How to transfer music from Mac formatted iPod to PC

Last Updated :  |  Wide Angle Software

Are you using an iPod Touch or an iPhone?

• TouchCopy for PC will be able to detect your iPod Touch and iPhone that have been previosly been synced to a Mac and transfer all your content to your PC hard drive, or directly to iTunes on your PC.

Are you using a standard, click-wheel iPod?

• In this case, Windows cannot read the Mac file system format on these devices natively. When iTunes in Windows asks you to restore the iPod - it wants to format it using the PC file system format, at which point you'll lose your music.

If you still have access to a Mac, please follow the steps below to transfer your music from a Mac formated iPod to a PC:

1. Transfer your iPod music to iTunes or your Music app library (on macOS Catalina and Big Sur), using TouchCopy for Mac.
2. Format your iPod to a PC by restoring it using iTunes on your PC.
3. Sync your iPod to iTunes on your Mac to reload your music back on your iPod.
4. Finally, you can use TouchCopy for the PC to transfer your music from your iPod to your PC.

Such convoluted steps are not necessary if you're trying to use a PC formated iPod on a Mac, as a Mac can read Windows PC formatted disk drives and so will work with either PC or Mac formatted iPods. Therefore, TouchCopy for Mac will work with either Mac or PC based iPods when running on a Mac.

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You can purchase TouchCopy for Mac and for PC from our webstore.

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