Verified answer

the ipod is NOT the master device the computer is you are not supposed to use the ipod to transfer music but copy over the contents of the itunes folder on your computer.

The ipod is designed to work with and be the slave to itunes on the computer to which its paired.

If you do not pair a ipod to a computer you cannot alter its settings.

If you pair your ipod to a new computer it overwrites what's on it.

Simply dragging music onto an ipod does NOT make that music playable it then acts as hard disk. To make the music playable you MUST use itunes to sync with it as only itunes can put the music files in the correct file names (not the same as on the computer) in hidden folders and create the hidden indexes for them to be playable.

I suggest copying the contents of the "iTunes Music" folder on your old computer onto the new one by USB hard disk, USB Flash memory or DVD-r

You cannot transfer music from an ipod to itunes as Itunes is the MASTER location of the music files. if you NEED to transfer music form your ipod to the computer as you have lost the original you need a 3rd party application (I use Yamipod for mac) but a whole range can be found on www.versiontracker.com and enter ipod transfer in the search box under your operating system.

once you have the utility installed run it and close itunes! connect the ipod (if itunes starts up and asks if you want to pair say NO and close itunes again). then with the utility transfer the songs form the ipod to your hard disk.

Then disconnect the ipod, START itunes... drop the files you have just transferred onto the itunes Library and once the files have been copied into the library you can delete the originals (NEVER MOVE or touch the itunes folder on your computer otherwise you will lose the music let itunes manage it for you).

Now reconnect the ipod and when it asks pair say YES and it will transfer the music to your computer.

When you pair the ipod to a computer it erases ALL the previous library and tracks and replaces it with what the current computer want it to.

if you want to erase the ipod you select RESTORE form the ipod's tab in itunes then it re formats and re installs the ipods firmware resetting everything to default values and removing the lock (except for the touch which asks for the code to allow this)

the ipod needing a master player to sync with is NOT unique to apple Creative, Zune, Sony al have one of one sort or another.

the Master files are on the computer in the itunes library and you really need to back these up directly. When you PAIR an iPod with a computer it erases all songs on it!!! and deletes pairing with original computer.

An iPod can be synced with only one iTunes account at a time. once you switched to a new iTunes account or a new computer. You have to authorize your iPod to it at first, then you can upload photos, music and video from iPod to computer. you can refer to this guide that helped me before for how to transfer files from iPod to computer

can you state your computer specs? If its a Apple Mac snow leopord within 2009-2010, it can back-sync files off the touch when you go to settings. if its anything else, such as linux, you probably cant. If you have the CDs, you can just put the songs back on itunes, purchaced music can be downloaded again from itunes if you use the same account you bought it on.

itune blocks this function since itune is the tool with one way to transfer files from itune to ipod. you must utilize other tools to achieve that. There're couple of tools for transferring the files between ipod and computer (for backup)depends on your demands, e.g transfer only songs/videos, transfer photos etc. You can have a look of below review site, hope it useful.

To download for free iTunes you can click here http://j.mp/1zK8HAe.

iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management application developed by Apple Inc. It is used to play, download, and organize digital audio and video on personal computers

Go onto the old computer and go to "Your iPod" tab. Select "Manage Music Manually". You should be good to go. You just drag and drop all of your new songs to your iPod instead of having the computer do it for you.

I use Cucusoft iPod/iPhone to computer Transfer,

it is a very handy tool for windows user to transfer music songs, playlists, video files and more from ipod to computer.You don't need to worry about losing anything.

Download at http://www.mp3dvdsoft.com/ipodtopctransfer

GOOD LUCK!

the best answer here is be "Joe R", thats what i do. also, if you use his method, you can click and drag songs from anyones computer straight to your iPod. thats what i do and i have over 400 songs from my friends

use ipodrobot to copy from ipod to itunes

http://www.ipodrobot.com/

you need to transfer the music first.. you will need to look for a program.