the library BUT not all the album names are in the library so you need to create them and if you don't word them exactly.....
After quite a few frustrating hours, son has set up spotify on her ipad and she says shes happy with that as she can get any damn track she wants!!
Going out in the rain and gales with the dogs - got to be better than Apple stuff.
Thanks to those that tried to help

[shopper150]

You cannot officially copy any music from an iPod to a computer. To do this, you will need third party software (paid for).
If you have music on your computer that is not being recognised, you could try iTunes Match.

[Skyedriver]

shopper150 said:

You cannot officially copy any music from an iPod to a computer. To do this, you will need third party software (paid for).
If you have music on your computer that is not being recognised, you could try iTunes Match.

Apparently gen 4 iPod onwards has an option to do this. Hers is a gen 2.
I've given up, think I may have lost a couple of tracks off here iPod while trying to sort this so attempting to resync it to the old lap top but not holding out much hope as it's struggling to stay alive.

[GCH]

Senuti

[Hanslow]

Try the free copy of Media Monkey if you haven't already. I used it for a long time to manage my 6th gen ipods and should hopefully allow you to identify, sync and copy everything off your older one.

[The_Nugget]

I’m not sure if the files were actually on the PC or just on the iPod, hard to say from the posts.

My tip (for future) would be to not let iTunes manage the files,
Create a music folder on the computer.
Tag the files independently using other software.
Then point iTunes at that.

Same with Movies etc.

I have thousands of tracks, movies and TV shows...but it is fiddly and you need the right 3rd party software to tag them etc.

These days, I generally stream them in the house with Plex as iTunes is garbage for that.

Or just use Spotify and Netflix...