Customizing your iPod classic with Rockbox - installation, flac, themes, games and my opinion
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
- Have you ever wanted to elevate your iPod experience?
Or are you just tired of relying on iTunes and MacOS support to put music on your media player?
Then perhaps it is time to try out something called Rockbox - in this video I'll briefly tell you about my iPod models and how to install a Rockbox on my 7th gen iPod classic. And of course will give you a short demo of Rockbox as well.
00:00:00 Opening
00:00:59 Introduction and a bit of info on Rockbox features
00:01:42 Opinion on iPod nano / shuffle / touch
00:02:20 Perfect iPod Classics to get - 5th, 6th, 7th gens
00:02:56 Difference between 5th and 6th-7th gens
00:05:11 Rockbox benefits
00:06:21 Installing Rockbox
00:09:54 TLDR bulletproof instructions on how to install Rockbox on your iPod classic
00:12:03 Rockbox demo
00:14:10 Themes
00:15:24 Games and playing DOOM on an iPod
00:15:57 Dual boot between Rockbox and iPod firmware
00:17:04 My opinion on Rockbox vs stock firmware
00:21:31 The end
Rockbox website - www.rockbox.org/
#ipod #apple #rockbox #opensource #flac #audio
Rockbox is what makes these usable.
I don´t have to rely on iTunes, it plays basically anything i throw on it, don´t have to worry about file formats.
I have lots of flacs, especially from bandcamp, beatport or CD rips.
Even ripped some vinyl records in flac because it basically stores PCM audio, but in less storage space.
I would have to convert these into wav or alac if i wanted to play them on stock iPod OS.
Also, once the library is built up and ready to go, navigating is pretty fast and hassle free.
I´d rather be able to shuffle all 5700+ songs on the go and be able to add individual songs into a playlist on the fly.
The right storage upgrade is highly recommended.
I´m using a compact flash card, as it natively works with the IDE/ATA bus and supports the neccessary specs aswell.
Thank you for your comment and your perspective!
I'm heavily considering using rockbox for the drag and drop freedom (I do not use iTunes but a 3rd party software called CopyTrans) to use on any computer I come across, like a friend's and maybe it might work from my phone too ?? So I could perhaps update and edit songs' metadata from my phone, and do not require a computer (only my cable and the OTG adapter that came with my phone).
Also flac support... So far, I've been painfully transcoding my FLACs to be mp3 to use on my iPod, and because of this, I have been using my iPod less because its library is not up to date with my music collection.
Also some themes show the battery as a percentage which, if they're accurate and to be believed, is also a nice bonus, instead of the vague icon of the iPod.
But when I'm not updating the content of my iPod and just playing music, I do love the simplicity of the stock OS. I couldn't care less about the EQs. If there was a lite version, with no frillsn, only music player, sorting by albums, or artists, flac support and drag and drop, with maybe an exception for theme support or even a better default theme and no custom theme support, I'd probably use that for sure
Many users find Rockbox's menu system challenging because the names in the menu tree are not user-friendly or intuitive. Additionally, unlike the standard iPod firmware, Rockbox lacks a theme that enables users to use the scroll wheel to fast forward or rewind through a track that is currently playing. In Rockbox, the scroll wheel is configured only to adjust the volume by scrolling clockwise or counterclockwise.
Something worth mentioning for those of us who have a 6th gen classic -- Apple, for some dumb reason, used only 28-bit LBA to address storage on the initial 6th gen ipods (all others use 48-bit LBA), which means if you want to upgrade storage on these units you'll be stuck at 128gb max. However, if you are willing to lose itunes connectivity/integration and also lose the ability to dual-boot into ipod OS, you can install the rockbox native bootloader, (which uses 48-bit LBA), thereby unlocking larger drives. After rockbox installation you will than have to play around with a partition manager and resize up to full capacity. My 6th gen classic thick is now rocking 2TB storage. I never liked itunes to begin with, so I don't really miss it. My ipod now doubles as a music player and a portable storage drive with tons of space (albeit with fat32 file size limitations and usb2 transfer speed).
Great video! I might give this one a go!
I have the iPod Classic 120GB I purchased new in 2006. It still looks new and runs great. I installed Rockbox on it to include a few themes. Rockbox looks pretty but OMG it is very slow and laggy. I uninstalled it and restored my iPod to the original configuration.
What slows Rockbox down is when you turn on too many features... eq, surround sound, crossfade. You need to stick to 1 or 2 special features, otherwise it does slow down.
I've traded the old HDD to a Flash Memory, Rockbox is pretty fast now!!
@@B0X666 Yeah, I wouldn't even bother using Rockbox on an original Hitachi mechanical HDD... Only time Rockbox makes sense is after an SD Card mod...
Just bought a used (amazing condition) 7th gen to recapture some nostalgia, very much looking forward to throwing Rockbox on it using this guide, as my entire library is in FLAC. ^^
Good luck! If you don't like Rockbox, you can still convert your FLACs to Apple's ALAC and use the stock firmware ;)
@@TechFi-te3ik True, I'm just hoping I don't have to, it arrives today so we'll see! ^^
You sir just earned a new subscriber. Worker perfect with my 4th gen photo. Thank you!!!!!
Thank you for the sub! Have fun with your iPod!
thanks for real, love iPods and think are super nice and good,, and all the videos that saw from you ,,, will do now need to find iPod classics all the best Happy New Year
happy new year! thank you!
That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time… I remember putting rock box on my old Sansa mp3 player
And as you can see it is still supported and working!
I had a Clip+ and a Fuze, chosen specifically for use with Rockbox and microSD cards. The Fuze in particular was a joy to use but build quality on neither was fantastic and they both fell apart after just a couple of years.
I have two old sansas, c240 and c140.
I Installed rockbox on an ipod for the first time in 2007!!! And installed doom!!!
haha! playing doom on ipod? That's pretty awesome :D
This was a throw back for sure. 2007 was around the time I was messing with this too 😂
it worked great thank you so much
You're welcome!
I've been using Rockbox for years on an iPod 5th gen. Someone mentioned below that it is slow... and that is true if you turn on too many features (surround, crossfade, eq, etc). The eq gives the best benefit, so if you turn on that and leave everything else at default, it will perform well. The other downside is that the 30pin connector will not work with most 30pin speakers, car interfaces etc when in Rockbox mode.
Thank you, that’s very useful insights!
One of the reasons I still like to use these iPods is their OS. Installing a third party OS breaks the using experience. If I just want a music player, I will go ahead buy an entry-level Walkman.
i agree with you, i'm not really drawn to Rockbox in any way. my hi fi music experience is in vinyl and CDs, i don't worry about it with digital files for the most part, and i also love the iPod interface.
i am open to it though, like if i find limitations using my 7th gen firmware after adding memory, i will probably switch to Rockbox. But i think i should be fine, probably won't need to go beyond 40,000 songs.
Warning to those who buy broken/untested ipod 6/7th generations:
- As noted in the video the 5th gen is easier to open. I cannot stress enough that the 6/7th gen are an insane hassle to open up, even with proper metal spudgers and an ifixit esque kit. A simple battery replacement I was doing for a friend on his 6th gen left me with a working ipod, but it had a noticable amount of stractches along the edges from all the pry tools I had to stick in there.
- I believe the 6/7th generation have a cirrus dac and the 5th gen has a wolfson dac. Some really hardcore ipod guys chose one over the other becuase of how they process sounds. I've heard some say that the cirrus is more neutral than the wolfson. Your milage may vary, but I haven't noticed a big difference between the two and I would be happy with both.
- There is a common rockbox bug where it inaccurately displays your battery life. For me I notice its about 20-30% off upon bootup, and will display the correct battery life about 5-10 minutes into a listening session. I think this has to do something with how rockbox approximates battery life, and you might have to go into settings to tell the system what mAh your battery is (which might be important if you just replaced it).
Only the 'daily builds' of Rockbox allow users to set the capacity of an upgraded battery in milliamp-hours (mAh). However, this feature is somewhat limited due to the imprecise way these old iPods estimate remaining battery life or percentage. The device typically assumes that a battery outputting about 4.5 volts is fully charged (100%) and decreases the percentage display as the voltage drops from 4.5 volts to a minimum operational level of about 3.5 volts. For example, on a 2000mAh battery-which is nearly five times larger than the original 450mAh battery in a standard iPod-the rate at which the voltage decreases from 4.5 volts to 3.5 volts is much slower. Both Rockbox and the original iPod firmware struggle with fluctuating battery percentage readings. This inaccuracy arises because the voltage meters in these older devices cannot measure voltage precisely to two decimal places, unlike modern smartphones, which provides them with fairly accurate battery percentage estimates. This limitation is why devices from the era of the iPod classic and earlier typically used a 4-5 bar display to represent battery life (i.e., each bar representing 20-25%) rather than a precise numerical display from 100% downward.
@@Funkteon Interesting! I never understood the mechanism of how it happened. Thanks, sometimes I forget its "dated" technology lol!
@@Ruminatee If Apple were to make another iPod Classic, it would undoubtedly have a voltage meter that can detect voltage down to the second or maybe even third decimal point, thus allowing a pretty accurate countdown from 100% to 0%... The old iPod Classics that we've decided to keep alive can only measure voltage to the first decimal point, meaning it only notices a difference once it reduces from 4.5 to 4.4 or maybe even 4.3 volts, meaning you only get around five to ten fractions of a volt to create your battery's on-screen meter... At this level of courseness, it's wildly inaccurate and cannot be relied upon. Voltage meters in pocketable devices have only given us accurate numerical (0-100%) battery meters for around 15 years. Prior to that, everything other than laptops and flagship smartphones had just 4-5 'bars' representing your remaining battery (maybe you remember the old SymbianOS Nokias and Sony Diskmans etc).
@@Funkteon Now that you mention it I do remember that there was a time when battery life was shown as an approximation as opposed to an accurate value. I had a blackberry back then that had the 4 "bars" of battery life you mentioned.
@@Ruminatee These kinds of improvements in miniaturising BMS (battery management systems) and CPU temperature readings have only really come about over the last decade. For example, my 2011 Lenovo Thinkpad X220 has a fairly inaccurate CPU temp readout due to the compariatively shitty CPU sensors in technology from over a decade ago. However, to the contrary, given the laptop's size, it DOES, however, have a fairly accurate battery percentage display and remaining use-time estimator, as old laptops don't have the same size limitations as pocketable devices (such as iPods) from the same era. Looking at some schematics now, it's clear that BMS systems today are one tenth the size they were in 2010, and are approximately ten times more accurate (to the second decimal point in voltage readings) than iPod 5/6th gen era models.
The rockbox on my 7th gen seems to be able to import and read all the music I've put through iPodOS and it plays everything just fine. Even those records in ALAC that would crackle on iPodOS sound flawless in Rockbox. The navigation in Rockbox UI is overall slow and laggy though
Indeed. You can install some faster performing themes, but it is not as refined as stock iPod firmware.
if by "less of a headache" you mean sort of not annoying and expensive to deal with then yes, that is until the battery connector falls off the motherboard then the headache reigns strong...
i wish we could apply themes to the original OS as that is almost 100% perfect for me, and i just really wanted to have it with another accent color and appearance…. something like jailbreaking an iPhone and installing a snow board theme
That would be great indeed. I would love a dark theme!
Many users find Rockbox's menu system challenging because the names in the menu tree are not user-friendly or intuitive. Additionally, unlike the standard iPod firmware, Rockbox lacks a theme that enables users to use the scroll wheel to fast forward or rewind through a track that is currently playing. In Rockbox, the scroll wheel is configured only to adjust the volume by scrolling clockwise or counterclockwise.
i perdonally prefer the default os as i find that its faster and more responsive but rockbox is a lot of fun in customisation
Exactly my thoughts
Thanks for the complete tutorial. Is there any way to change tracks, change volume, pause, and resume tracks from the headphone controls?
Hey there. Thank you!
Do you mean customize the controls? My volume controls works, but i am not sure about track skip as i don’t have headphones with this feature
Hi, thanks for the info, I ran into this problem, hope you can help me,
I installed everything else firts, but when I got to the bootloader, it did ask me to press and hold the buttons, although I never got the message that comes after to release them, I'm kinda stuck in there and don't really know what I'm doing wrong
Hey there. Did you hold them long enough? If you watch in my video you kinda need to hold them long enough and release only after the message appears.
Interesting, I might try this on my old iPod. How is it with lag and sluggishness? It looked like it was a bit slow for a bit in when on the iOS inspired theme.
It is more sluggish than the stock firmware. Not by a big amount but noticeable!
You can use simpler themes, they´ll be a lot faster.
ipodmod3blk is my favourite so far.
If you don't run themes, it is fast. Different themes will run better, some worse.
Rockbox is actually great on the older monochrome iPods. But I’ll stick with Apple’s OS for my 6th gen.
Hey TechFi, this is a great tutorial/video! Clear and easy to follow, with good comments and suggestions. You have a new follower! Anyhow, I have a couple of questions: After my installation (I did not erase the original contents on my iPod Classic 6th gen as it was already Windows format and in sync with my Windows iTunes), I ended with a Database folder with all my previous Apple Music, and when I tried to install new music (MP3 files) I had to create a new root folder (named Music or My Music), but it is managed totally separated from my original Apple Database, and it does not show metadata (disk art, genre, artist, etc.) How could that be changed/fixed? Secondly, I have a similar issue with my videos (regular, movies and music videos), although they are there (I can see/play them when I reboot my iPod in original mode), I can't see them when I boot with Rockbox. Finally, I would like to add I agree with you: I like how you can play with Rockbox themes and have a bunch of games and apps, but for playing music/videos, it seems the original iPod OS is just better. Warm regards!
Hey Hugo! Thank you for your nice words.
About your questions (both of them) - thats normal, and as expected - your files can’t be shared between original firmware and Rockbox - youd have to make a duplicate for each firmware.
@@TechFi-te3ik The latest version of Rockbox for the 5/6/7th gen will find the music you already had on the iPod from an iTunes sync. I don't know whether or not it finds the album art or other metadata, though...
I just ordered a 5.5gen wolfson on ebay, i miss having a dedicated device for my music. This is cool as hell but after watching the whole video I think I'll stick with stock fw. My whole library is ALAC m4a already since I like using the stock music player on my iPhone. If there's a way to turn off that ugly "Loading..." popup everytime you click something I might give it a shot
Hey there.
The “loading” pop up depends on how heavy the theme you’re using is.
But if you like 5.5 firmware I’d say just stick to it. It’s my favorite gui look for the iPod.
hi, thanks for this video, it has encouraged me to install Rock Box on my 2005 iPod Classics (5th Gen). having downloaded the Rock Box installer to my Mac Studio M1, I followed the 'bulletproof' instructions and downloaded everything but the installer but now I am now stuck at the install/progress page which is stating 'could not open iPod: permission denied', the installer will not download to the ipod! So close but no cigar... Have you or any of your viewers a solution to continue the installation?
Hey, thank you. I tried to install it on macos as well but with no success. Do you have access to a windows machine?
@@TechFi-te3ik Hi, thank you for your reply and in answer to your question, no I don’t have access to a Windows machine, having sacked them off in 2008 and switched to Apple. I guess if it was necessary I could ‘boot camp’ the Windows system onto an old MacBook. Does Rock Box work with Linux?
@@KeniloTube in theory yes :)
Are there any restrictions on the iTunes version you need to be running when you reset the iPod in the initial steps? Also, dumb question, but if you add files via drag and drop for the Rockbox OS, do they appear if you later reboot the iPod in the Apple OS?
No restrictions.
And no, your file systems are separate.
When booted from Rockbox, does it still work with iPod docks and 30-pin car stereo connection?
That depends on the duck / stereo
Like a stab to the heart hearing Cover Flow is just a gimmick. It was my all time favorite and most used feature when it was released. But I’m also someone who has a really HIFI audio setup and lots of vinyl records I actually listen to so maybe I’m the niche use case for that feature. Regardless, I still use a white 5th gen iPod to this day and use Cover Flow all the time.
But 5th gen iPods don't have Cover Flow. It's a 6th and 7th gens feature.
Or you mean you use it on Rockbox?
@@TechFi-te3ik no I have the stock firmware on my 5th gen without CoverFlow. The 5th gen is my favorite iPod and my go to device for its capacity as it holds all my music but I still have functional iPod Nanos and a 1st gen iPhone I use all the time as well. And the nanos and 1st iPhone both have coverflow on them. I have a nano that has all music I’ve recorded from my Audio Technica AT-LP120 turntable. So that’s like the portable record player iPod that plays recorded vinyl. Lol.
your the only person ever I have heard usd cover flow
I did this for my 5.5 and it worked half of the time, most of the times i had to reset it to take me into rockbox
How do you get the dual boot to work cause whenever i try it it just tells me restore the ipod when going into the stock OS
fully remove rockbox, and restore the ipod to stock fw. Reinstall rock box, and it should work right out of the box.
This :)
The only thing I really like about the iPod classic is the sounds
is there any way i can add coverflow on my ipod 5th gen using rockbox?
Yes! There is a similar functionality plugin called PictureFlow!
Does Rockbox drain the battery faster than the original firmware? I have read that it makes up to 50% difference.
It does, yes
Will it play music I deleted on my computer from RockBox or does it sync and delete like iTunes.
Hi John, with Rockbox you just drag and drop music onto your iPod, you don’t sync it :)
I have a classic 6th gen and I’ve been trying to put themes on it all day but they aren’t working right. I have installed 3 and they all just color the os but don’t do anything else that they are supposed to do. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix it? Every video I can find on themes is either really old or just says to drag and drop them but that’s what I’m doing and it’s not working.
Hey there WillM, sorry for the late comment. Are you installing themes, that are compatible with the version of Rockbox you're using?
You mention drag and dropping them - but you can also install themes through Rockbox utility - have you tried that?
@@TechFi-te3ik I figured it out a couple weeks ago. I just reinstalled rock box and it was fine. Thanks.
but what about the audio quality with rockbox vs stock firmware?
I dont hear the difference - besides the only thing FW does in this case is streaming the bytes towards the DAC and the amplifier.
Will it still pair with my range rover in car screen and controls like the ipod does already ?
No
Do any of these allow video shuffle ?
You can always shuffle a playlist - if a playlist inlcudes videos it will shuffle them
I'm buying an iPod Classic 7th gen. Is downloading iTunes necessary for this?
Hi Jacob, for the smooth upgrade experience - yes
at 16:02 what is the theme you've downloaded?
that's iPod reFresh Two - themes.rockbox.org/index.php?themeid=3259&target=ipodvideo
it makes the beeps and says in rockbox utility that it is installed, but the rockbox does not come up on the ipod it stays on the screen that tells me to plug it back in, and when i reset it and flip the hold button it comes up connect to itunes to restore. if i reset it and don't flip the hold button it goes back to the bootloader screen. any idea what my issue is? now i can't use the ipod at all
Hey there. Did you fix this? Have you tried reinstalling the bootloader?
Does the iFlash upgrade require Rockbox?
No
Stupid question: is it possible to uninstall RockBox if you don’t like it?
Yes, you can, but it's a lil bit tricky:
www.reddit.com/r/ipod/comments/1133dj6/troublshooting_tips_for_rockbox_install_on/
you can check this thread for the instructions.
Here they are:
" This part is poorly described in the Rockbox manual (well its not really described how to do this at all) and you can get into a bit of a mess here. Follow instructions below in order.
Put the iPod into disk mode as instructed above
In RockboxUtility go to backup and uninstallation
Remove the bootloader first.
if you try and uninstall rockbox first, RockboxUtility will no longer see the bootloader and fail to remove it. Also iTunes will no longer restore the iPod due to the Rockbox bootloader being present and you get stuck with neither piece of software talking to it. See below how to fix this.
Uninstall rockbox
Close RockboxUtility, Open iTunes
Put the iPod into DFU mode by holding the select and menu button until itunes prompts to restore the iPod
Restore the iPod
"
Of course
Can some maybe help? I tried it on 7th Gen iPod Classic with all versions an Everytime after the bootloader loads Rockbox it says no partition found
reformat your ipod's hdd to fat32 and it'll work once you reinstall it
I tried installing Rockbox on my 5.5 ipod and hated it. everything seems so buggy and ugly. a thousand settings I have no idea about and it would take ages in a "rebuilding database" step. I much prefer converting my song files to mp3 instead of fighting the iPod everytime I want to listen to my songs.
Very good point. You can rockbox be very responsive, but why bother if stock firmware is everything you need already?
The only benefit of Rockbox is longterm if you wont be able to use iTunes anymore.
I like the idea of Rockbox in theory and some of the themes are great but it's so clunky and drains batteries fast. I wish it ran more smoothly like Foobar2000. I decided to stop fighting it and just get more storage for the iPod and use ALAC, their equivelent to Flac.
@@ChromeDestiny good choice imo!
@@ChromeDestiny Buenas, me podrías apoyar como tener música en formato ALAC, me pasa que para un principiante quien te escribe se hace muchos líos. No se como descargar música, que aplicativo y como convertirlo. Tú apoyo por favor.
Without the rockbox,can the ipod play wav files ?
I’ve never had an iPod classic I wish but they’re so expensive
You can get a cheap broken one and repair it!
Is this process possible to do on an M1 MacBook Air?
Yes, but i know it’s easier on Windows
Hi, HELP! I already install the "extras" but when I tried to install the bootloader I just can't. first tells me press the keys for 12 seconds. Done!, continues perfect, but at the second "Press the keys"... ERROR device is not on DFU mode. I noticed that my Macbook tries to identify the iPod but still didn't work @techfi Thanks. BTW, no iTunes on Sonoma 14.13.1 everything goes thru finder
Hey there!
When you press the keys for 12 seconds - do you wait (i.e. holding the keys) until you see the message on the installer? Don't let the keys go until you see the message. This part is around 11:07 in my video.
I have not used my macbook for this installation, but afaik some people had issues with newer versions of macos identifying iPods as two separate disks - you can open Disk Utility and if you see two iPods connected there, you might want to "eject" one of them through finder or Disk Utility
Hi. Thxs for the respond. Yes, i wait until the next message pops but when it pops its also pop the Finder telling me that i need to restore and then ir broke the Rockbox installation. The thing is, i supose, that my mack M2 with Sonoma doesnt reconoce my iPod. When i want to put Music i need to use an old iMac with iTunes but that iMac versión doesnt Support the versión of rockbook. So i have a sad loop 😢
In deed i recieve the second message, the second "hold keys" one and there is when crack the installation@@TechFi-te3ik
Ok I already made one more step, but when it finally tries to reboot stays on Bootloader USB mode on a black screen and nothing else happened @@TechFi-te3ik
@@fbalmoridid you manage to boot into it? Did the installer show you that the installation process completed successfully?
The single thing that has kept me from using Rockbox is how annoying trying to use shuffle (shuffle either a playlist or entire collection)
For the standard OS it's one click but the Rockbox devs seem to feel that isn't an issue.
Indeed, interface is not as refined as in the stock firmware
shuffle in rockbox is far from annoying, it is better you can shuffle the new songs you enter in a playlist or shuffle a playlist as much as you want
Does it play video's also?
Yes, it does
Many attempts no successful results on my 7th gen ipod even if I follow the steps on how. Seems like the 7th gen not compatible the rockbox firmware.
It should be. The iPod in the video is 7th gen
Oh no! I just got the little one he told us not to get. 😢
If it works - happy listening! And enjoy it.
my rockbox dont show album cover, why?
it's possible that cover is in incompatible (with rockbox) size or format. You'd better off using plain JPEG (not progressive one or JP2000) and 500x500 size
Anyways to do this via Android? I haven't owned a Windows computer in over a decade
Hi, no unfortunately i don’t think it is possible
the iphone 4s is a better option, is a more robust ipod touch alternative with everything needed and is super cheap.
Does the iPhone 4s have an app that accurately mimics the iPod “wheel” interface?
That wheel control is what drew me and kept me on the iPod for actual music listening .
Also, is the battery easy to change and available ?
nice, but is NO the classic is always win. the only thing that call me attention is the rawsberry pi spotify on it with wireless and the green theme OMG IS AMAZIN
ok so fuck rockbox
Sounds interesting but the group running this project sound a little to political for me. I’ll stay away for now. I listen to music to escape reality. 😢
“The group … sounds … too political for me.”
Wow, so they force-play podcasts while running the iPod? That’s too far.
Waaaawaaaa crybaby
@@JOHNTITOR-kg9zj pound sand snowflake.
There's no such thing as a 7th Gen iPod. There's is only the various versions of the iPod Classic, which was called 6th Gen by Apple.
everymac.com/systems/apple/ipod/specs/ipod-classic-late-2008-2g-specs.html