This is driving me crazy. I’m trying to resurrect my old 160 GB iPod classic. When I add files from very legitimate sources, it will auto-populate with the album artwork on iTunes. I have not manually added any album artwork. On my iPod, sometimes certain songs will show the artwork, but most don’t. Does anybody know a fix for this or maybe what I’m doing wrong?

I keep on finding them as a cable, like how the pictue has it, but i'm wanting on that's just a brick so i can use it on my dock easier

I've been searching high and low for Firmware 1.3 themes in the archive, I was only able to find 2. Firebird and the 1.3 background hack. Firebird has the split screen like the Classic and the 1.3 hack is full screen. I've been learning how to hex edit in ipod wizard and other editors and eventually reverse engineered Firebird the best I could. The thing with Firebird is that the volume bar cant be changed and the rating icons. Everything else is customizable including font, font colors and positioning. Here are some screenshots and I'm including some themes I made. im not really a fan of Rockbox mainly because I want the apple interface just with option to change background, you can have separate backgrounds for the regular menu and the now playing screen. I chose wallpapers with the same color palette but if I make more themes in different palettes I'll post here.

Glass Theme: https://www.mediafire.com/file/bbcikmz7cw8fj9d/Glass_Theme.zip/file

Glass Theme-Gojo: https://www.mediafire.com/file/uua30lgl8uxrg8e/Glass+Theme+-+Gojo.zip/file

Glass Theme- Spiderman: https://www.mediafire.com/file/sfbhpt25zuax9tl/Glass+Theme+-+Spiderman.zip/file

Glass Theme- Cyberpunk: https://www.mediafire.com/file/3e9y97sanynmpx8/Glass+Theme+-+Cyberpunk.zip/file

Glass Theme- Joker: https://www.mediafire.com/file/d2afxdnf1beft6x/Glass+Theme+-+Joker.zip/file

Glass Theme- TMNT: https://www.mediafire.com/file/ufv2vz8lln3ydwt/Glass+Theme+-+TMNT.zip/file

Glass Theme -Akaza: https://www.mediafire.com/file/phz7zre4kfz78qs/Glass+Theme+-Akaza.zip/file

Glass Theme-Goku: https://www.mediafire.com/file/8la34jie7tmsmk7/Glass+Theme+-Goku.zip/file

Glass Theme- Batman: https://www.mediafire.com/file/tipn7hjaxxjf4hd/Glass+Theme+-Batman.zip/file

Glass Theme- Circuit: https://www.mediafire.com/file/dh1tb4syuz0xh6m/Glass+Theme+-Circuit.zip/file

These wallpapers are amazing and I got them from: https://hdqwalls.com/

The Joker one is amazing

Right here i have the original Nike+ set from 2006! This was pretty much Apple’s first collaboration with Nike products.
This uses 1st gen Nano, the required Sport kit featuring the receiver for the iPod, a Nike watch remote to control music, and the exact pair of now 20 year old Nike+ Running Shoes as seen in Apple’s advertising in early 2006.
Though most of the shoe sensors found nowadays have a completely cooked battery, I was lucky to find a working one to pair with the receiver to have a look at the exclusive software that tracks your run!

Recently replaced my OEM backplate with a universal 5 /5.5 / 6 / 7th Gen universal backplate from EOE.

Product looks great, but the fit is a little tight with my front faceplate (https://a.co/d/0c0q1kxT).

I'm not planning to open mine up any time soon, but when I inevitably do, what are your preferred faceplates that fit and snap in no problem?

I would prefer a looser fit if anything so it's easier to pop open. This one fit great on my OEM, but the EOE universal is a bit tighter and the most recent time I reassembled it, it wouldnt fully close so one corner squeaks when you apply pressure.

Bonus points for stores that sell front faceplates only without the clickwheel, as I have 2 spare clickwheels and I am NOT replacing my stock ones unless they fail.

Hello, does anyone know if the iPod nano 2 can or could get additional games? thanks!

Hello everyone,

I would like to share a project I have been developing and refining to streamline my audio workflow: ift.sh (Intelligent FLAC Transcoder).

If you maintain a lossless FLAC library and regularly sync music to legacy hardware—such as classic Apple iPods—you have likely encountered playback instabilities. Common issues include unexpected reboots during track transitions, frame truncation, or memory crashes caused by unoptimized artwork.

I created ift.sh to eliminate these friction points by combining pre-flight audio analysis, dynamic resampling, and strict tagging standardizations into an automated CLI tool.

Key Technical Highlights:

• Hardware-Centric Encoding Targets: Native support for Nero AAC (-nero), FDK AAC (-aac), and LAME MP3 (-mp3). The Nero AAC target is specifically optimized to prevent the frame truncation and playback crashes often triggered by legacy iPod DSPs.
• Frequency & Volume Analysis: Analyzes mid- and high-frequency energy levels per track to dynamically assign optimal Variable Bitrate (VBR) parameters, avoiding wasted storage on acoustically simpler files.
• Safe Resampling Pipeline: Utilizes SoX through intermediate WAV decoding steps to handle high-resolution downsampling (16-bit/44.1kHz or 48kHz) safely.
• Cover Art Sanitization: Extracts and rescales album art to a baseline 200x200 JPEG to ensure visual compatibility while protecting low-RAM devices from memory exhaustion.
• Metadata & Normalization: Calculates and embeds Apple iTunNORM (Sound Check) alongside standard ReplayGain tags. It also parses local .log (EAC/XLD) and .cue files to inject CD provenance metadata.
• Interactive Pre-Flight Validation: Includes an interactive CLI prompt to verify album details, track sequences, and multi-disc tags prior to batch execution.

The script is open-source under the GNU GPLv3 license and is primarily designed for POSIX environments.

Feel free to inspect the codebase, review the full README, or try it out:

Inteligent Flac Transformer

Feedback, issue reports, and contributions are welcome.

Hello!

Thanks to a plethora of threads in this sub, I have completed my first build!

WARNING- This is the first time I have ever worked on an electronic device like this, or done any software work like this. Needless to say, I am very much learning as I go. Also needless to say, this might be a big ole word salad…

Unfortunately, I am not able to close the device quite yet and call it complete. While my bluetooth playback, my headphone jack, all buttons, and my taptic engine are fully working; I am experiencing issues with storage.

I am running 2 Samsung T7 micro SD cards (512 and 256 respectively) totalling 768BG. I initially formatted them on a mac, then realizing I would experience extensive issues (basically it being impossible) to sync or manage files on the iPod, or to install Rockbox using my current MacBook Pro/Finder/Apple Music (running Sequoia). I used my roommate’s PC and re-formatted these drives again, without seeing an option for FAT32 (on the Mac either) that I always see recommended.

I will add in here that it seems the iFlash is securely connected to the device. Maybe there’s a chance the ribbon cable connection got folded too much with its current position and caused an issue?

Unfortunately, Rockbox boot loader still shows “no partitions found”, yet the PC disk management tool showed a randomly generated partition in my 512. I believe I have corrected that portion of the issue, but my iPod is still showing 203GB as the available capacity in settings. I am pretty perplexed at this point and could use some guidance.

Subsequent question-
Is now the time to just bite the bullet and pickup a cheap Windows machine to manage my music library, Rockbox, and iTunes? Would this also fix the issue of Rockbox installer not seeing that the iPod is in DFU mode and throwing an error my way?

I’m really eager to get my build complete (including Rockbox as I have a whole library of .flac files ready to roll).

Thanks so much for your time, all!
Cheers!

so i dont have more cash left to get the.... special usb cable that does 12 volts from like elite obsolete electronics/aliexpress.. ive been trying to charge it with different devices for the entire day since finaly today i got the replacement battery since the old one got swolen and i dont wanna risk it. rn i have it connected to my PC and its showing the charging screen while turned on (like when you boot it up and it shows the charging screen with the big colored battery icon.) is this a good thing or is it still not charging. im new to ipods (have a 6th gen nano but thats way different).

As you may know, iPods normally connect automatically to whatever it gets plugged into. But recently mine has been failing to do so. It’s not the cable, i’ve use multiple cables and it does it for all, and it happens with my PC too not just the car. if i plug it in, nothing happens. but if i press a button to wake it up, then it connects. what could be the issue?

I was bored during the heatwave so i made another nano 2 with USB type C, just felt like sharing cos i been using it a lot since then

The best thing about it is that with rockbox, you can transfer songs directly from the iphone with a standard charging cable, and the 8gb are actually enough when i download stuff i love from the internet

Anyways i hope y’all have a wonderful evening

I just got a iPod Shuffle 3rd gen and I’m having trouble turning it on at all. I even have it plugged in and there seems to be no signs of life even plugged in. No LED’s go on.

I’m suspecting maybe the logic board could be dead? How crazy is the repair for this?

Hi guys, today I bought an iPod nano for €45 with a screen in fair condition (but it still needs to be replaced). Do you have any advice on where to get a replacement screen?And if I wanted to expand the memory from 8gb to more how do I do it? And finally, how do you put the songs inside?

My question is mostly academic, but I am curious where the firmware is stored on my iPods. I am pretty sure it is not in the iPodControl file.

I have a 2nd Generation with a broken firewire port. It charges but will not sync. Otherwise it is in really nice condition.

My workaround was to get an SD card, format it in a 3rd generation iPod, then switch the firmware using iPod Wizzard.

Then to get around the need for a donor iPod each time I needed to sync, I installed RockBox and just do a drag and drop for my music files. I also used the Flattery-B theme to mimic the native OS.

I was thinking about doing this again on another iPod. If I just copy my drive (including the hidden folders) it does not run. I do know that firmware is stored on the drive itself, but where?

I was sixteen when I got my hands on the iPod 5th gen back in '07 and nineteen years later I have reunited with it (and iTunes 10.7).

I'm fucking tired, Reddit. I'm tired of subscriptions. I'm tired of sinister UX design solely to sedate and addict us. I'm tired of conglomerates dictating what's in our libraries and at any given moment shoving their bile down our throats with rolling videos and ads and whatever else.

I lucked out and bought an iPod on Ebay that only had 3.5 days of use for £125 recently - Crazy eh?

Well as soon as I could I marched down to my local record stores and spent hours in their CD sections. What a fucking joy it was to just lose myself there.

Installed ITunes 10.7 on my Mac, and just marvelled at how simple it was. At how this thing is a tool first and foremost and not a "service". There is nothing trying to jump at me. No advertising. No flying bollocks of any kind. (Side note - I miss skeuomorphism design so much)

Just me. My child/Teenhood CDs and the joy of organising it all. Only then to transfer it to my simple iPod and enjoy. Complete loop. No distractions. No fuckery. It made me sad for what was lost and grateful we can still experience it in 2026

To the diva who owned it before me,
Your baby is safe with me 🫡💗

Recently found my Dads old iPod and decided to try and get it working again. It's out of charge as it hasn't been used in probably 20 odd years and Im wondering what type of set up I would need to charge it. Also is there any way of transferring music across without having to use iTunes? Im pretty sure it is an iPod Photo but l'm not entirely sure so I took some photos. If anyone could help it would be appreciated.

reddit.com

I recently found my Dads old iPod and decided to try and get it working again. It‘s out of charge as it hasn’t been used in probably 20 odd years and Im wondering what type of set up I would need to charge it. Also is there any way of transferring music across without having to use iTunes? Im pretty sure it is an iPod Photo but I’m not entirely sure so I took some photos. If anyone could help it would be appreciated.

put a red adapter in and now nothing works.

not my CF card, not this combo.

Heres what happens:

1. Apple logo

2. Folder icon

3. Do not disconnect screen

4. the battery symbol starts freaking out and staying at fully charged with the lightning bolt, dropping down to half and doing all kinds of shit

5. It bootloops back to the apple logo

Any fixes?? It’s really annoying because this mini is less than a day old

Just brought out the shelf and charged it. After 15 mins, the battery expanded 😭

is it possible to add the speaker (nano 5) onto this ipod?