Indeed, there are lots of things that a Mac computer from Apple can do better than a Windows PC. Oh, for sure, there are lots of good things about Windows PCs, when you put them up against a Mac. You have two formats of desktop computers to choose from, PC or Mac. In this article, I am going to focus on the PC desktop music computer. A minimum of a 2.5GHZ Quad Core computer is highly recommended. The tool has the live quantizer, a built-in wave editor, the action recorder and the action editor that make your life easier while creating music. It is a trustable software for DJs, live performers, and electronic musicians.

Do you have an old iPod or two from the last decade lying around gathering dust? Do they still have old music on them that you no longer have in any other form? Well, dust them off, because you can rescue the music from your old iPod.

Luckily for music makers, cloud music creation platform BandLab snapped the software up in February, and has made it available to download free. Instead of finding a solution to fix the iCloud music bug, you can follow the guide here to turn off music on either your PC or Mac. On your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, go to Settings > Music > iCloud Music Library.

So, how do you transfer music from your iPod to your computer? Today I’ll share with you the procedure I discovered that allowed me to extract music from my brother’s old 16GB iPod onto my PC. Once extracted from the iPod, I could add the music to my iTunes library and sync it with my iPhone.

Prevent iTunes Automatically Syncing With Your Device

I inherited an iPod NanoApple Kills the iPod Nano and iPod ShuffleApple Kills the iPod Nano and iPod ShuffleThe iPod is no more, with Apple discontinuing both the Nano and Shuffle. And with that another piece of tech falls to the mighty smartphone.Read More 16GB 4th Generation (2008) and an iPod Classic 20GB 4th Generation U2 Special Edition (2004) from my brother. I wanted to get the music off each iPod and see if I wanted to add any of his music to my collection.

When you connect a device to iTunes, the music in your iTunes library is automatically uploaded to your device, replacing the music currently on the device. You cannot download music from an iPod (or iPhone or iPad) into iTunes. So, if I connect one of my brother’s iPods to iTunes, all the music would be overwritten with my iTunes library.

The method for preventing iTunes from automatically syncing with your iOS device mostly the same for Windows and Mac:

1. Make sure there are no iOS devices connected to your computer. Then, open iTunes. In Windows, go to Edit > Preferences. On a Mac, go to iTunes > Preferences.
2. Then, on both Windows and Mac, click the Devices tab and check the Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically box. Then, click OK and close iTunes.

Copy Music From Your iPod to Your Computer

Now, you can connect your iPod to your computer. It should show up as a drive in both File Explorer on Windows and in Finder on Mac. Open the iPod drive and navigate to the iPod_Control > Music folder. You’ll see folders labeled with an “F” and a number.

Select all the folders in the iPod_Control > Music folder and copy and paste them to a location on your hard drive. This will transfer your music from your iPod to your computer.

The files all have random four-letter file names. If you’ve copied the music files onto a Windows PC, you can see the tags for each music file in File Explorer. But, you will not see the tags in Finder on a Mac.

Later in this article, we’ll show you how to easily change the file names using the tags.

Once you’ve copied the files, you can eject the iPod and disconnect it. On a Windows PC, right-click on the iPod drive in File Explorer and select Eject.

On a Mac, right-click on the iPod drive icon on the desktop and select Eject, with the name of the iPod.

Add the Music to Your iTunes Library

After transferring the music from your iPod to your computer, you can get that music to your phone. To sync the music files to your iPhone, add the music from your iPod to your iTunes library on your Windows PC or Mac.

By default, on a Windows PC, adding items to your iTunes library creates a reference to the file’s current location. The original file remains in the current location. So, if you were to move the original files, iTunes would no longer see them.

Easier To Use For Music Mac Or Pc 2018 Calendar

You can have iTunes for Windows make a copy of each file and put that copy into the iTunes media folder. Moving the original files would have no effect on the music in your iTunes library.

Finally gave the keys to iTunes: 'Copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to library'

— Rob Murrer (@robmurrer) February 23, 2013

Open iTunes for Windows and go to Edit > Preferences. Click the Advanced tab and check the Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library box. This option is checked by default in iTunes for Mac.

Once you enable the Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library option, all media added to your iTunes library from then on will be copied into the iTunes media folder and not linked to the original files.

To organize your iTunes Media folder into artist and album folders and name the media files based on the disc number, track number, and the song title, check the Keep iTunes Media folder organized box.

Notice that we said that when you check the Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library box, all media files from then on are copied to the iTunes Media folder and not linked to the original files. Media added to your iTunes library before enabling that check box, are still linked to the original media files.

If you have the space on your hard drive, it’s a good idea to copy all your media files to the iTunes Media folder, so they are all in one location and easy to back up. To copy the remaining media files linked to in your iTunes library, go to File > Library > Organize Library. On the Organize Library dialog box, check the Consolidate files box and click OK.

To add some or all of the music from your iPod to your iTunes library, go to either File > Add File to Library or File > Add Folder to Library in iTunes for Windows. If you’re using a Mac, go to File > Add to Library. Then, select the files or folder you want to add.

You can also add music to your iTunes library by dragging music files from File Explorer or Finder to the iTunes window.

The music from your old iPod is now in your iTunes library ready to be synced with your iPhone.

Change or Fix Tags

If you need to change or fix tags on the music you added to your iTunes library, you can do so directly in iTunes. To edit tags for a song, right-click on the song and select Song Info.

If iTunes has told you that your entire iTunes library is damaged, there are ways you can fix itHow to Fix a Damaged iTunes LibraryHow to Fix a Damaged iTunes LibraryIs your iTunes library damaged? Don't panic just yet, there are a few ways to fix the problem.Read More.

On the dialog box that displays, you’ll see six tabs containing information about the selected song. You can edit items like the song title, artist, album, and genre. Click the buttons at the top to view and change the different information.

To quickly go to the next song in the list, click the right arrow at the bottom of the dialog box.

When you’re done editing the tags, click OK.

You can also edit common information for multiple songs at the same time. Use the Shift or Ctrl (Command on Mac) keys to select the songs you want to edit. Then, right-click on the selected songs and select Get Info.

A confirmation dialog box displays. If you don’t want to see this dialog box every time, check the Do not ask me again box.

Click Edit Items to continue.

Only the items that apply to all the selected items are displayed on the information dialog box. Click the buttons at the top to access the different types of information. Edit tags as you want and click OK.

Create a Playlist

If you like using playlists on your iPhone, you can easily create them in iTunes and they will be synced to your iPhone. I added an album to my iTunes library, and I decided to create a playlist for it using iTunes on my Mac. The procedure is the same on Windows.

To create a playlist, select the songs you want in the playlist. Then, right-click on the selected songs and select New Playlist.

The playlist is created using artist and album title as the name. To change the name of the playlist, click on the title and type a new title.

You can also rearrange the songs in the playlist by dragging and dropping them to different positions.

Transfer Music to Your iPhone

To transfer the added music to your iPhone, make sure iTunes is open and connect your device to your computer. Then, click the device icon at the top of the iTunes window.

To make sure the newly added music is added to your music library on your iPhone, you must tell iTunes to sync your entire music library. If you only sync selected items, everything else except the selected items and media purchased from iTunes will be removed from your iPhone.

Click Music in the sidebar on the left under Settings. Then, make sure Sync Music is selected on the right and select Entire music library.

Click Summary in the sidebar on the left. Then, click Sync in the lower-right corner of the iTunes window. The progress of the transfer shows in the upper-center of the iTunes window.

Rename the Music Files

It’s a good idea to back up the original music files in case your music library is deleted by AppleApple Music Deleted Your Library? Tips for When Music DisappearsApple Music Deleted Your Library? Tips for When Music DisappearsApple Music deleted your library? Songs you thought were safe in iCloud gone missing? Here's what you can do to recover and safeguard your collection.Read More or you find that your playlists are empty. You may also want to listen to your music files on your PC or other non-iOS devices.

People have also been known to encounter problems when using Apple Music with their personal iTunes music collectionHow to Use Apple Music With Your Personal iTunes Music CollectionHow to Use Apple Music With Your Personal iTunes Music CollectionThere are multiple ways to handle the transition to Apple Music without leaving behind your own music collection.Read More. So, backing up your original music files is recommended.

But the random four-letter file names assigned to the files copied from your iPod are not very descriptive. And especially on a Mac, you won’t know what the songs are without adding them to iTunes, or viewing the tags for the files in another app.

You can manually rename the files, but there’s an easier way using a free tool, called Mp3tag. It’s a Windows program, but there is a way you can use it on a Mac, which we’ll cover in a bit.

On your Windows PC, download Mp3tag and install it. To add Mp3tag to the File Explorer context menu, check the Explorer Context Menu box on the Choose Components screen during installation.

To rename music files from your iPod, select the files in File Explorer. Then, right-click on the files and select Mp3tag.

Go to Convert > Tag – Filename, or press Alt + 1.

On the Tag – Filename dialog box, enter a Format string using placeholders to extract information from the tags for each file.

The Format string in the image below creates a file name with a two-digit track number, song title, artist name, and album name, all separated by dashes.

If you want to construct your own file name, you can refer to the various format string placeholders available in the help. Go to Help > Contents.

When the help system opens in your default browser, click Renaming files based on tags under Working with tags and file names.

You’ll find a list of placeholders you can use in the Format string to create your own custom file names for your music files.

With very little effort, we renamed all 37 files in our album.

There are music tagging apps for Mac, like Kid3, but I didn’t find one as easy to use as Mp3tag. You can run Mp3tag on your Mac, using some methods we’ve previously coveredThe Easiest Way to Run Windows Programs on MacThe Easiest Way to Run Windows Programs on MacRunning Windows software on your Mac isn't as tough as you'd think. Here are the most popular ways to run Windows programs on macOS, including the best method for most people.Read More. We tested WineBottler and it worked very well. You can download a WineBottler version of Mp3tag, which is a ready-made APP file you can add directly to the Applications folder on your Mac and run.

Use the same steps listed above to rename music files using Mp3tag on your Mac.

Rescue Music and Breathe New Life Into an Old iPod

If your old iPod will still charge enough to use it for a short while, you can easily transfer music from that iPod to your computer. You can also bring your old iPod Classic back to lifeBreathe New Life Into Your Classic Old iPod With These Top TipsBreathe New Life Into Your Classic Old iPod With These Top TipsWe've all done it. You buy a shiny new piece of kit at an exorbitant price, and two years later it's in the back of a drawer collecting dust — alongside your old iPod.Read More. Old iPods can still be useful. For example, you can use an old iPod to expand your selection of music available in your car, or as a dedicated ebook player.

If you decide to sell your old iPod, here are some online tools for determining how much your old iPod is worth. If you decide you don’t like using iTunes, there are other ways to sync music to your iPhone5 Ways to Sync Music to Your iPhone Without iTunes5 Ways to Sync Music to Your iPhone Without iTunesDon't wrestle with iTunes to get music onto your iPhone, use one of these alternative methods and workarounds instead.Read More.

Do you have any old iPods lying around? Have you discovered music on them you didn’t know you had? Were you able to bring any of your old iPods back to life? Share your ideas and experiences with us in the comments below!

1. I want to do something similar but the other way around! Have Apple Music on my PC and want to put that music onto an old iPod nano 7g. Is there a similar workaround please?

   Thank you!

2. My old iPod doesn't show in FINDER on my Mac......when I see it in iTunes, it will Sync but nothing is added to the Library?!?

3. I have followed all the steps but my iPod does not show up in my Windows' File Explorer! help

4. Does anyone know how to get songs off an ipod that were from someone elses computer that are on a playlist? Some of the songs have been uploaded from disc and some were purchased by him in itunes.

5. If you want to transfer music files from one music stream to other then use http://www.musconv.com

6. Or you could save yourself a lot of work and use CopyTrans. https://www.copytrans.net/

   Not free, but worth every cent.

   • I fully agree. This is a 'long winded' work around.
     CopyTrans will copy the music and automatically add it to your Itunes library preserving information such as tags and playlists.

• Hardware >Computer

These days, the inside of a PC could be very similar to the inside of a Mac, yet both platforms still come with their own pros and cons...

Although the cases and, in particular the operating systems, of a PC and Mac still have a somewhat different look and feel, after so many years of fundamental internal differences it still feels slightly bizarre that nowadays you could find almost exactly the same set of hardware components inside. Nevertheless, for the musician there are still a few fundamental differences between the two platforms to bear in mind, which can prove both a blessing and a curse.

The PC musician still benefits from the intense competition between many PC and component builders that drives hardware prices down, compared with Macs of an almost identical specification. However, the resulting huge number of PC-component variables can also be a curse, because it's almost impossible to guarantee compatibility with audio hardware/software, unless you buy from a specialist music retailer who checks this out for you. Finding a PC laptop that provides good low-latency audio performance is a particularly tough challenge nowadays, as you can't swap out components that cause audio interruptions, as you can with a desktop machine.

Conversely, the Mac musician benefits from Apple enforcing a largely fixed specification and set of components for each of its computer models, because audio interface manufacturers then find it far easier to make sure that their products are totally compatible. Indeed, a few interface manufacturers, including Apogee, have totally abandoned PC support — partially, I suspect, for this very reason.

The Format Wars

Unfortunately, Apple also have a habit of moving the goalposts with the fixed specification of their new Mac models, and — for instance — their recent abandoning of Firewire ports hasn't endeared them to the host of musicians who already have a serious investment in Firewire audio interfaces, and who subsequently have to find another (and non-standard) way to plug them in when they upgrade their computers.

On the plus side, Apple's replacement for the Firewire ports is the new (and potentially wonderful) Thunderbolt technology, which has been enthusiastically welcomed by many computer users because it can transfer a huge amount of audio, video and data in both directions, at high speed, to a chain of external devices. Apogee, MOTU and Universal Audio have all expressed great interest in developing new audio products for it but, sadly, Thunderbolt has yet to arrive on PC, because Apple helped finance its final development and, hence, got first dibs on it.

USB Who?

But what about USB 3, offering 10 times the transfer speed of its USB 2 predecessor? Well here we have the opposite situation: many new PCs now sport USB 3 ports, but Apple have largely ignored it — at least until now — with rumours that they are exploring its integration into future Macs.

Coming soon to a PC near you? The AVnu alliance already includes plenty of heavyweight pro audio companies who are promoting a new format of audio-visual streaming using the once humble Ethernet port.I feel sorry for the poor audio interface manufacturers, whose customers are openly clamouring for new devices in the new USB 3 and Thunderbolt formats, neither of which are currently cross platform. Some manufacturers do seem to be quietly abandoning Firewire as it disappears from the Mac and suffers from increasing compatibility and driver efficiency problems on the PC platform, and moving over to USB.

However, a few manufacturers have already abandoned these format wars in favour of more traditional I/O ports that are more likely to remain on both Mac and PCs for the foreseeable future. Focusrite, for instance, are now championing the humble Ethernet port with their new Rednet interface range, which uses the Dante digital audio networking technology to offer up to 256 simultaneous channels of high-resolution audio (128 in and out channels at up to 96kHz, reducing to 64 in and out at 192kHz), with a claimed round-trip latency of less than 3ms.

Easier To Use For Music Mac Or Pc 2018

Meanwhile, Avid and a host of other professional audio companies, including Presonus, the TC Group and Yamaha, are promoting a competing Ethernet networking standard named Audio Video Bridging (AVB), using the same Ethernet port and with a claimed latency of significantly less than a millisecond. Find out more from the AVnu Alliance (www.avnu.org).

So where does this leave the PC musician about to choose a new interface? Well, it's always wise to wait until the dust has settled when new formats emerge, to make sure that products have been put through their paces and teething problems eradicated. At this point, it's almost impossible to say which, if any, audio interface format will be the clear winner.

PC Snippets

Windows 8 gets the boot: It looks as though we can expect significantly faster boot-up times from Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 operating system, even compared with the improvements found on Windows 7. Using a new hybrid shutdown and boot process that combines a normal cold boot with a modified 'resume from hibernate' mode, only the operating-system kernel processes get hibernated, but not applications or user data. The resulting hibernation data is therefore much smaller, and Microsoft claim boot times will be 30 to 70 percent faster than with Windows 7. Those with Windows 8 installed on Solid State Drives can apparently expect their PCs to boot up in around eight seconds — just the ticket when inspiration strikes!

First Windows 8 Tablet: Meanwhile, the huge mobile-phone manufacturers Samsung Electronics have collaborated with Microsoft on a new tablet computer running Windows 8, which was unveiled at the Microsoft BUILD developers' conference in California in September 2011. Prior to this, Samsung relied heavily on Google's Android operating system, so let's hope that this heralds wide acceptance of Windows 8 for future tablets: we need some stiffer mainstream competition for the ubiquitous iPad, and plenty of new music PC-based apps!