When you connect iPhone or iPod touch to your computer, items are automatically synced according to your preferences set in iTunes. You can, for example, enter phone numbers and addresses of friends and family members on your computer, connect iPhone or iPod touch to sync, then unplug iPhone or iPod touch and tap a friend’s name on the touchscreen to call.

You can sync

* Contacts—names, phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, and so on
* Calendars—appointments and events
* Web bookmarks
* Music and audiobooks
* Photos
* Podcasts
* Movies and TV shows
* Applications

You only have to set which items are synced in iTunes on your computer once. After that, just connect iPhone or iPod touch to start a sync.

Contacts, calendars, and bookmarks are synced from (or to) your computer, so if you add, change, or delete them on iPhone or iPod touch, they are changed on your computer, and vice versa. You can also sync contacts with your Yahoo! or Google Address Book.

Email account settings (on iPhone only), music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and photos are synced one-way, from your computer to iPhone (though you can import photos taken with iPhone to your computer).

If you like, you can set iPhone or iPod touch to sync with only a portion of what’s on your computer. For example, you might want to sync only a group of contacts from your address book, or you may want to sync only songs from certain playlists so you don’t fill up iPhone or iPod touch with all your music.

Setting Up Syncing

You use iTunes on your computer to set up which items are synced. Make sure you have the most recent version of iTunes ( On a PC, open iTunes and choose Help > Check for Updates. On a Mac, open iTunes and choose iTunes > Check for Updates.
Step 1: Connect iPhone or iPod touch

1. Connect iPhone or iPod touch to your computer using the included cable. You can connect the cable from your computer directly to iPhone or iPod touch, or connect the cable from your computer to the Apple Universal Dock (available separately) and put iPhone or iPod touch in the dock. By default, iTunes opens automatically.
2. Select iPhone or iPod touch in iTunes under Devices on the left hand side and click the Info tab.

Step 2: Set Up Which Items Are Synced

Click the respective tabs in iTunes to specify which media and information you want synced from your computer to iPhone or iPod touch.

Step 3: Sync iPhone or iPod touch

Click Apply in the lower-right corner of the screen. Your computer syncs with iPhone or iPod touch according to your settings.

The first time you sync iPhone or iPod touch, you are asked if you want to merge data, replace data on the service, or replace the data on your computer. After that, anytime you connect iPhone or iPod touch to your computer, iTunes opens and syncs with iPhone or iPod touch according to your settings.

You can adjust sync settings anytime iPhone or iPod touch is connected to your computer. You can only connect and sync with one iPhone or iPod touch at the same time. If you need to sync more than one iPhone or iPod touch, disconnect one before connecting the other.

Note: Syncing won’t delete any contact in Yahoo! Address Book that contains a Messenger ID, even if you’ve deleted the contact from your address book on iPhone or your computer. To delete a contact containing a Messenger ID, log in to your Yahoo! account online and delete the contact using Yahoo! Address Book.

Products Affected
iPod, iPod mini, iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iTunes 7 for Windows, iTunes 7 for Mac

Using iPod as a drive,

1. Connect iPod to your computer.
2. Open iTunes if it doesn’t automatically open.
3. Select the iPod icon in the Source pane.
4. Click the Summary tab.
5. For most iPod models (except iPod shuffle):
Select “Enable disk use” or “Manually manage songs and playlists”. Either one will allow you to use iPod as a drive. If you select “Manually manage songs and playlists”, iTunes won’t automatically update iPod with the iTunes library. If you want iTunes to automatically update your iPod, select “Enable disk use” instead.

iPod storage

Click the “Enable disk use” checkbox and set the Storage Allocation slider to indicate the amount you want to be used by audio files and the amount you want to be used for data files.

Enable Disk use iPod at iTunes

6. The iPod disk icon appears on the desktop and in Finder windows, and in My Computer/Computer in Windows. Double-click the icon and drag files to or from iPod’s window to copy them.
7. Make sure to eject iPod before disconnecting it from your computer. Tip: The iPod display will say “Do Not Disconnect” when disk use is enabled (iPod shuffle’s status light will continue to blink orange until after it is ejected). These are reminders for you to eject iPod first.

Copying songs from your iPod to your computer

The iTunes library on your computer holds all the media (music, videos, podcasts, etc.) you’ve encoded from your CD collection or purchased from the iTunes Store. With default settings, iTunes automatically copies the media in your library to your iPod. When you use your iPod as a hard disk, you can’t see the media iTunes copies to your iPod in the Finder or My Computer. This is normal. Using the Finder or My Computer, you can’t copy these media files from your iPod back to iTunes or to any other computer. The synchronization between your iPod and your computer is one way: from iTunes to iPod. The exception is the transfer Purchases feature, which allows you to restore purchased iTunes content to your computer from your iPod.

If you’ve erased the iTunes library on your computer, there’s no way to use the Finder or My Computer/Computer to copy the media from your iPod to reconstitute the library on your computer. One solution is to encode the songs from your CD collection again, then sync your new library with iPod. If you purchased content from the iTunes Store and didn’t back them up, there’s no way to download them again. You’ll have to buy new copies of the content. This is why backing up your media files in iTunes is important.

Troubleshooting

If you plan to connect iPod to another computer, make sure not to sync it with the iTunes library on the other computer. This will only happen if you selected the Enable Disk Use option instead of Manually Manage Music and Videos.

Ipod synchronisation with another pc

Note: If you take your iPod shuffle (or an iPod you selected Enable Disk Use for) to another computer, you will need to eject the iPod from My Computer/Computer or a Finder window since it will not appear in iTunes.

Right-click (or Control-click on Mac) on the iPod and choose Eject from the shortcut menu.

If you use your iPod as a disk with a Windows PC, keep in mind that the FAT32 file system can only accommodate files that are smaller than 4 gigabytes. No matter how much free space there is on your iPod, you can’t copy files that are larger than that.

A “podcast” is simply an audio or video program that has been recorded, uploaded to an internet site, and made available for download, usually free, by interested subscribers. The term “podcast” specifically refers to “iPod broadcast” but is used generically to describe any kind of internet broadcast. Apple’s iTunes software offers a convenient, organized directory of most podcasts and automatically synchronizes them onto an iPod.

Start By Downloading iTunes
Apple makes it easy to synchronize music, TV shows and podcasts with an iPod via the iTunes software. Conveniently, iTunes can be used with or without an iPod and all content can be played on the computer, which is good for large size video podcasts.

Podcasts are just one many types of content, and under the “LIBRARY” heading, the following content is grouped together:

- Music, purchased via iTunes, or copied (”ripped”) from a CD;
- TV shows and movies purchased via iTunes;
- Images; and
- Live radio streamed from stations around the world.

Use the Podcast Directory to Browse and Subscribe to Available Shows.
iTunes surprisingly makes the directory a challenge to find. Either click iTunes Store under the STORE heading and hunt for the Pocast box, or on the bottom-right part of the screen, click “Podcast Directory.” An amazing little world opens. The store is organized in a helpful fashion to show “New content”, “Staff favourites,” etc.

Most podcasts are audio, but a growing number of video shows are available for large capacity, video iPods. These shows take longer to download because of their size, but iTunes can be configured to limit the number of shows placed on the iPod. Video podcasts have a small television screen icon next to them and are grouped together in the directory.

iTunes is configured for the user’s country and language, so local content will appear, e.g. BBC shows in the UK, CBC shows in Canada, etc. To change this simply change the default language and location in the iPod setting itself and iTunes will redirect to the local site.

Navigating the podcast directory is also unusually tricky for an Apple product. Toward the top left, under the Volume Control slider bar there is a small bar that displays the current location in the directory, similar to the way that a computer’s contents are shown. It begins at “Podcasts” and expands as shows are browsed.

To download a video to your iPod using iTunes version 7.0, please follow these steps:

1. Search on Google Video and select the video you’d like to download. Please note, videos from YouTube are not available for download at this time.
2. Click on the “Download video-iPod/PSP” link to the right of the video. If this option doesn’t appear, the video in question isn’t available for download.
3. Save the video to a location on your computer.
4. Connect your iPod to your computer and open the Apple iTunes application.
5. In iTunes, select “File” > “Add File to Library.” Browse for the video you downloaded, then click “Open.”
6. Select the “Movies” tab.
7. Check the “Sync movies” box.
8. Click “Apply.”

To download a video to your iPod using iTunes version 6.0 or earlier, please follow these steps:

1. Search on Google Video and select the video you’d like to download.
2. Click on the “Download video-iPod/PSP” link to the right of the video. If this option doesn’t appear, the video in question isn’t available for download.
3. Save the video to a location on your computer.
4. Connect your iPod to your computer and open the Apple iTunes application.
5. In iTunes, select “File” > “Add File to Library.” Browse for the video you downloaded, then click “Open.”
6. In iTunes, select “Edit” > “Preferences” > “iPod” > “Videos” > “Automatically update all videos.” Click “OK” when you’re done.

Once you’ve followed these steps, iTunes will automatically copy the video to your iPod. To play the video on your iPod, select “Videos” > “Movies.”

First, it is important to understand the difference between “update” and “restore.”

“Update” simply updates the software that controls iPod and does not affect the songs and files stored on iPod.

“Restore” erases the iPod and restores it to its original factory condition. Because restoring iPod erases all of the songs, videos, photos, and files on iPod, make sure to back up your files first.

Products Affected

iPod, iPod mini, iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iTunes 7 for Windows, iTunes 7 for Mac, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000

Update your iPod

How to update iPod for Windows using Windows Vista, Windows XP or Windows 2000

1. Download and install the latest version of iTunes. When you have the latest version, use the iTunes menus to check for updates. On Windows choose Help > Check for Updates.

2. Connect your iPod to your computer using the USB or FireWire cable that came with your iPod and open iTunes if it is not already open.

3. In order to be updated on a PC, your iPod must be formatted for a PC. If it is not, you will receive a message stating that your iPod needs to be reformatted.

4. If iTunes detects that a newer version of iPod software is available for your model, you will be prompted to download and install the new version. If the newest software has already been downloaded you may be prompted to install it.

5. Depending on the model iPod you have and whether you are using a USB or FireWire connection to connect your iPod, you may be asked to leave your iPod attached to the computer for the update to complete or you may be asked to connect the iPod to the iPod Power Adapter that came with your iPod (Note: not all iPod models ship with a power adapter). Be sure to follow the onscreen instructions to complete the update.

6. During the update process, you will notice an Apple logo and progress bar appear on the iPod display (Note: this may be difficult to see since the iPod’s backlight will be turned off). Once this is completed, you can resume normal use of your iPod.

How to update iPod for Macintosh

1. Download and install the latest version of iTunes. When you have the latest version, use the iTunes menus to check for updates. On the Mac choose iTunes > Check for Updates.

2. Connect your iPod to your Mac using the USB or FireWire cable that came with your iPod and open iTunes if it is not already open.

3. In order to be updated on a Mac, your iPod must be formatted for a Mac. If it is not, you will not be able to update your iPod, only restore.

4. If iTunes detects that a newer version of iPod software is available for your model, you will be prompted to download and install the new version. If the newest software has already been downloaded you may be prompted to install it.

5. Depending on the model iPod you have and whether you are using a USB or FireWire port to connect your iPod, you may be asked to leave you iPod attached to the computer for the update to complete or you may be asked to connect the iPod to the iPod Power Adapter that came with your iPod. Be sure to follow the onscreen instructions to complete the update (Note: not all iPod models come with an iPod Power Adapter).

6. During the update process, you will notice an Apple logo and progress bar appear on the iPod display (Note: this may be difficult to see since the iPod’s backlight will be turned off). Once this is completed, you can resume normal use of your iPod.

Reset your iPod

1. Make sure the iPod has frozen. Normally if an iPod isn’t starting up, it’s just out of power. Plug it in to charge. If it freezes while you use it, or when you remove it or plug it in to a computer, then you have a freeze.

2. Toggle the Hold switch. On most iPods you can just toggle the Hold switch backwards and forwards three times in rapid succession. This snaps your iPod out of a minor freeze.

3. Plug it in. Plugging it into a computer or A/C power outlet can snap an iPod out of a freeze.

4. Reset the iPod. You can reset your iPod by holding down the Center button and the Select button (at the bottom of the wheel). Hold it for about 10 seconds. iPod should power down, and then start back up again. Restarting takes a few moments, so be patient. If it doesn’t work the first time, try it again. Laying it down flat map help it to reset. Also make sure that you are not touching any part of the Click-Wheel except the button you’re pressing. This does not erase the contents of your iPod, it only reboots it.

5. Try a different USB hub. If your computer is not recognizing that you’ve plugged an iPod into it, just try a different USB port, or a different cable.

6. Make sure to try all the above steps. If nothing works, put it somewhere you will remember, plug in some speakers and leave it. Within a couple of hours it will run out of power. When it does, do not try to turn it back on. Plug it into a power source. This will restart the iPod completely, and you will have it back.

7. Restore the iPod. If even that last step doesn’t work, plug it in to a computer and Restore it to factory settings. This will wipe your iPods contents, and replace them with a blank iPod. If you have no back-ups, then this is not a preferable situation.

8. If you wish to restore your iPod, however it will not connect to the computer.

9. Hold down menu and the center key until the Apple logo comes up on screen.

10. Immediately when the Apple logo comes up on the screen, hold down the play key and the center key together. This puts your iPod in to DISK MODE.

11. You should now be able to connect your iPod to the computer. Open iTunes, select the iPod in the left hand menu then select the restore function.

12. Also, for nano video, press and hold the middle button and the menu button together, it will go black, then keep holding it down, until you see a gray apple logo, then wait for it to go back to the menu page.

The iPod is the ultimate symbol of the digital age and only those entirely out of the loop haven’t heard about it by now. The iPod is today’s hottest gadget. What self-respecting iPod person would you be if you didn’t spruce up your iPod with iPod accessories? The’re many companies with nice stuff, the most exciting hardware and software iPod accessories to complement and personalize your iPod.

The basics of iPod accessories: iPod skins. The first, second and third generation iPods often had to content themselves with the iPod accessories mostly consisting of cases in leather, rubber, aluminum or fabric to protect the iPod from scratches, dust and moisture. Depending on your requirements, there are covers that allow you to carry your iPod in all your activities. From water-resistant cases to sweat-proof sleeves, these iPod accessories help the iPod be more portable.

The skins can also serve a stylish function. You can even satisfy the abstract side of you with graphic designs printed on your iPod skin on different websites. Just make certain that the iPod accessories you buy come with a guarantee, in case of an inferior product.

The next essential iPod accessories you will need are headphones or earphones. Although an iPod comes equipped with earphones, there are but a few users who prefer a surround sound experience. Other iPod headphone accessories include the retractable headphones, which is great to use while outside. And then there are the headphones with attached speakers, the infrared wireless earphones and water-resistant earphones for those times when you can’t even take a bath without listening to your iPod. different persons, different earphones.

Also the external speakers and carrying case iPod accessories are quite popular. The iBoom iPod player has a dock for your iPod player with speakers attached to the sides. It is perfect for picnics and beach outings where music is a must to liven up the party. Another brand, called the iBag, is an accessory with FM stereo that adds more fun because you have the option to surf through local radio stations for more fun beats.

More iPod accessories are available to the iPod junkie online. Other iPod accessories that is a must have for any iPod warrior include the Belkin Voice Recorder that allows you to record reminders, meeting and notes into your iPod. There’s also the hands-free accessory called the iPod remote and earphones. With it, you don’t have to worry about struggling with the iPod controls as you drive or jog. A stationary variation of this remote is also available. Called the NaviPod IR Remote, it gives you the power to control your iPod’s audio from across a room. Another essential iPod accessory is the iPod Dock that recharges iPod at work or at home.

You can get your iPod into the car, for the real car lovers. There’s an iPod accessories to accommodate your stereos. The first of these is the Belkin TuneDok Car Holder that holds your iPod in place. Another one of these nifty iPod accessories is the Sony Car Cassette Adapter that connects your iPod to the car’s cassette player. And, last but not least, is another one of those wonderful iPod accessories, the Griffin iTrip FM Transmitter. You can play your iPod through the FM radio of your car. All it requires to work is the iPod dock connector. It draws a small amount of power from your iPod and doesn’t use any batteries.

In this guide wel well explain how to copy music from your iPod back to your computer! While using your iPod you will see that you can’t copy your music directly to your ipod like an hard disk. Even when you got music on your iPod, you can‚Äôt easily copy this music back to your computer. We often get questions like: ‚ÄúHow do I copy music from my iPod back to my computer?‚Äù

Although Apple’s iTunes program is very good at maintenance a computer-based library synchronized to an iPod automatically, or for manually transferring tracks from your computer’s iTunes library onto your iPod, it provides extremely limited functionality for transferring information in the opposite direction—from your iPod back to your computer.

One of the likely reasons for Apple to have taken such a restrictive approach to this is to combat piracy and thereby maintain good relations with the music labels that are currently selling their content via Apple’s iTunes Store.

You can download the newest iTunes from: www.apple.com/itunes/download

Unfortunately, with the immunity of tracks purchased from the iTunes Store, which we’ll discuss further later in this article, iTunes provides no method for transferring your music and other media content from your iPod back to your computer. It has therefore fallen to third-party developers to pick up where iTunes left off in this regard, and there are today a number of very robust and full-featured utilities that will do everything from basic copying of media content back to your hard drive all the way through to rebuilding your entire iTunes library using the information on your iPod, complete with playlists, ratings, and play count information.

Sponsors of this post: Webmaster Forum & LG Themes

In this tutorial, we will begin with a background on how music is stored on the iPod in the first place, and then look at the options available for copying music and other media files from the iPod back to your computer, both on an individual basis and en masse for a complete disaster-recovery scenario.

It should be noted that the information in this article applies to all past and current models of iPod. However, there is no guarantee that future generations of iPod will continue to support these methods. Further, this information does not apply to content stored on the Apple TV, since despite its integration with iTunes, a different synchronization technology is used for this device and there are presently no methods to recover content from the Apple TV without hacking into or physically disassembling the unit.

Under the Hood—How Content is stored on the iPod

Before we get into the details of how to copy media content from the iPod back to your computer, it’s important to begin with a discussion of how that content is actually stored on the iPod. An understanding of how the iPod stores its content will make it more clear as to what the various recovery or copying options actually do, and help decide on what the best option is for a particular situation.

Unlike many other portable media players, the iPod stores its content using a database methodology. iTunes copies the content itself to a hidden directory structure on the iPod and then updates a database stored on the iPod. It is this database that is used both by iTunes and the iPod interface itself to index and catalog the content that is stored on the iPod.

For the most part, this database information is gleaned from the internal header tags within the media files themselves, in much the same way that iTunes indexes and catalogs your media library. Information such as the track name, artist, album, genre, and a myriad of other information that you can find for each track in iTunes is actually stored in each file, and the name of the file has no bearing on what iTunes or the iPod sees or how it catalogs any given media file. In fact, the only time the file name is ever used by iTunes is if the tags themselves are not present (or if the file format does not support tags, such as with WAV files).

The iPod database also contains additional information about your music that is not normally stored within the tracks themselves. This includes your playlists and the listing of their content, as well as track metadata such as rating, play count, last played time, skip count, last skipped time, and more.

This particular means of storing information on the iPod has both advantages and disadvantages. The major advantage to this approach is that music is catalogued in such a way that it is easily and rapidly accessible from the various menus on the iPod itself, without having to search through individual track information or build a separate cache. The difficulty is that the music must be tagged properly in order for this to work, and of course this obscures the actual layout of the music files themselves, making it more difficult to find and copy specific tracks from the iPod back to the computer.

Fortunately, a number of third-party utilities have been developed that can read these iPod databases directly, and use them to not only locate detailed tracks to recover, but in some cases even recover playlists and other additional metadata such as rating and play count.

On the iPod itself, all of the internal iPod information is located in a hidden folder called iPod_Control. Most of the information in this folder pertains to internal iPod operations, such as device configuration and settings and the library database described above. However, beneath this iPod_Control folder is a Music folder that contains all of the individual audio and video files that are stored on that particular iPod. The only information not stored here is photos, which we will discuss separately later in this article.

The files in the Music folder won’t necessarily be organized in any meaningful way for a human, since they are expected to be accessed via the iPod’s library database, which contains all of the information and other metadata for each track cross-referenced with the location of these individual files.

Times changing

Traditionally, as far as your operating system is concerned, the iPod has simply appeared to your computer as a removable storage device—basically an external hard drive. In fact, iTunes itself basically just accesses traditional iPod models in much the same way—media files are copied to the device as an external hard drive, and iTunes simply accesses the iPod’s database directly and updates the information contained in it using normal file access methods.

Essentially, the traditional iPod models are “dumb” devices when it comes to synchronization with iTunes. The device itself doesn’t “participate” in the synchronization process… iTunes itself does all the work, and the iPod just sits there connected as an external hard drive. When the sync is finished and the iPod is ejected, it returns to normal use, and since iTunes has updated the iPod’s database, any new tracks that have been added will appear in the appropriate places.

This method allowed early iPods to work quite effectively without requiring complicated technology, but it had the obvious disadvantage that since the iPod wasn’t involved in the synchronization process, any failure on the part of iTunes to properly update the iPod’s database would lead to odd and inconsistent behaviour. This was most commonly observed when disconnecting the iPod prior to an iTunes sync being completed—iTunes wouldn’t be able to update the database, and since the iPod itself didn’t know what was going on, it would be left with an inconsistent or incomplete database of track information.

The iPod classic and iPod nano (video) released in September 2007 retained this same approach to synchronization with iTunes, but added an extra “checksum” in the iPod database to help ensure that it would be left in a more consistent state in the event of a problem occurring during synchronization with iTunes. Unfortunately, these changes broke compatibility with a number of third-party iPod management applications, since they needed to update the checksum when updating content on the iPod. There were some rumours at that time was that Apple had added “encryption” to the iPod database to deliberately break third-party applications. However, there is no truth to these rumours, and in fact applications that simply read the iPod database (such as many of those we will discuss further on in this tutorial) have been mostly unaffected by these changes. From an iPod recovery point of view, there are no significant differences between the 2007 traditional iPod models (iPod classic and iPod nano (video) ) and previous generations.

On the other hand, the iPod touch and iPhone introduced a completely new synchronization protocol for communicating with iTunes. Since these devices are running an OS X based operating system much like a computer, they no longer have to be passive targets for iTunes, but can participate in the synchronization process. With the iPod touch and iPhone, iTunes essentially hands the information off to the device for processing, and the device updates its own database. This ensures proper database integrity in the event that a problem occurs during synchronization, since the operating system on the iPod touch or iPhone can ensure that the database has been properly updated, even if the device is pulled from the cradle in the middle of a sync. This in fact was an important feature for the iPhone—the ability to pull the device to answer a call if it rings while syncing with iTunes.

The result of these changes on the iPod touch and the iPhone are that most of the traditional methods for recovering content will not work. Fortunately, many software developers have stepped in to fill this void as well, and in the past few months several existing applications have been updated and a few new ones released specifically to handle recovering content from iPod touch and iPhone.

Disaster Recovery

So you have a nice big 160GB iPod with your entire media library loaded onto it, synchronizing automatically with your iTunes library, when suddenly the unthinkable happens… Your computer’s hard drive decides that it’s been spinning for long enough, and gives up on you.

You now suddenly find yourself in the position where your only copy of your music library is on your iPod itself, and you need to get those tracks back off the iPod onto your computer, so you can rebuild your iTunes library.

In a situation where you’ve been using automatic synchronization with your iTunes library, and you suddenly find you no longer have an iTunes library to sync with, there are a couple of additional considerations that are important to keep in mind.

Automatic iPod synchronization from iTunes is, for the most part, a one-way experience. Some information does come back in the other direction, such as ratings and play counts, but the bottom line is that iTunes considers the library on your computer to be “authoritative”—meaning that the iPod mirrors the iTunes library, rather than the other way around.

The unfortunate downside to this is that if you have an empty iTunes library on your computer, an iPod that is automatically syncing to it will happily mirror the content of your empty library. In other words, everything on the iPod will be deleted and replaced with, well… nothing.

The good news, however, is that this is only really a problem if you’re actually using the same library as you were syncing with before. iTunes is intelligent enough to notice when an iPod that you connect was previously associated to a different iTunes library database, and prompt you with a warning as to what you want to do next:

If you are trying to recover your music from your iPod, you obviously do not want to select Erase and Sync. Simply click Cancel instead, and your iPod will remain connected to your computer, but the auto-sync process will not run.

So what about those situations where you are connecting your iPod to your existing iTunes library? For example if you accidentally deleted a few tracks from your main iTunes library that you want to recover from your iPod. In this case, the iTunes automatic sync will run without notification since it’s the same library database. Fortunately, iTunes offers a solution for this as well: Simply hold down the SHIFT+CTRL keys (on Windows) or CMD+OPT keys (on a Mac) while you are connecting your iPod to your computer. Keep holding these keys down until your actually see your iPod show up in the iTunes source list. This will prevent iTunes from running any kind of automatic sync when it detects the iPod, but the iPod will again remain connected and ready to work with.

Now you can manage your own music !