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All the articles I've read suggest that the correct technique to make a local backup of my iTunes 11 library is to:

  1. Connect the pertinent device (iPod)
  2. Go to the Summary Tab
  3. Click "Backup Now" and follow the instructions.

Problem is there is no "Backup" feature of any kind offered anywhere in the Summary Tab or anywhere else in iTunes that I could find. Has anyone else noticed this?

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1 Answer

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It sounds like you have gotten a little confused with the difference between backing up your iPod and backing up your iTunes library. You can back up your iPod to iTunes on your computer, but this is different than backing up your iTunes library itself - all the music, movies, books, apps, and such that you have placed in iTunes.

If you want to backup your iTunes library (Apple.com):

  1. Open iTunes Preferences.
    • Mac: Choose iTunes > Preferences.
    • Windows: Choose Edit > Preferences.
  2. Click Advanced.
  3. Make sure the option to "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" is selected.
  4. Choose File > Library > Organize Library.
  5. Select the option to "Consolidate files."
  6. Locate your iTunes library.
    • If you can't find it, open your iTunes Preferences and click "Advanced." The location of your iTunes folder will be listed in the "iTunes Media folder location" box.
  7. Copy the iTunes library directory over to your backup location.

If you really would like to back up your iPod:

  1. Plug your iPod in and view its details.
  2. Under "Summary" tab there is a heading called "Manually Backup and Restore"
  3. Select "Back Up Now" from under that heading.

For more information on backing up iOS devices in general, this article is a good start.

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Much appreciated bassplayer7. The article that you linked is an Apple article called "How To Back Up" but is for backing up devices only, not the iTunes library. Therefore I followed your recommendations for the library and it copied fine. Apple is a bit odd on the matter of backups. In their ecosystem an iMac (with iTunes) is a master device and an iPod is the slave device. Therefore one would think that if you backed up the iTunes library that would be all you need to do for a copy of everything. I don't understand the need to back up an iPod at all. Do you? – Tom Currelly Jan 8 at 3:16
Oh, yes, bassplayer7. I would vote for you but I'm not a member and apparently only members can vote. Cheers, Tom. – Tom Currelly Jan 8 at 3:17
@TomCurrelly, Happy to help. You can still accept my answer - the checkbox below the up/down arrows. I mentioned how to back up your iPod only because it sounded to me like there was a possibility in your question that you wanted to backup your device. There is a lot of reasons why to back up especially an iOS device. If you just have something like a Nano and load purchased songs from iTunes onto there - nothing else really - then there wouldn't be a big need to backup. Feel free to accept this answer and ask another question about backing up devices. – bassplayer7 Jan 8 at 13:47

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