I got lost in the maze of the itunes folder creation and ended wiping most of my music files . I want to start from scratch by deleting my music from my laptop and recovering from my ipad - is there an easy way of doing this? I'm worried that if I connect my iPad to my laptop and hit Sync, I'll lose the music on my iPad too as it will overwrite with the data on my laptop (which is empty!).

Anyone know how to do this?

Hi and welcome to the Forum!

The IPad Forum is a community of members from all walks of life and from all over the world coming together to share our experiences and to help each other learn about this wonderful piece of technology the Ipad. There is a wealth of information already here in the many threads we have so doing some searches will answer most of the questions you have. If then you cannot find the answer you are seeking then by all means post your question. There are many friendly and informed members here only too willing to help you.

We also have our own App - It is a very simple app to navigate.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/discu...412896524?mt=8
Reading the IPad manual is a great place to start so please download a copy of these.
http://www.support.apple.com/manuals/ipad/
A very informative thread from which you will learn many tips and shortcuts for the IPad.
http://www.ipadforums.net/ipad-gener...dont-know.html
We have rules like any Community so please read these also
Forum rules - everybody please read!!

I've moved your thread to our Help Section where you will receive a better response.

Once again we welcome you here and are so pleased you have joined us!

Sent from my iPad using iPF

Two choices:

1)

Go back to the iTunes library folder and move it to some other folder. Open iTunes and it should create a new blank library.

Go to Preferences and make sure that Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized, and Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library are checked.

Now go to the Files menu, chose Add to Library, and navigate to the folder(s) containing the music. Import them.

Never fiddle with the folders again, unless you need to recover like you are now.

2)

Of course, this only applies if you are willing to give up manually managing where you music is stored. But you're going to lose that ability if you use Transfer Purchases to copy your music back to iTunes anyway; which is the key to what you actually asked for.

That option can be found by right clicking on the iPad in the Devices list in iTunes. Just say no to all the erase dialogs and stuff until you've done that step and made sure your media has been copied back to iTunes.

1.1)

You might have to use Transfer Purchases anyway, even if you use the first method. It's the main way to get iTunes to recognize a new iPad without erasing it.

3?)

There are other computer programs that will copy your music library to your computer. I'm not familiar with any of them, but a Google search should turn up a few. Research them carefully.