recovering itunes

[johnny11]

a friend has spent a fortune downloading loads of itunes on there laptop. The laptop screen has now died. He has asked me if i can recover the itunes for him. I`ve never bought anything from itunes so i don`t know where they get downloaded to. So my question is if i buy a usb 2.5"hd enclosure for the broken laptop, where would the itunes of been dowloaded to so i can transfer them onto his new laptop?

[bullett]

Don't think it works like that. The DRM won't let the tracks play on a different computer until it's authorised/activated.

Just copy the files across to the new machine they when you try to play them it should ask for your account details.

This is why I buy CD's!

[Calm Chris]

Google 'music rescue' and you should find a file that allows you to download the contents of an ipod back to a pc. Save as my music and then load on to a new itunes setup.

The file is 20Mb, happy to mail it out (if your mail can cope) but you will have to supply a external mail address. PM if required.

[T_Rifles]

The music files are normally stored in C:\Documents and Settings\xxxxnamexxxx\My Documents\My Music\iTunes. The music folder contains the source.

You ought to be able to copy them to that folder on a new pc. Log onto itunes as the original user and then synchronise or import a folder at a time into the library.

You may need to register the PC for that user to play them back.

[bazza_g]

Yup, you'll need to authorise the new computer - you can authorise up to 5 computers per itunes account

[Mac]

....and you can clear all of the computer authorisations once a year. My main m/c gets a few rebuilds a year and it's a pain when you forget to de-authorise.

[Mook]

Google 'music rescue' and you should find a file that allows you to download the contents of an ipod back to a pc. Save as my music and then load on to a new itunes setup.

The file is 20Mb, happy to mail it out (if your mail can cope) but you will have to supply a external mail address. PM if required.

iDump is one option and it's a great idea. The assumption, however, is that you've got all your music on your iPod, which I don't as I've now got an iPod Touch with 16GB, rather than the 100+ GB of music in iTunes

[johnny11]

i`ve got the enclosure, getting the old laptop off me mate later.

so let me get this right. copy the music that he downloaded from the old hard drive to the new laptop, register the new laptop with itunes, then all should be ok?

he has only got a fraction of his music on his ipod other wise would make life alot easier i suppose.

Edited November 12, 2008 by johnny11

[Mook]

In essence, yes. Set up the new laptop first, then install iTunes. Once you've installed iTunes, set up that user's account. You'll then be asked to validate that you want to authorise that computer to use that account.

Once that's done, copy all the music to C:\Documents and Settings\xxxxnamexxxx\My Documents\My Music\iTunes, then drag and drop all the folders inside the iTunes folder onto the iTunes app (make sure you're viewing the Library, rather than the iTunes store) and everything should be fine.

iTunes will then spend ages cataloguing stuff and finding the album images - leave it an hour or so to sort itself out.

There's an option in iTunes to back up your music (I can't remember how to do it though), which you might want to do to make it easier next time it happens!

HTH