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How to Get Music Off Your iPod
ptorrone writes "Never did we think we'd need to do a How-To on something which should be part of the basic functionality of a portable music player, but once you put your tunes on an iPod unfortunately it's a one-way sync unless you know the tricks for getting them off. Here's how to get your stuff off for free on a Mac or PC and how to re-enable a useful tool with a Hex editor." Cory Doctorow has been writing about this on boingboing recently; he discusses Apple's message to iPod owners.
It's not that first time such 'backup' tool is available, and it's also not the first time Apple found ways to neutralize such tool by way of a new version.
Additionally, it's relatively easy (compared to ripping CDs) to do it on iPod because Apple basically owns the device and its content, and they can do a lot to force users to comply. iPod doesn't need to follow a standard format (like CDs must play in all CD players), they can set/change the format to suit.
The article is quick to point out that "We're also hopeful Apple might consider not spending engineering time and lawyer fees on chasing after applications and developers who just want to give folks an obvious feature that's being left out only to appease the RIAA. At the end of the day, Apple needs to know that we're their customers, too."
However I think the BoingBoing article sums it up nicely - " Apple didn't have any choice. If they don't play nice with the suicidally stupid record industry, the industry will stop supplying music for the iPod."
When/If these online music distributors have gained enough market shares (maybe 30% of all music album buyers?), they might able to turn around and force the record industry to make changes, because it's not nice to lose 30% sales overnight.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
This story is simply yet another plug for the folks over at Engadget.com, submitted by Mr. Torrone himself. (Hint: he's with Engadget.) They're trolling for hits, plain and simple.
At least grant us the courtesy of a disclosure statement if you're gonna let 'em plug their site under the guise of news.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
I would hardly say that Apple trying to protect its relationship with the music content providers, which is the whole reason that the iTunes Music Store exists in the first place, not to mention the online store with by far the highest marketshare, is tantamount to Apple telling its customers to "eat shit and die".
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His preemptive rebuttals are also complete bullshit. Yes, we're the "customers", not Sony/BMG. And he himself admits that the record companies are idiots; yes, those are the idiots that Apple has to deal with. A lot of people think it was a miracle Apple/Steve Jobs got them even to agree to this "crazy experiment" in the first place.
Additionally, getting music back off the iPod is not part of the advertised capabilities or features of the service, period, and never was. Remember iTunes 4.0b12? It let you go both ways between every iPod and iTunes under the sun, with no limits. You could two-way sync every iPod and iTunes library on earth. Remember iTunes 4.0, and its internet music sharing? The record industry might not be telling Apple *exactly* the specifics of how to implement the protections, but Apple is under pressure to not make it too "easy" to "share" music on a wide scale, while still making the DRM and protections as transparent as it possibly can.
The proponents of things like iPod Download, and even the linked article, talk about things like stolen computers and hard drive failures. Well, in fairness, Apple does have a recommendation. You might hate it, and you might think it sucks, but it's to have your music library backed up somewhere other than your computer, and other than your iPod
Further, as long as the iPod is just a freaking disk, its contents will be able to be retrieved. But Apple CANNOT look as if it is passively ignoring things that are perceived by the music industry to be "dangerous", whether they are or not. Yes, Apple can try to help the music industry understand, and even pressure them in the right direction - and probably has, quite a bit, frankly. Remember, this whole online download thing is in its utter infancy.
If you want to hate or blame Apple for "selling out", and saying that they should just tell people like Sony/BMG to go fuck themselves, and if they lose them they lose them, fine...that's you call. And no one is forcing you to use or buy any of Apple's services. This is Apple's service and products, and they're running them how they feel they have to to ensure the iTunes Music Store's continued existence. Do you think they WANT to make things hard on customers? Quite the opposite! And maybe someday Apple will have the leverage to start pressing these things with the music industry - Jobs believes people should really be able to do what they want with their music. But people also want music from the major labels, so you can't piss them off right off the bat. What to do? Frankly, I think Apple is in the right here, and Cory Doctorow is the one who can eat shit and die.
I think one important aspect to Apple's constant user downgrades of the iPod/iTMs is that they stop customers from doing what Apple tells them to do: Back up their songs.
Oddly, Apple's iTMS wants it both ways. They say they are selling you a license for the song, not the physical song. But when you lose a song, they treat it like you lost physical property, even though you paid an apparently perpetual license fee that allows you to have the song and play it.
If something happens to your iTunes library, Apple will not let you re-download those songs again even though the "Fair Play" DRM insures that their could be no piracy involved, since the songs would be locked to the same computers as the original. Tough luck, says Apple, it's your fault for not backing up. Naturally, one would think that the iPod's large disk drive and auto synch would be the perfect way to back up songs, but the schizophrenic Apple won't let you copy your songs off iPod. (Yes, there are ways, but Apple may close that back door at any time.) iPod owners are constantly having to ask on Forums how to recover their accidentally erased iTMS library from their iPod because Apple doesn't officially allow anyway to copy their songs from your iPod to restore their music. Ridiculous.
Their is literally no customer advantage to the Apple downgrades. And copying your legal songs is not illegal. I'm glad that Corry is staying on this.
These days, most people approach the user like you might approach your retarded cousin who was raised by ferrets on a remote island: don't tell them anything, you might frighten or confuse them (unfrozen-caveman-lawyer style).
That's because there are a whole fuckton of people out there who don't know, don't care, and refuse to learn even the most basic thing about computers (like copying files or not clicking on random attachments). The revel in their ignorance. Faced by such willful ignorance, the documentation guys took one step back, gave the one finger salute, and started writing in babytalk, knowing that nobody reads the stuff anyway.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
Doesn't all music on an iPod come from a computer? Why not get it from there? The only point I can see to this is the argument of hard drive crash, but there's no need to damn Apple for not providing tools they never said they would.
Just back the files you didn't get from your own CD's to data CD's and be done with it.
R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
Rather than restrict sharing to say, 3 network MAC addresses, they removed the feature altogether.
This seems to be another annoyance for users who just want to stream their iTunes from home to a pals house, or musicians who use the iPod to listen to their own music.
Again, no trouble for those who would like to bypass such restrictions, just a pain in the ass for those who use(d) these features legitimately.
If Microsoft did this, all of Slashdot would be outraged and ranting about evilness and what not.
Apple does it and people come out of the woodwork to defend them and find work-arounds.
Why is buying an Apple iPod is any different than buying an MP3 player laden with Microsoft DRM?
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Well, Apple's not on your side, even if you're an Apple customer.
Really? You just noticed this?
The Apple ][ owners knew this.
The Newton Owners know all about "being Steved"
And TAM owners know that Rhapsody^H^H^H^H^H^H^HMac OS X doesn't work on their machines.
Why would anyone expect something different from Apple THIS time around?
Few companies are 'on your side'.
If you don't like what Apple is doing (and this is certainly not the first time they've done something I don't like) then don't buy their products. Don't hack the damn player just so you can have your own music. Vote with your feet. It's the only way they'll get the message.
The iPod was the only Apple device I'd considered buying in about 20 years. (I learnt my lesson from the way I was treated with my last purchase which was an Apple IIe). Its this sort of nonesense that means I won't do it. Other players are coming out and I doubt the iPods stranglehold on the market will continue.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
He doesn't own an iPod because you can't get music off? But as numerous posts have shown you can in fact do just that. So what was his "legitimate" insight into not owning an iPod apart from his obvious irrational dislike of them?
If he stated he didn't like the interface, I could understand - I would disagree, but I know there there really is not going to be an interface that pleases everyone. If he stated he was displeased with sealed batteries, again you could argue about if they were good or bad but not that it was not a valid consideration he might have.
But when he states he doesn't own one because it lacks a capability it actually has, then I'd say it's far to moderate him down as just plain wrong.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Except the rebuttal that the article gives is not particularly useful. Apple's customer is joe normal user who could care less about copying files off their iPod, because they already have them on their computer. And this joe customer really wants to be able to easily buy a copy of Eminem's Mosh single and load it onto their iPod. Guess what to be able to do the second they may have to prevent the first. Which is more important to Apple and Apple's primary customers?
If this were truly about restoring your music after a catastrophic computer failure, you would not need any of these tools. You would just need a simple script that is something along the lines of:
/Volumes/myIpod -name *.mp3`
mkdir ~/Desktop/restoredMusic
for FILE in `find
do
cp ${FILE} ~/Desktop/restoredMusic
done
(Another couple lines would do this for every filetype supported by the iPod)
All metadata is stored in the ID3 tags, so if you drag the entire contents of the new folder into iTunes you will have all your music back.
The only reason to use iPod Download or iPodRip or any of those add-on programs are if you want some of the music, but not all the music off of an iPod. Let's face it, when you want to do that you are most likely taking music off of a friend's iPod. I expect plenty of responses about obscure use cases where you want some but not all of your music on your work or wife's computer. I know those cases exist, but I would say they account for 2% of the actual usage of the program, and there are probably easy workarounds for all of them.
I'm no saint, and I freely admit I have used these programs before. However, I am not into pretending to be the victim of mean old Apple.
nuff said.
It has already been clearly established that the iPod is not a 'backup' medium and it is not acceptable to store the 'only' copies of your music on it. Quite regularly, answers in Apple's troubleshooting tips for iPod problems instruct the user to restore the Pod, which returns it to the completely empty default-install state.
So why would anyone be silly enough to keep the only copies of their music on their iPod, forcing them to then use this tool? With iTunes, you can't even get music onto the Pod without first importing it into the library. So it's a given that the music is already on your computer. (And where did it come from? If absolutely necessary, you can re-rip your CDs, or copy from your burned backups for iTMS or illegal music downloads.)
So tell me, is there a legitimate reason for your only copy of any song to be exclusively stored on your iPod?
How is it a DMCA crime to move a file from a 'hidden' folder on the iPod to my hard drive? There's no encryption, there's no method of copyright control. What the FUCK are you smoking?
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Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
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Actually, I am Joe iPod user.
One of the primary reasons I bought an iPod was so I could listen to lectures and debates while not at a PC. This material has no copyrights or commercial value, yet Apple has intentionally made it very difficult for me to plug my iPod into my cohorts computers and share this public domain material. They have even hired lawyers and spent big money to try and stop it.
Personally, I am rather offended at this assumption of criminal activity and will make sure to look for a more "open" player when I upgrade.