iPod HDD corrupted - ITMS purchased songs gone

[booksacool1]

Hey guys

Recently my music drive died. (no SMART warning or anything)
This means I've lost all my purchased songs. Yeah yeah, I know I should have backed up. But hindsight is 20/20. And no, its not possible to extract anything off the harddrive. Its about as lively as the bricks this house is built on.

Thinking I'd just be able to redownload my electronically purchased songs (like Steam or something), I checked my purchase history. There's evidence of my transactions, but no download links anywhere. Confused, I checked ITMS support. I found one cold, heart-breaking message.
"If your hard disk becomes damaged or you lose any of the content you've purchased, you'll have to buy any purchased items again to rebuild your library."

What the ****? Apple doesn't seriously expect me to repurchase the songs, do they? How stingy can you get...

So uh... what do I do? Can I beg apple to give me access to the songs I bought? Otherwise I'll either find a way to extract them off my iPod or just use P2P. But I'd rather avoid doing this for numerous reasons (one being that I actually BOUGHT the songs).

I guess I was naive for expecting apple to give me access to my purchases forever. But other electronic stores such as Steam let me download my purchases for as long as I want. I've downloaded multi-gigabyte games many times on the various computers I've owned that way.

What gives, Apple?

 

[weckart]

Contact Apple and explain your situation. You usually get one redownload opportunity unless Apple has changed its terms and conditions. Get yourself a reliable backup solution before redownloading.

 

[yetanotherdave]

It's probably easier to just get them off your iPod, I think the program is called sentui.

 

[AppleMatt]

It's probably easier to just get them off your iPod, I think the program is called sentui.

I agree. You'll lose play counts etc but importantly your songs will be back. I've used same program to help out a friend and it worked perfectly.

What about other files you've lost, is it worth sending the drive to a recovery company?

AppleMatt

 

[sandman42]

It's probably easier to just get them off your iPod, I think the program is called sentui.

"senuti". It's 'iTunes' backwards.

 

[Satori]

Ipod rip also does a good job of getting your songs off an ipod. It's shareware, but it will let you use it ten times before you need to purchase.

 

[aaquib]

"senuti". It's 'iTunes' backwards.

Woah, never noticed that.

To the OP, use Senuti or email Apple with your recent downloads. Depending on how many songs you have, they may let you redownload your songs.

 

[CPrider09]

Also if your purchased music is on your iPod, just use File -> Transfer Purchases from iPod. If you have your own music on there (not downloaded from iTunes Store) you're going to have to use one of the methods described above.