Q: I have an iPod classic synced to a Mac which I no longer have access to. Is it possible to change the sync to a PC without formatting and losing all the tunes? Can I change the file formats so that I can then rip the tunes from the Mac synced iPod into an iTunes library under Windows? Thanks for your help.
– Barry
A: Traditional iPod models such as the iPod classic actually appear to your computer as external hard disks and therefore use operating system specific formats. The biggest challenge to getting data from your Mac-formatted iPod to a PC will be reading the Mac disk format, since Windows cannot natively do this.
The first thing you will need to do is get an application such as MediaFour’s MacDrive to enable your Windows PC to read your Mac-formatted iPod. Once you’ve installed this, your iPod should be accessible to your PC in the same way it was on your Mac and you can copy the content to your Windows PC using any of a number of software applications designed for this purpose, or by simply accessing the iPod through Windows Explorer and copying the media files off manually and reimporting them into iTunes. See Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer for more in-depth information on how to do this.