How to Migrate from the Apple iPod to another MP3 Player
29 August 2006
Apple iPods and other MP3 players have been around for long enough so that many music fans are ready to consider upgrading their first portable player to a new product with higher capacity, better looks, or a larger screen. However, what will happen to the music that is stored in the old player? You may have spent hours extracting tracks from your CDs or spent a handful of dollars to fill the player with songs from an online store. Is it possible to transfer music from an iPod to a new MP3 player?
"I have an iPod Mini and I want to upgrade to a new player with a bigger drive... however I don't want another iPod but I was thinking of upgrading to Creative's Zen Vision:M. Now is there a way of transferring the music from my iPod and PC to the Zen Vision:M?" The editor[at]avecmobile.com received this question from an Avec Mobile reader a short while ago. It is an excellent question that raises many important points regarding iPods, copy-protected music, and the best choice for your next MP3 player.
When you buy a new CD player or DVD player but still want to listen to your old CDs (as we all do), you simply stick the CD into the disc drive and play it. It always works. Unfortunately, we all know that it is not that simple with digital music.
When you are setting up a new MP3 player, you maybe lucky enough that you simply sync the new player with your music library without giving it a second thought. On the other hand, with another type of player and another type of digital music, it may cost you money to transfer your music to the new player. Let's find out how you can plan your upgrade to a new MP3 player.
Case 1: MP3
If you have saved all your digital music onto a computer in MP3 format, you have plenty of choices without losing any songs or money in the upgrade process. You can buy any MP3 player and load it up with MP3 tracks from your computer. You can get an Apple iPod, Archos, Cowon, Creative, iRiver, SanDisk, Samsung, or a phone that plays MP3 tracks. This freedom of choice is based on the fact that all portable digital music players (that we know of) can play MP3. In addition, MP3 files are not copy-protected, which makes them a safe choice for your future player as well.
You can buy and download MP3 tracks from online stores like eMusic, Wippit, and eClassical. It is also possible to get albums of new bands for free. For example, FreeIndie lets you download 'guiltless MP3 albums'. You might also want to copy your CD collection to your computer. Then, you can easily manage the whole music library on your computer and transfer tracks to other MP3 devices you own.
Use the software that comes with your new MP3 player to copy tracks to the player. You can also use the Windows Media Player for syncing MP3 songs to the new player. Windows Media Player 11 Beta, available on the Microsoft web site, recognizes a wide range of devices and memory cards.
Case 2: iPod and iTunes
If you own an Apple iPod and have downloaded songs from the iTunes store, the tracks are saved in copy-protected AAC format (also known as FairPlay technology). Music purchased from the iTunes store can only be played on an Apple iPod or on a device that comes with iTunes software. Motorola ROKR and Motorola SLVR are examples of music phones that run iTunes.
Because you can't copy songs downloaded from the iTunes store to any other MP3 player besides iPod, you have a tough decision to make if you want to buy a new player that isn’t an iPod. Are you willing to discard the purchased songs and get another MP3 player? Do you stick to iPod, even if you'd like to have a Creative Zen? Also, keep in mind that songs purchased from the iTunes store can be copied to a limited number of iPods or computers only. Each time you transfer a copy-protected song to a new device, the copy-counter is decreased by one.
If you have MP3 songs on your iPod, you can copy them to any MP3 player.
You should manage your music library on a computer, but if you have lost the collection from your hard disk, all hope is not lost. Mac users will be happy to learn that an application called iPodRip is able to recover tracks from an iPod and save them on a Mac. Windows users can try the CopyPod product that can recover songs from an iPod to a PC.
There is also an old-school technique for copying songs from an iPod, but the audio quality suffers from this digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion. This works for all digital music formats, including copy-protected items.
Connect an audio cable to the loudspeaker/headphones plug in your computer or in your iPod. Hook up the other end of the cable to the line-in port of an MP3 player that can record (for example, Archos or Creative) or to the line-in port of another computer. Play a song from the source device. Record the song as an MP3 file in the target device. Then, you can copy the track to your new MP3 player.
Case 3: WMA Songs
If you have purchased songs from an online music store, such as Napster, or Rhapsody, you have probably received copy-protected WMA tracks. You can play the songs in Windows Media Player on your computer and on most portable MP3 players (except for iPods).
The good news is that there is a wide variety of MP3 players, including Archos, Cowon, Creative, iRiver, SanDisk, Toshiba, and others. Just make sure the new product comes with PlaysForSure, which allows it to play copy-protected WMA tracks. You can buy any player brand. Simply copy the songs into the new device and play them. When you transfer copy-protected tracks, the number-of-copies counter is decreased by one every time you copy a track to a new device.
The bad news is that you can't transfer WMA music to an iPod. If you still want an iPod and want to take your WMA music along, try the old-school cable trick presented in the Case 2.
All and all, some music lovers don't mind the restrictions of copy-protected songs because downloading the latest hits is so easy from online stores. Others prefer MP3 format because it is compatible with so many devices and gives the listener more freedom. What's your choice?
Related stories:
Five important things you should know about copy-protected music, movies and books
Don't lock yourself in a restrictive digital music format
How to listen to music from your MP3 player in your home and car stereo
Product reviews:
Alex 30.12.2006 13:39
HELP! I just recieved a Sandisk MP3 player for christmas and I uploaded music once, and I tried again, and the folder was gone! I looked everywhere!
Ari 31.12.2006 03:51
Alex, if you have a Windows XP computer, you could try the Search function in the Windows Explorer. Launch Windows Explorer and click Search. Specify that you want to search the whole disk C:/ and look for *.mp3 files.
Kate 13.03.2009 11:39
idk what to do with your problems i just got an rca pearl