At this point, you have successfully recovered your iPod's media files and copied them to a folder on your Mac. The next step is to use the Add to Library command in iTunes to add the files to iTunes.
Configure iTunes Preferences
- Open iTunes Preferences by selecting 'Preferences' from the iTunes menu.
- Select the 'Advanced' tab.
- Place a check mark next to 'Keep iTunes Music folder organized.'
- Place a check mark next to 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.'
- Click the 'OK' button.
Add to Library
- Select 'Add to Library' from the iTunes File menu.
- Browse to the folder that contains your recovered iPod music.
- Click the 'Open' button.
iTunes will copy the files to its library; it will also read the ID3 tags to set each song's name, artist, album genre, etc.
You may run into one strange little quirk, depending on which iPod you have and which version of iTunes you're using. Occasionally when the Add to Library command is used on recovered iPod files, iTunes won't be able to see the media files inside the music folder that you copied from your iPod, even though you can see them just fine in the Finder. To work around this problem, simply create a new folder on your desktop, then copy the individual music files from the iPod Recovered folder to the new folder. For example, inside your iPod Recovered folder (or whatever you chose to call it) may be a series of folders called F00, F01, F02, etc. Inside the F series of folders are your media files, with names like BBOV.aif, BXMX.m4a, etc.
Copy the BBOV.aif, BXMX.m4a, and other media files to the new folder on your desktop, and then use the Add to Library command in iTunes to add them to your iTunes library.
Send Those Formerly Hidden Files Back Into Hiding
During the recovery process, you made all the hidden files and folders on your Mac visible. Now whenever you use the Finder, you see all kinds of strange-looking entries. You recovered the formerly hidden files that you needed, so you can send them all back into hiding.
Abracadabra! They're Gone
- Launch Terminal, located at /Applications/Utilities/.
- Type or copy/paste the following commands. Press the return key after you enter each line.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
killall Finder
That’s all there is to manually recovering media files from your iPod. Keep in mind that you will need to authorize any music you purchased from the iTunes Store before you can play it. This recovery process keeps Apple's FairPlay Digital Rights Management system intact.
Enjoy your music!