Many portable media/audio devices are great for storing music and data, but after you put the information onto them, how do you go about getting it off again? This how-to will explain how one might go about doing this the best way.
Steps
- First and foremost, not all mp3 players are created equal. There are popular ones, like the iPod (in all its incarnations) and, more recently, the Zune, and there is a much more diverse category of mp3 players and portable audio devices made by other manufacturers besides Apple and Microsoft. Creative, RCA, Philips, Sony, and iRiver, just to name a few, produce some fairly good quality mp3 players and portable media devices.
- These different brands and the fact that they're not all the same are mentioned because in essence, before determining how to get the files onto, and similarly, off of the player, you should know what kind of player you have, and a few things about it. Does it have internal memory? Is it a hard-drive based player? Is there software packaged with the device? You should find answers to all of these questions before proceeding.
- Windows Media Player is a program for Windows only, so none of these steps will consider the idea of getting music off of an mp3 player and onto the hard disk of any other kind of system except windows-based PCs.
- If you have an iPod, you will probably already have iTunes installed on your computer, to work with the files on your iPod. Unfortunately, iTunes limits you severely on how you're able to work with getting the music onto and off of your iPod. With iTunes 7, you're able to back up your entire library to a CD or DVD. You could then use this CD or DVD to recopy the music back onto your hard drive and import it into Windows Media Player's library. An easier method might be to get Windows Media Player to recognize your iPod directly. However, this sort of compatibility is directly contradictory to the Apple and Microsoft's respective software designs. The iPod by design requires you to use iTunes and not Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player will probably never support the iPod.
- # If you have another brand of mp3 player, it's important to know whether or not it has internal flash memory, has a flash memory card in it, or is a hard-drive based player like the iPod. Many Creative mp3 players look, feel, and function like USB flash drives. You can plug them directly into a free USB port on your PC, wait for Windows to recognize the disk, and you should be able to find your music on your player through Windows Explorer. You can then copy it and import it into Windows Media Player. Some require a connection cable, usually from a mini-USB plug to the standard size. If you do not have this, it is most likey required in order to transfer music between the computer and the mp3 player.
- Finally, many hard-drive based mp3 players require special drivers that must be installed so that Windows knows how to work with them. Generally these are bundled with the player itself, and can be installed easily from, for example, a CD. If you have since lost or damaged the original driver disc, you may be able to get the installation program necessary to install the drivers from the manufacturer's website. The details of which vary per manufacturer. After installing the drivers, connect the mp3 player to your computer with the appropriate cable (it's almost always best to use the cable that came with the player, if one didn't come with it, use any brand you trust) and Windows should recognize the player and set it up for use.
- More often than not, Windows will recognize mp3 players as either removable disks, or possibly portable media devices. Windows will usually also bring up a menu of tasks when you connect your player, which list things such as "Synchronize with Windows Media Player" and "Take No Action". Cancel or close such a window if it appears. If your mp3 player appears as either a removable disk or an MTP Device/Portable Media (audio) player, Open "My Computer", then right-click on the icon that corresponds to the device and select "Explore". Sometimes Windows may allow you to "Open" the device, which may do the same thing. Once you do this, you are now browsing through the files on the device as you would files in any folder. Copy the ones you want into a place on your hard drive (for example, "My Music") and then, once finished, open Windows Media Player. You should have Windows Media Player 10 or 11 for this particular method. If you have an older version, upgrade. It's free, it's easy, there's more features. No reason not to. In Windows Media Player, select "Add to Library", and then you can choose single files or an entire folder. Pick the ones you want to import, and Windows Media Player will import them into your media library. If the music is stored in "My Music", Windows Media Player may import it automatically when the program starts.
- In the unlikely event that you have a Sony PSP, the steps are mostly the same, except, after connecting the cable from the PSP to the computer (and powering on the PSP) but before opening the device in Windows Explorer, you have to set the PSP to USB Connection mode. On the PSP, arrow left to Settings, arrow up to "USB Connection" and press X. Now the PSP is in USB Connection mode. Windows should mount the device as a removable disk, and you will be able to browse the folders stored on your memory stick.
Tips
- Most mp3 player manufacturers, like Apple, want portable media devices to be read-only. This could be an effort to prevent filesharing or piracy. For this reason, copying music from your mp3 player onto your hard drive is usually a task that is off-limits with most media-centric software.
- The Apple iPod or iTunes may convert the music that gets transferred onto the iPod into another format besides mp3. When importing this music into Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player may not have the correct codec to play the music properly. You may need to download the appopriate codec from either Microsoft but most likely a third party in order to use the music you have transferred. Alternatively, you can re-encode the music after transferring it off of your iPod before importing it into your Windows Media Player library.
Warnings
- Some media players, like the Zune, embed DRM (Digital Rights Management) information onto each and every piece of data that get transferred to them. For this reason, you may encounter issues when importing or attempting to play the music you have imported into Windows Media Player because you do not have the appropriate license(s). Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer options for dealing with this issue. The best way to ensure that DRM will not ruin your music-importing day is to have the licenses before you import. Getting around DRM is another how-to altogether.
- Windows may recognize your mp3 player when you connect it via USB (or another method) but will give an error message saying that the device was not set up properly. Sometimes reinstalling the drivers for the device will solve the problem, other times, you may have to update the drivers. In extreme cases, you may have to update the drivers for either your motherboard or your USB device inside your computer before certain devices will set up properly.
