How can I transfer music and playlists from my iPod, iPhone or iPad to iTunes?

 Average: 4.42 (12 Votes).

Summary

To copy your playlists from your iPod, iPhone or iPad to your computer, follow these instructions...

1. Download and install TouchCopy to your computer.
2. Run TouchCopy and connect your iPhone or iPod.
3. Click "Copy to iTunes".

If you have not done so already, you can download TouchCopy from here.

Details

TouchCopy enables you to transfer all your songs and playlists to iTunes in just a few mouse clicks. To transfer all your iPod songs into iTunes click on Music from the list on the left in TouchCopy and then click on the "Copy to iTunes" button. You can also choose individual songs or groups of songs you wish to copy by Shift-Clicking songs in TouchCopy.

To transfer your iPod playlists into iTunes select the Playlists you want from the source list in TouchCopy. You can select multiple playlists by CTRL-Clicking items in this list. Once you have selected your Playlists - click the "Copy to iTunes" button in TouchCopy.

When transferring a playlist into iTunes, the songs are transferred and a new playlist of the same name is created. Note that if a track is already in your iTunes main Library, TouchCopy will not create a duplicate of that track in iTunes, it will just add the track to the Playlist.

Please see our User Guide and YouTube video here for further information on how to transfer songs and playlists to iTunes.

If you continue to have problems with transferring music and playlists directly to iTunes, please try copying music to your hard drive by clicking on the Copy to PC button in TouchCopy. You can then importing your music into iTunes by selecting the File tab and then Add folder to library in iTunes.

If you copy your playlists to your hard drive, TouchCopy will produce an XML file named after the Playlist you are copying. This XML file contains information about the tracks and track order of the Playlist. The XML file can be used to import the playlist into iTunes. To import the playlist into iTunes, in iTunes, select 'File -> Library->Import Playlist...'. Select the XML file saved by TouchCopy with the same name as the playlist you require and click 'Open'.

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Latest Comments

Richard Wessling wrote...

2016-09-08

I can't transfer music to iTunes from phone, Also when I double click on a song. no matter what song, it plays when I'm 64 by the Beatles. What the hell?

Bernard Bossuyt wrote...

2016-08-12

Hi,

I bought your program TouchCopy yesterday.

I have two questions.
1. how come that the program is in Spanish ? How can I change it to English or Dutch.
2. I have 4.500 songs on my Ipad that I want to transfer to my Mac at home.
Your program started transferring yesterday at 16.00h and this morning at 08.00 only 2.415 songs were transferred to my Itunes library. How come that your program works so slow ?

thanks
Bernard

Wide Angle Software wrote...

2016-08-16

@Bernard Bossuyt 1) TouchCopy displays the language based upon your computers set region. Please set your region/language of your computer to English for TouchCopy to display in English.

2) TouchCopy should not take that long. Please ensure you are not running any other intensive processes whilst performing the copy as this can have a negative impact on transfer times. Please ensure that iTunes is not in use during the transfer.

Ross Smith wrote...

2016-07-03

I have a PC & a laptop & an old IPod & IPhone 4 & I Pad Air 2. If I buy software for PC can I use it on the others. if so how do I install on others. What I particularly want to do is consolidate music from all sources to my main PC and then copy I tunes library back to as many of the other devices as possible.

Wide Angle Software wrote...

2016-07-04

@Ross Smith TouchCopy is installed to your PC rather than to your devices. I can confirm that TouchCopy can be installed to both your PC and Laptop. Once installed TouchCopy will also be able to connect to and copy your music from your iPod, iPhone and iPad.

This will enable you to copy all of your music from the three devices to a single iTunes library as required. This library can then be synced back to your devices.

Christopher wrote...

2016-06-27

I'm thinking of purchasing your software. I was wondering: 1) does your software copy smart playlists from my ipod classic (it is set up to automatically update smart playlists as I adjust star ratings on the ipod itself) to my new laptop's itunes? 2) I've manipulated the "genre" categories on many of my songs to make my playlists more sensible to me - will my personalized genre labels be there when I transfer music, or will it revert back to the original genre label 3) Will your software transport my star ratings from the ipod to the new itunes?

Wide Angle Software wrote...

2016-06-27

@Christopher 1) Smart Playlists can be copied, however they will be copied as regular playlists. As such they will not automatically update in iTunes once copied.

2/3) TouchCopy will attempt to copy any additional tag data that is stored in iTunes (and not the music file) when performing the copy. As such your custom genre and star ratings should also be transferred along with the file.

I would highly recommend downloading the free trial version of TouchCopy as this will enable you to copy up to 100 tracks for free. This will allow you to see first hand which data is copied when copying tracks.

Gary Waldron wrote...

2016-06-11

Hi there, I have my IPod Classic with which I down loaded my music using my wife's ITunes account. We are now divorced and I have not got access to that account. The classic is now failing and I dont want to lose the 2,000 odd songs I've paid for. Will your system enable me to recover them and import them into my current ITunes account? Thank You

Wide Angle Software wrote...

2016-06-13

@Gary Waldron Whilst TouchCopy will be able to copy the music from the iPod to your computer or iTunes, the tracks will still be linked to the account they were purchased on and are likely to require authorization within iTunes before they can be played.

Matthew Jeans wrote...

2016-06-03

I have tried doing this multiple times. I have wasted SEVERAL hours. I press copy to iTunes. And I get all of the green checks but go to iTunes to find nothing there. I have over 7,000 songs and this is ridiculous. I don't know why this software is not working. But I would like to talk to someone about receiving a refund.

Wide Angle Software wrote...

2016-06-06

@Matthew Jeans Please open a support ticket on our online helpdesk to request a refund.

Dorothy Drennen wrote...

2016-04-27

I cannot copy my playlists. (Windows 10) The first time I copied from my iPod, the playlists were there -- but most were empty. I tried again (different PC - fresh install of iTunes) - but this time NO playlists are appearing in iTunes. I have 12K songs - so the playlists are a) important to me and b) requiring a huge amount of time if I need to re-create them. Is there anything else I can do to try to fix this?

Robert Jones wrote...

2016-04-24

I am trying to create a "master" iTunes play list from several of my iPods. When I copy each of my iPods to iTunes to create this master I will end up with duplicates of songs since I have some but not all of the songs on different iPods. Does TouchCopy look for duplicates when it copies songs into iTunes? Also, when Touch Copy reads my iPod, some of the tracks will have a musical note symbol to the left of the track and other tracks will not. What is the meaning of this musical note symbol?

Wide Angle Software wrote...

2016-04-29

@Robert Jones TouchCopy will not create duplicates of files already in your iTunes libary. To make sure of this TouchCopy has a report feature for showing what music is not in your iTunes or on your computer. Please see this link for more information: http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/support/manuals/touchcopy/12/en/reports.php
The musical note symbol means the track is already in your iTunes library.

Wide Angle Software wrote...

2016-04-29

@Robert Jones TouchCopy will not create duplicates of files already in your iTunes libary. To make sure of this TouchCopy has a report feature for showing what music is not in your iTunes or on your computer. Please see this link for more information: http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/support/manuals/touchcopy/12/en/reports.php
The musical note symbol means the track is already in your iTunes library.

Brian Betz wrote...

2016-03-04

I just went through the process, all 12750 songs, and nothing changed. This was to transfer my ipod content to itunes on my computer. Took about 5 hours. What am I doing wrong.

Wide Angle Software wrote...

2016-01-20

@James Pate In iTunes 12.3.2 there is an option for importing playlists which is found through File->Library->Import Playlists. If this option is not appearing you may need to uninstall iTunes and reinstall it. If the problem persists please contact our Helpdesk with further details.

James Pate wrote...

2016-01-15

I cannot import my playlists from the xml files into iTunes. That is the sole reason I purchased this. There is not an option on my iTunes for File>Lbrary> Import Playlist. is there a procedure for the newer versions of iTunes? or, do you have the older versions of iTunes available?

Dorothy wrote...

2016-01-09

My playlists all copied. (good!) My songs all copied (well, all but one.) Also good! But my playlists are not populated - most are empty, some have apparently random tracks assigned. I see that I can change Preferences in Advanced - do I need to delete iTunes and start over with that correctly checked, or is there some way to fix this without reimporting all of the songs?

Wide Angle Software wrote...

2016-01-14

@Dorothy You may need to create a new iTunes library and try to copy over playlists again or simply delete the playlists and try to copy them over again. If this problems still occurs I highly recommend contacting our technical support staff at www.wideanglesoftware.com/helpdes