Share and Share Alike

I've been having a mostly smooth transition to my new laptop, but I did hit one hiccup along the way. Even my backup of just 10 days prior was insufficient to cover all the music on my iPod -- I'd picked up about 100 new songs just in that period of time.

That means I smacked up against the wall deliberately put into iTunes by Apple: your iPod syncs automatically when you connect it, and (play counts aside) it's a one way connection. If it finds any music on the iPod that isn't in your iTunes library, it will "helpfully" erase it off the iPod.

But there was an answer. And in case you should find yourself in a similar situation, I'm sharing the intel with you: download this software called SharePod.

But it's not quite that simple. Unless you've altered the settings on your iPod, it will still default to "erasure" mode. Plug it in, and it will automatically load up iTunes and start syncing. So here's what you do.

1) Load up iTunes yourself.

2) Hold down Ctrl + Shift simultaneously, and keep them held down.

3) Connect your iPod.

3a) Fight that sense of panic you feel when it tells you it's beginning the sync process, and keep holding those keys down.

4) Your iPod will show up in the source pane on the left, but the sync process will abort. Now you can release those keys.

5) Right-click on your iPod in the source pane, then check the button "Manually manage music and videos."

Now your iPod is connected to your computer, and accessible as a hard drive by this handy SharePod program you've downloaded. Close iTunes, start Sharepod, and start copying. You can use Sharepod to sort the music on your iPod, find any tracks missing from your library, and copy them back to your computer.

It's not a flawless program (but I don't ask that from something that's free). It didn't automatically import the songs back into iTunes. It didn't grab play counts or "last played" data from the songs I copied back. But the important thing is, I did get my rightfully purchased songs back into my iTunes library.

Once that's all done, you can go back into iTunes, disable manual updating again, then disconnect and reconnect your iPod one more time to start the automatic syncing process. Everything should be copacetic at that point.

I suppose at the point I'm shelling out the money for a new laptop, I maybe shouldn't sweat a few more dollars spent on random song purchases. Nevertheless, I feel I shouldn't have to pay to buy the same thing twice. So thanks, Sharepod, for saving me some money.