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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.
Doesn't the iPod act as USB storage device? Can't you just mount it and copy the filesystem? If not, then that's pretty damn lame. I might have considered an iPod if it could act like a portable harddrive.
(Please browse at -1 to read this comment.)
So you have done this have you, or did you just decide that talking out of your ass would probably get you moderated up?
There is no "directory" that holds the music, the iPod is purposely crippled to split it into something like 100 directories, and spreads the files randomly around them with random file names. The only way to find the song you wish to copy, or, God forbid, the album, is to have an app that reads the iPod's proprietary database file and finds the filenames that way.
Such apps have been written, and Apple is busy breaking them for no good reason other than making life worse for its customers.
Yes you dont have to do anything illegal to keep your illegal music and videos, great thinking!!!!!!
No offence, but it's quite clear you've never worked in a retail computer or tech store before.
Trust me: I work at Staples, and this sort of behavior is perfectly justifiable. Joe User is a fucking moron, and they tell you that in plain English when they begin their question.
"I don't know anything about the computer! How do I get music off of my iPod?"
WTF?
What is "the authorized machine"? Can't I use my iPod (that I don't have yet) anywhere I like? And people actually buying this crap? How is this better than any other mp3 player that acts as an USB stick without any stupid DRM and other restrictions? What does iPod offer that makes people to put up with DRM?
Szo
Red Leader Standing By!
thanks...i am not sure what more we can do besides always post as ourselves (we do, i always do), tell you that there isn't any paid placement of bullsh1t like that, always state who we are (engadget.com) and who i write for. the article right before ours was from roland about batteries and cigarettes and link to his site, but no one said anything about that....
i don't know what i can say besides i don't make any money based on hits or ad traffic. if you want i can send you the article in pdf format or text without ads.
when i submit a post, i always post as myself, say here is the article _we_ have or _i_ wrote and try my best to make it as clear as possible. once you hit submit, the editors of /. often add links, change text and make the post what they want it to be.
as far as an office tour, i'll post up a video soon! that's a good idea.
okay. it's simple. i'll say it again, and more direct if that's possible. there's no "fingering".
the editors changed what i sent as they usually do, all the better i might add. i don't think it was misleading, they linked to engadget "we" which i am glad they kept, linked to the article and added more links.
most people who want to plug a site would use another name, pretend to be someone else, i always state who i am and that we wrote the article.
again, when i hit submit i have no control over what gets changed before it goes live, i don't think a single one has ever been what i sent exactly. each time and every time i do my best to make it clear who i am and that we wrote the article (engadget). as a general rule, i usually say "we" and link to engadget then link to the article, todays example has that. other times, i'll write "i" and also link to the article. sometimes it seems like the editors here use they as opposed to we or i. i can really care less, if the article is useful and folks like it, that's really all i care about.
/. for edits, adding links or removing stuff, they have a voice to maintain. since there are a couple people who care (most posting here) isn't it obvious if i was trying to fool anyone, i'd just send them as someone else? from the start, i've always been me and always do my best to make it clear who i am, and who i write for. i'm not sure what else i can say to satisfy you. perhaps write some articles, get them posted on /. and see what happens.
i don't think it's fair to blame
There is no license involved with purchasing a physical cd. They fall under the First Sale doctrine, which basically means that once you buy a book or a cd, you can do anything you want to it: destroy it, use it as a frisbee, sell it for a billion dollars. The only thing you can't do is make copies and distribute them.