PodUtil - one of the easiest ways to back up your iPod songs
By Jamie Dresser

Here at OWC we've been getting a lot of requests for a Quick Tip relating to iPods, and the number 1 request has been how to get songs off of your iPod and onto a 2nd computer. Apple has restricted this ability for a number of reasons, but those of us with multiple computers sometimes want to take the music off of the iPod and put it on our 2nd system.

I've tried a number of different shareware and freeware solutions for accomplishing this task, and PodUtil is definitely one of the easiest methods to do this. First and foremost, it's able to work with every format iTunes and the iPod support. A number of programs only work with MP3 files.

Some of the features PodUtil offers:

Pod Scanning

• Fast and automatic iPod scanning
• Songs presented in easy-to-use hierarchical format
• Detailed information about each song
• Supports all formats iPod does (MP3, AAC, WAV, AIFF, Audible, etc)
• Song previews
• Works with all iPods

File Copying

• Organises copied music on your hard drive by artist, album, both or neither
• Advanced mode allows complex organization and file renaming

PodUtil is donationware, if you own an iPod I encourage you to check it out - it's a very well done program!

Here's some screenshots from the program hooked up to my lowly 1st generation 5GB iPod (purchased the day they came out!) :>)

Here you can see the main window of PodUtil, showing my iPod and the first part of the MP3 song list.

And in this picture you can see how the dropdown menu works - just click on a song and you can even preview / play it.

And of course you can get more info on any track from your iPod.

And last but not least, the copy screen. Simply select a backup location, and click the copy button - it's that simple, it copies the contents to the location you choose!