Flash the card
Writes the iPod firmware and partition layout to a CF/SD card, verifies it byte-for-byte, and refuses to touch the disk running your system.
Vintage iPod, modern desktop
Bring a dead iPod
back to life.
flashpod is a command-line tool that puts a flash storage card into an early-generation iPod and manages the music on it — writing the firmware, building the database, and loading songs. No iTunes, ever.
What it does
Build the database
Creates the iPod_Control structure and an empty music
database from scratch — no iTunes, no libgpod plugin required.
Load your music
Adds files or whole folders, reads tags automatically, skips duplicates, and front-loads your library fast over a USB reader.
Manage on the device
Lists, adds, and removes tracks right on the iPod over USB or FireWire — it finds the device for you, no mounting or device paths.
Raw device access
Reads and writes directly over the raw device with its own FAT driver, so it can manage iPods the OS can’t even mount.
One self-contained binary
Download a single executable for your OS — no Python, no dependencies to install. Built to run on hardware as old as OS X 10.8.
A whole library, from the command line
Flash the card in a USB reader, let flashpod initialize the database and load the bulk of your music, then pop it into the iPod. From there, flashpod finds the device on its own — add or remove the odd track in seconds.
$ flashpod ls flashpod: looking for an iPod means reading attached disks, which needs root — elevating via sudo... Found iPod on /dev/rdisk1 — 82 tracks. iPod "David's iPod": 38 tracks, 2 artists, 2 albums New Order Power, Corruption & Lies (8 tracks) Substance (12 tracks) The Cure Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (18 tracks) $ flashpod add ~/music/New\ Order\ -\ Blue\ Monday.mp3 Found iPod on /dev/rdisk1 — 82 tracks. [1/1] Adding: Blue Monday — New Order... 100% (6.8/6.8 MiB) 1 track added in 26s (6.8 MiB at 268 KiB/s)
Screenshots
Drop your own images into site/assets/ and update the
src paths below.
Install
Download the archive for your OS from the Releases page — each holds a single self-contained executable.
tar xzf flashpod-linux-x86_64.tar.gz cd flashpod-linux-x86_64 ./install.sh # to ~/.local/bin (no root); or: sudo ./install.sh flashpod --help
tar xzf flashpod-macos-10.8.tar.gz && cd flashpod-macos-10.8 chmod +x flashpod xattr -d com.apple.quarantine flashpod # or right-click → Open once ./flashpod --help
# Unzip flashpod-windows-x86_64.zip, then from a terminal: flashpod.exe --help # Run an Administrator terminal for the `flash` command.
Building the binaries yourself is documented in BUILD.md.
Requirements
iPod
Gen 1, 2, or 3 (tested); Gen 4 should work but isn’t tested yet. Models from 2007 on aren’t supported.
Operating system
Linux and macOS are tested. Windows has a backend but isn’t tested yet.
Hardware
A USB card reader for flashing. Gen 1–2 iPods need a FireWire interface to manage music on the device afterward.
Got a drawer iPod and a spare CF card?
That’s all you need. Grab a release and bring it back.