iPod touch Moving All Music to iPod w/o Saving on Computer?

[DavidB52]

I have copied several CDs to my computer and then onto an iPod.
Then, to free up space on the computer, I delete those files.
However, iTunes later complains that the original files cannot be found.

I would like to de-clutter my home and move all the music from my CDs to the iPod, throw out the CDs, and then delete those files from my computer. I don't want all that space taken up on the hard drive.

How can I do this so that iTunes doesn't complain later that it can't find the original files?

 

[Matt Leaf]

Deleting the files is not a wise idea, since the iPod only mirrors what's stored on your computer.

The best thing to do would be to buy a portable hard drive. Rip all your CD's and store them on the portable hard drive. Then, import them into iTunes from the portable hard drive.

If your hard drive is disconnected however, the files wont play in iTunes. You must have the hard drive connected with this method.

This way, your entire music collection is backed-up and protected. If your iPod were to die, you'd lose your whole collection.

Alternatively, you could subscribe to Apple's 'iTunes Match' service. This would match all the songs you have in your library with the ones stored in Apple's iCloud.

Then, you can re-download those songs at anytime, effectively storing your collection with Apple. This service does incur a yearly fee however.

Read about it here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/itunes-match/

 

[gnasher729]

I have copied several CDs to my computer and then onto an iPod.
Then, to free up space on the computer, I delete those files.
However, iTunes later complains that the original files cannot be found.

I would like to de-clutter my home and move all the music from my CDs to the iPod, throw out the CDs, and then delete those files from my computer. I don't want all that space taken up on the hard drive.

How can I do this so that iTunes doesn't complain later that it can't find the original files?

A 32 GB USB memory stick will hold maybe 300 CDs at 256 KBit/sec AAC. So buy a memory stick (I found them for £17), put your iTunes library onto the memory stick. (iTunes, Preferences, Advanced, iTunes Media Folder location). Put the memory stick into your computer when needed. Back it up with your Time Machine backup. You have a Time Machine backup, don't you? If not, _run_ to the nearest shop to buy an external hard drive for backups.

External hard drive instead of USB stick is probably better, but USB stick is cheaper, and it is an awful lot better than deleting the files. If you delete them, I can just predict that you will be opening a thread "how do I get my music from my iPod" in a year or two.

 

[DavidB52]

Thanks for the suggestions.

At this point, my priority is simply to get the physical CDs out of my home.

Let's say I just want to back up my CDs in a raw format on a USB drive for now. Then I can worry about putting it in a different format (iTunes, mp3 player, etc.) later. Is it simply a matter of copying and pasting? (It may sound like a newbish question, but I have never copied a CD before. Seriously.)

Any advice?