All right guys, I've got it figured out. I'll lay it down for y'all.
1. Plug it in. Open iTunes. Click on the ipod. Check "enable disk use" if it isnt already.
2. go into "my computer", open the ipod disk. You should see some random folders like "calendars" "contacts" "notes" etc.
3. In the tools menu, go to folder options. Click the "view" tab then under "hidden files and folders" click "view hidden files and folders".
4. Now ok that, then click on the ipod control folder, then the music folder.
5. You should see a bunch of folder named F01, F02 etc. up to a high number.
6. Apple made it even harder for you though. They rename all the files and randomly distribute them throughout these folders, just to make your life miserable. But You can take care of that!
7. Now at the top menu of the folder (where the back button and stuff is) click "search". There should be a little search thing on the left. Click "all files and folders" then click "more advanced options".
8. Under more advanced options, click "search hidden files and folders" and "search subfolders"
9. DONT ENTER ANYTHING INTO THE SEARCH BOX - just click search.
10. Under the "view" menu, select "details". Then go under the view menu again. go to "choose details". Deselect everything except for "name" "title" and "artist" - those three should be checked. There are a lot of dumb options, but I'm sure you can find title and artist in there somewhere. Click OK.
11. Now you should have a list of all the stuff on your ipod (once you scroll a little down from the top. BUT they are in a totally random order, and knowing you (silly, silly you) you have about a bajillion songs on your ipod, and all you want is a few songs to transfer onto your computer. BUT YOU CAN TAKE CARE OF THAT TOO!!
12. Now that we've got all your music up, let's narrow the search to just what you want. On the search bar on the left, click "change file name or keywords" and enter in a song name or artist, just as it is in iTunes. Click search.
13. It should come up with one or more obscurely named files. Unfortunately, Windows is annoying, and took away your view option changes, so you need to redo that.
14. Again, under view, (assuming it stayed in detail mode) go to "choose details" and uncheck everything except for name, title, and artist. BAM SON! you got it, the title and artist of everything you searched for.
15. Now create a new folder on your desktop, called, for example, "Music from my iPod".
16. With your search window still open, select the songs you would like to transfer, and click and drag them into the folder you just created.
17. Sit with a smug look on your face while your music files transfer onto your computer, because you just DUPED Apple, as well as all those losers who sit at home and make progams to do what you just did yourself, and people pay for them.
18. YOUR NOT DONE YET THOUGH! Now when you open up the folder, you will still get a bunch of messed up song names. If you would like to change these, you can go through the same process with the view details thing in that folder, then change the file names to the artist and song title manually (which will take forever if you did a lot of songs) OR you can just load them into iTunes or another music playing program, and it will automatically display the track and artist names.
Enjoy!
Jeff
