Q: My MacBook was recently stolen. Good news is all my music and movies are on my iPod. I’m thinking of getting a new iPad 2 but wanted to make sure I don’t lose everything on my iPod.
Is there a way to transfer my music/movies from my iPod to the iPad 2 without using a separate computer? Can you transfer directly onto the iPad 2 if you buy the USB Connector Kit? Thanks!
– Kasie
A: Unfortunately you will need a computer of some kind in order to transfer the content from your iPod over to a new iPad 2. The iPad Camera Connection Kit is only designed to transfer photos and compatible videos from a digital camera or digital camera SD card, and will not transfer any data that is not a photo or video.
Note that this doesn’t necessarily need to be the computer you originally set the iPod up on—merely somewhere that you can copy the files to so that you can re-sync them to your iPad through iTunes.
You’ll also technically need iTunes to activate your iPad for the first time as well, although most Apple Stores will be more than happy to plug in your iPad and active it for you in the store if you want to get going right away.
Depending on which model of iPod you’re using, you may need a Mac in order to transfer the content from your old iPod, but you can setup the iPad on either a Mac or Windows PC without any concern as to which computer you’ll ultimately be using it with. See our guide on Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer for more detailed information on how to recover content from your old iPod.
