Decrypt iPod Music Files

Solution 1:

These files are not, in fact, encrypted. The id3 tags are still intact. If you re-add the files to iTunes, the proper names and artists should show up, assuming they were tagged correctly in the first place.

If you have "copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library" and "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" checked in advanced preferences, it should rename the files and put them in folders by artist in your music folder when you add the files to iTunes.

Solution 2:

I know this was asked long ago, but maybe this will help someone in the future. In 2018 I created a python utility to fix this (it changes any m4a files to mp3 however because that's the only way I could readily read the id3 tags). It also takes all of your songs from into their respective F## (eg. F12, some default storage for the ipod) folders and sorts them by the artist according to the id3 tags.

It works in Linux, the utilities probably work for Mac users as well. there's no GUI so you'd have to runthe instructions from a terminal. I hope it helps whoever out there.

EDIT: I added an executable that allows this to be used on Windows systems (linked in my repo below)

https://github.com/Tclack88/SortMusic

Solution 3:

Turns out there's Senuti for Mac Users (Trial into a Paid Version) and a Free Open Source version for Windows called Sharepod.

I ended up using Sharepod and it was crazy simple and extremely fast. No BS. I haven't tried Senuti, but that's just what I found.