How to Decode Files on an iPod

By Si Kingston

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When copying the content of an iPod back to the computer, you will notice that these copied file are nonsensical. None of the files contain a single familiar artist, song or album title. The folders that hold the files have names like F01 and F02, and the actual files themselves appear to be a random configuration of digits. The file names will come back, however, by importing the songs into a program that can interpret the ID3 tags. If no ID3 tags are available, you will need to manually identify the file.

Automatically Recover File Names

Step 1

Open iTunes from the desktop icon or Start menu.

Step 2

Click on "Library" in the left pane. Click on the "File" menu and select "New Playlist." This will open a new playlist; you can name the playlist if you prefer.

Step 3

Drag the file(s) to be decoded from the save location, and drop it into the playlist window. The file's real name will now appear. If not, try right-clicking on the file in the save location and selecting another media player like Windows Media Player. See if the file name is now displayed. If not, you may need to manually recover the file name.

Manually Recover File Names

Step 1

Drag the file that needs to be decoded from the save location, and drop it into a playlist in iTunes.

Step 2

Select the file in the playlist and click the "Play" button. Now that the file is playing, you can identify what the file name should be.

Step 3

Right-click on a file that needs to be decoded in the iTunes playlist.

Step 4

Select "Get Info."

Step 5

Select the "Info" tab and enter in the artist name, song title, album name and any other information you deem pertinent. Select "OK."

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