Using PodUtil to rip your mp3s off an IPod.
Recently a mate of mine wanted a backup of his IPod as he was going overseas and it was likely to see some rough treatment. Easy I thought, plug the IPod in and copy the files off. WRONG! Apple wont let you do this and the music does not come up in “My Computer”. I guess this is some kind of lame attempt at copyright protection.
A brief search round Google turned up a utility called PodUtil (www.kennettnet.co.uk/software/podutil.php). A handy tool that allows you to copy your music off an IPod onto any kind of drive.
After fiddling round for a while I managed to get the copy started. After 50 tracks it brings up an annoying message box telling you to register to get rid of this annoyance, forcing you to click “OK” for it to continue copying. Great I thought to myself…. 7000 tracks divided by 50 is 140 mouse clicks which meant I was going to have to be by my PC clicking “OK” for several hours.
Never one to respond to registration requests from software developers I immediately began looking for cracks, no luck. I then had a cunning plan. I left the PodUtil window focused and placed a small rock (yes a stone) on my enter button. Soon the keyboarad buffer filled up and started making an unpleasant beeping noise every second or two. Simple, turn the speakers off and wait an hour or two.
Presto! All music is now copied off his IPod and it didn’t cost me a bean.
Related posts:
No tags for this post.
Lol. I was reading this John anticipating a sophisticated registry hack to surface. A small stone on the keyboard. Quality. Ingenious in fact. Keep up the good work.
Yeah it worked a treat, I am sure that this method could be used for other annoying prompts also. I want to see what happens when you leave a rock on the enter key during a Windows XP install… could be an undocumented unattended install method.. watch this space ;)..
*applauds*