SharePod - get MP3s off your iPod

I guess most iPod users have had the frustration of having legitimate MP3s on their iPod, losing the originals on their computer, and having no easy way to get the MP3s back.

In my case, I had an AWESOME conference on my iPod, and I had the right to give other people copies of the conference, but I misplaced my master CD with the original MP3s, and I didn't feel like spending three hours digging through my vast and relatively disorganised collections of "stuff" just to find it.

I turned to Google, as I usually do when I need help. To my dismay, there were lots of programs that claimed to do wonders for your iPod, but only a few of them, when actually tested, offered the specific feature I needed. Worse, ALL of the ones I found were commercial programs and wouldn't extract the entire length of each track. Now, given that I'm distributing this conference as a public service, and this is the only thing I wanted to get off my iPod, paying US$40 seemed ridiculously steep.

And then, somehow - hallelujah - I encountered SharePod!

It did what I needed, first time, no worries.

And it's freeware.

If I find myself using it a fair bit more in the future, I will very likely send the developer a donation. Hey - I might even send them a small $5 or $10 donation just for the help it's already been. (That's still cheap compared to the US$40 ask elsewhere.)

So if you're counting your pennies and you have a bunch of MP3s buried in your iPod and need to get them back out, SharePod comes with a five-star recommendation from yours truly.