If you have an iPod or an iPhone, you may have had a need at some point to copy your music files back to the computer. Most commonly this is due to a replaced hard drive and other times it just is more convenient to plug your device in to move a large music library.

This weekend I found that I needed (really just wanted) to pull a few songs off an iPod I had synched with a previous computer. I happily found some lost music I thought was gone forever when my last computer past away. So I did what everyone does when they don’t have the answer..I Googled for a solution. I came across many posts and web pages dedicated to this task.

The first solution I came across from metaphoric labs in a post titled 5 Ways to copy music OFF your iPod (Windows / Mac OS X). The title is self-explanatory but I did use one tool that it linked me too called iPodDisk This tool proved to be easy to use and straight forward by allowing me to browse the connected iPod in my Finder window via album and artist categories. This did the trick for me but then I started to wonder about getting music off my iPhone. Turns out..not as easy of a task but not impossible.

For Windows users, Elena Santos over at onsoftware.com provides easy to follow directions for dusitng off that copy of winamp on your pc and a simple pllug-in you can download. The plug-in allows winamp to communicate wiht the iPhone and all music can be downloaded or uploaded.

For Mac users, like myself, I didn’t find any free elegant solutions. I found one that involved SSH and a reminder of a little piece of software I hadn’t used in years called Senuti. You can download a demo version from the developer. The cost for this app is $18 but is definitely worth the price for its simplicity and utility.