How to copy music from an iPod, iPhone to a PC

Anyone who owns an iPod, iPhone or iPad is likely aware it's pretty easy to copy music from your computer to your portable device.

It's getting music off your portable player that can be problematic.

New software called iDevice Manager can help. Not only is it free to download and use, but it's much simpler than similar programs and contains extra features, too.

Before we get into specifics on this free tool, you might be wondering why you can't easily copy music from your device to a computer. It's because iTunes - the software that performs the handshake between your USB-connected iGadget and the computer -- was designed for one-way transfer only. This Apple-imposed restriction is to help curb piracy, defined as the duplication and/or distribution of copyrighted content. Otherwise, people might share music freely by simply connecting the portable player to a friend's PC and giving away their collection.

But there are legitimate uses for copying music from an iPod to a different computer. What if your PC crashes and you can't access your music off the hard drive? Or what if you want to hear your purchased music on a secondary computer, such as a laptop you travel with, yet your tunes are stored on a home office PC?

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iDevice Manager isn't the first Windows tool that lets you take music and other files (such as videos) off your iPod, iPhone or iPad -- but it's free, easy to use and has other features you might find handy.

Formerly iPhone Explorer, iDevice Manager looks like Windows Explorer, where you see the

contents of your drives as yellow folders with files inside of them. Simply connect your portable player to your computer via its USB cable, close iTunes if it automatically opens and then launch iDevice Manager.

Your connected gadget should be immediately recognized. Click the Music tab at the top of the page and you'll see all your songs and audio podcasts listed alphabetically. You'll also see the length of the track, artist name and file size. You can also play music from within this software.

Now, highlight what song(s) you want to copy over to the PC and then right-mouse click, which brings up some options – such as what folder to copy the tunes to – and once you select the desired location all the highlighted tracks will be extracted in seconds. You can also copy over videos and photos stored on the iDevice by clicking the desired tab at the top of the screen.  That's it!

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The software offers a few unique features, such as the ability to create personal ringtones from MP3 songs. Select the start and stop times on the desired track – such as the chorus to Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" – and use that as a ringtone when someone calls your iPhone.

You can also click on the small "Messages" tab at the very top of the screen (beside "Multimedia") to access and copy email messages, SMS (text messages) and iMessages stored on your connected device.

Or you can copy files over to your iPod, iPhone or iPad like a USB stick.

Let me know what you think of this free tool. While not the most visually appealing software, I've found it works like a charm.

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