Getting music from your computer to your iPod, iPhone and iPad is easy thanks to iTunes, but the reverse isn’t always true: if you want to transfer your media collection back from your iPod to a new computer or your existing computer as part of a data recovery exercise, it’s less straightforward. First, iTunes is automatically set to synchronise your iPod with your computer's contents, which means if you fire it up expecting to transfer your iPod's content back you'll not only be disappointed, you may even end up wiping the content from your iPod!

This is a problem third-party vendors have fallen over themselves to provide a solution for. iRip aims – like most Little App Factory products – to make this process as simple as possible. Download and launch the program without plugging in your iPod – the first thing it'll do is check to see if auto-sync is enabled in iTunes; if it is, you'll be warned about switching it off before you go any further.

Once done, it's just a case of plugging in your iPod – after a short pause a list of all your music will be displayed, with options to view other content too. Mac users get the best deal here - version 2 now supports videos, podcasts, ringtones, books and photos too; PC users must make do with audio and video content.

The simplest way to restore anything to your computer is to select your chosen category, then click the Transfer button and choose the Sync option. Alternatively, you can copy selected items to iTunes or a pre-selected folder – perfect if the bulk of your library is present, but you're missing a handful of items.

And that's it: it really is that simple. The trial version will allow you to copy 50 tracks off your iPod, iPhone or iPad before you'll be forced to register to continue using it.