clipped from: www.wired.com The iPod's greatest charm is its ease of use. Dumping your entire music collection onto one of the devices is close to automatic -- a simple one-click process.
But what about getting music off an iPod? That's not so simple. In fact, using only the tools provided by Apple, it really isn't possible. Apple has locked out the option to transfer files from the iPod to computer in the iTunes player, a move that the company made to keep the record labels and the RIAA happy.
They're a hard bunch to please, though -- if Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris is to be believed, you and I are criminals foaming at the mouth in a fit of illegal MP3 trading lust.
There are a number of legitimate reasons you might need to transfer songs from your iPod to your hard drive. For instance, suppose your hard drive crashes, taking all of your MP3s with it? Back up my music you say? But isn't that what my iPod is for? Why should I back up my music twice? What if the capacity of your iPod is larger than your computer's hard drive and, as you load music onto your iPod, you delete it off your hard drive to conserve space?