Just like your computer, your iPod has a hard drive in it. That hard drive, since chances are you use your iPod more often, is more susceptible to damage and failure. Bumping it, stepping on it or just leaving it in the car for a few hours on a hot day can cause the hard drive to corrupt itself due to adverse conditions. If this is the case, you may have to transfer music between your iPod and computer to save your music library.

This is just one of the reasons why you might have to transfer music back and forth. If you buy a new computer, you want to share iTunes music purchases between your authorized computers or you want to keep multiple libraries between places. Something like your computer's hard drive failing, the power tripping or even just deleting your library can also force you to transfer music between the two components.

Sometimes you might just want to start over on your iPod or your music library. By deleting one or the other, you can transfer music back and create the library of your dreams. You can delete music, move or edit files and find out what songs you want to keep and what you want to discard. Transferring music between your iPod and computer is just as simple as a click away in most cases.

Many third-party software developers saw the need for these types of transfer and have offered a range of programs that will transfer your music, play lists and other information from your iPod to your computer with little effort. Most programs will be able to recover damaged songs from your iPod as well in case your device goes bad; this is a useful feature if you decide to upgrade, exchange of cash in on Apple's warranty program.

The first step in transferring music is to purchase a software program that will allow you to do so. There are many free ware and shareware programs available for both Windows and Mac users. Consumer electronics stores, Amazon.com and other vendors will carry a wide variety of programs that will do the job.

iPod Access for Windows is one such program and comes from Findley Designs for under $20. It supports Vista and XP operating systems, and you can download it right from their web site to use immediately. It allows you to work with any iPod model and will list all songs once opened when your iPod is connected. It can play music and videos as well as export play lists, play counts, last played date and other pertinent information about tracking listing.

Pod + Rescue allows for transfer of songs between both units as well as transferring songs to different locations on a hard drive. You can recover songs from a working or damaged iPod, and it is compatible with all file formats you transfer to the iPod.

TuneTools transfers songs, videos, podcasts and photos between the iPod and computer as well as help clean up and speed up the iPod library. It will sync the library as well with the computer to make for even faster transfers in the future. You can back up, edit and view song information from the program, too.

TunePlus allows you to transfer music, smart play lists as well as sync Microsoft Outlook to your iPod. You can also listen to podcasts from it as well as protect information that other programs may not protect in the event of a hard disk failure.

These are just some of the programs available to transfer music back and forth between the iPod and your computer.

For this tutorial, we will be using iPod Access for Windows from Findley Designs. They also offer an OS X version at their web site.

The first thing you will want to do is connect your iPod via fire wire into your computer's USB port. Once it is recognized, close iTunes, and open up iPod Access for Windows. It will take a few seconds, but your iPod's contents will soon be displayed. If your contents do not display, hit the Refresh button. Sometimes it takes a few minutes depending on how much you have stored on your iPod.

One of the neat things about iPod Access is that you can choose how you want to back up your files. You can back up the entire iPod or just select artists, albums or genres. You simply need to select the files you want to back up and hit the "Back Up" button. It will then prompt you for where you want to copy the files, and once you choose a destination, will begin copying them back to your computer based on a file system of artist and then album. Each song will be a string of letters, but when you open them in iTunes, you will see they retain their original encoded information, such as title, track and composer.

If you need to recover songs from a damaged iPod, there is a feature under the File menu to do so. It may be able to recover some of your songs, but it may not be able to recover them all. It all depends on how damaged your iPod's database is, and sometimes, you can not recover anything from it. Much like your computer's hard drive, it depends on any number of factors and a bit of luck to save what is left on your iPod. Some songs may be salvageable but with a little bit of luck, you will be able to recover the songs that mean the most to you and import them to a new iPod or music library.

iPod Access allows you to copy files, back them up or even import them directly into iTunes. It has a number of features you can tinker around with to find the best way to transfer music from the iPod to the computer. By reading through the guide and help provided, you will be able to do anything you imagine during the transfer to get the desired results from your iPod library.