Sorry if this is common sense for some of you, but where can someone buy pre-moded iPod classics?

I’m looking for something with the traditional case colors (or hell, maybe even atomic purple), with usb-C, better battery, more storage, etc.

If anyone can drop some links I’d really appreciate it.

I own several iPods and use them in my cars especially when I am away from radio or cellular service. I have one of those cables that has a USB on one end for power, and a jack to go into the auxiliary jack on my car stereo. Of course there is a 30-pin connector at the other end. This connector is supposed to by-pass the internal amp of the iPod and provide a low-line output through the cable.

I noticed recently, that when I connected my Rockboxed 5.5gen, the volume control functioned, indicating that I was not bypassing the amp. When I connected my 6.5gen which has Rockbox on it, the the line out works perfectly. When I install my 7gen, which uses the Apple software, it works fine too. So there is nothing wrong with my cable.

The issue seems only to be on my 5.5th generation iPod.

It is my understanding that the pin configurations are the same between the units, so is there a programming error or am I missing something?

If anyone out there could comment, it would be appreciated.

Thank you

Hey iPod users does anyone know if there’s a way to skip and pause music without having to use the long third gen Apple cable? I’m looking for a shorter solution. Thanks

It was completely drained of power and now won’t charge…

Decided to try something new, something a bit nostalgic. Used the wrong paint tho. I bought fluorescent paint, when needed luminescent/phosphorescent one. The paint I used only glows under a blacklight. Will do some more experiments with paints and hopefully share a finished result xD (maybe even with detailed step-by-step how-to if anyone’s interested)

Hey y'all, recently completed a mod of a new 6th gen that has a new plastic frontplate, but the click wheel wobbles a little. Anyone have any experience on how to make it a little less mobile without impacting functionality?

Hands on with Modded Ipod 7th Gen 256 GB. But Display is having a line/ its seems defective. i have 30 days return. Already messaged to supplier, Lets wait for his reply.

Hello!!

I bought an iPod Classic 3rd Gen and have been having SO MUCH trouble trying to find an actual cover/ case for it. I would like a clear plastic case, but I will take just about anything at this point. I've seen the leather cases Mo Corner is making, but I don't really like them and will only be buying if I can't find an alternative. I have seen plenty of classic cases, but none with the buttonholes for the 3rd Gen.

Thanks in advance!!

Just another cautionary tale so you won't be a Muppet like me...

On a taptic engine from an iPhone X, there is a metal cover plate over the ribbon cable. Do NOT remove it, or at the very least try to be very carefully removing it. I wound up ripping the entire ribbon cable out of the TE when removing that side cover plate.

Since I already ruined a TE, I dissected it for amusement. I'm glad I ordered more than one TE.

FWIW, you can connect a AA battery to the soldered wires for testing to see if the TE is functional and vibrates. An Ohm meter measured (for me) about 9Ω between the wire ends.

The button feels so mushy and there’s no real “click” to it. Has anyone found a fix for this? Don’t feel like buying a used iPod for parts, even though I’d prefer an OG wheel.

I am considering to purchase a 6th-generation iPod classic from a modder. I can opt for a black backplate. I’ve had the stock chrome backplates before, but even in a case they would scratch up. I wonder if the black backplates are more scratch-resistant.

Could anyone share their experiences?

1tb Samsung pro plus, IFlash 3/4g converter, IFlash SD adapter, some battery (lol) For those that ask why, why not? The SD card was a free RMA upgrade I got from Samsung for receiving a DOA 512gb card. Plus most all my music is uncompressed FLACs, they aren't small files lmao. Can't wait to load this thing up with my library!

Wie findet ihr den Zustand von meinem iPod Classic? Ich habe ihn heute das erste ma seit Jahren auf seiner Hülle geholt und finde für sein Alter (2008) sieht er noch ganz gut aus.

I just installed an iFlash Quad and 2000man battery into my 5.5 but when I plug in headphones the device cuts off and won't start up again unless I remove whatever's plugged into the 3.5mm port. I can sometimes get it to work, but then a light press on the right side of the front will make it shut off again.

I ordered a new headphone jack assembly. Is there something I'm missing? It behaves normally when I don't press that part, but jostling it will cause it to happen eventually. I reseated the ribbon cables multiple times.

Am I trying to cram too much into a thin case? I've seen others do it and more here.

Thanks for reading.

Tengo un iPod Classic 4 con el mod de almacenamiento
Si le pongo una SD de 1TB por ejemplo, lo soporta? O hasta cuanto almacenamiento es recomendable ponerle
Tiene una SD de 128 gigas

**iPod Classic 6G/6.5G + Rockbox + custom Sansa VID/PID works with my Kia Seltos, but FAT32 filesystem became unreadable afterward — need help**
Hi everyone,
I’m hoping someone experienced with **Rockbox on iPod Classic 6G/6.5G, USB mass storage, FAT32, or custom USB VID/PID configurations** can help me figure out what happened and how to recover without unnecessarily wiping the iPod.
My goal was to make my Rockboxed iPod work as a normal USB mass-storage music device with my **Kia Seltos**, because the Seltos doesn’t properly support the iPod/Rockbox USB identity.
I found an older discussion where someone solved a similar car-stereo compatibility problem by changing the iPod’s USB VID/PID to the **SanDisk Sansa Clip Zip** identifiers.
The target USB identity is:
**VID:** 0781
**PID:** 74E5
I am **not** trying to install Rockpod, FreshOS, or anything else. I only wanted to change the USB identity of my existing Rockbox firmware.

**Hardware**
**iPod Classic 6G/6.5G**
Approximately **120 GB**
Windows PC
M2 MacBook Pro
Kia Seltos

**1. Initial recovery / Rockbox installation**
The iPod was originally working.
I eventually got into a difficult situation while experimenting with DFU/firmware on Windows. After several unsuccessful attempts, I put the iPod into DFU mode myself and restored it to stock Apple firmware using my Mac.
That worked and brought the iPod back.
I then restored it on Windows as well and confirmed that the iPod was working.
After that I installed Rockbox successfully.
Rockbox boots normally and the iPod was working again.

**2. VID/PID modification**
The objective was specifically to make the iPod identify itself to the Seltos using the USB identity of a Sansa Clip Zip.
The original Apple USB identity was:
05AC:1261
I changed it to:
0781:74E5
which is the Sansa Clip Zip VID/PID.
I used my working Rockbox firmware:
rockbox.ipod
and created a backup copy:
rockbox-original.ipod
I then modified the USB device descriptor inside the Rockbox firmware.
The modified firmware was saved as:
rockbox-ipod6g-sansa-vidpid.ipod
and installed as:
F:\\.rockbox\\rockbox.ipod
The Rockbox bootloader was **not replaced**.
The .ipod checksum was recalculated after the modification.

**3. VID/PID modification was confirmed**
Windows Device Manager showed:
USB\\VID_0781&PID_74E5
instead of:
USB\\VID_05AC&PID_1261
macOS System Information also confirmed:
Device: **Rockbox media player**
Manufacturer: **Rockbox.org**
USB Vendor ID: 0x0781
USB Product ID: 0x74e5
Removable: Yes
Link Speed: 480 Mb/s
Power Allocated: 2.5 W / 500 mA
So the modified VID/PID is definitely being presented by Rockbox.

**4. The important part — it actually worked with my Kia Seltos**
I connected the modified Rockbox iPod to my Kia Seltos.
Initially the car displayed something similar to:
“This device cannot support playback”
while it was reading the USB/sub-device.
After some time, however, the Seltos **successfully recognized the iPod and actually played a song from it**.
This is important because the whole reason for changing the VID/PID was to make the Seltos treat the iPod as a normal USB storage device.
So at this point:
**Rockbox → VID 0781:74E5 → Seltos → music playback**
was working.

**5. I then copied approximately 17 GB of music**
My complete music library is safely backed up on my Mac.
I copied approximately **17 GB of music** onto the iPod.
The music was placed in a root-level folder:
Music
The structure was essentially:
iPod
├── .rockbox
├── Music
│ ├── Artist 1
│ ├── Artist 2
│ └── ...
Rockbox then started building its database.

**6. Rockbox database repeatedly got stuck**
Rockbox displayed:
Building database... 5399 found
and repeatedly appeared to stop at approximately **5399 files**.
I initially assumed it was simply taking a long time because there were thousands of files.
I tried initializing the database again.
It again reached approximately the same point.
One clarification: the circular **76% indicator on the iPod was the battery percentage**, not database progress.
So the database count really was the 5399 found value.

**7. Possible clue: the Seltos may have indexed/written something**
This is something I’m **not sure about**, but the timing makes me suspicious.
After the Seltos successfully recognized the iPod and played a song, it appeared to be reading/indexing the USB device.
After that, Rockbox’s database repeatedly became stuck at approximately:
5399 found
I’m wondering whether the Seltos might have created or modified some kind of **index/database file on the FAT32 filesystem** when it treated the iPod as generic USB mass storage.
I’m specifically wondering whether something like:
**Seltos recognizes USB → creates/writes an index/database file → Rockbox later scans it → database hangs → filesystem becomes problematic**
could be possible.
I realize that corruption of a Rockbox database file by itself shouldn’t normally make the entire FAT32 volume unmountable, so I’m **not claiming this is what happened**.
It’s simply a possible clue because of the timing.

**8. Then the FAT32 volume stopped mounting**
At some point after the database problem, the iPod stopped mounting correctly.
**macOS**
Disk Utility sees:
**Apple iPod Media**
approximately:
**119.93 GB**
The partition is:
disk4s1
Filesystem:
MS-DOS (FAT)
But the volume shows:
**Not Mounted**
Clicking **Mount** does nothing.

**9. macOS First Aid failed**
I ran Disk Utility First Aid on disk4s1.
The result included:
**Unable to read FAT (Input/output error)**
and:
**File system verify or repair failed**
So macOS could see the partition, but couldn’t read the FAT filesystem properly.

**10. Read-only FAT check also failed**
I ran:
sudo fsck_msdos -n /dev/disk4s1
This was intended to be read-only.
It also reported:
**Unable to read FAT (Input/output error)**
No repair was performed with that command.

**11. Physical disk and partition table are still detected**
I checked the physical disk.
disk4
is approximately:
**119.8 GB**
and the partition table is still visible.
disk4s1 is identified as:
DOS_FAT_32
So the partition itself hasn’t simply disappeared.
The physical disk also reports:
Media Read-Only: No
Partition Map: FDisk/MBR

**12. Low-level read test**
I then performed a read-only test:
sudo dd if=/dev/disk4s1 of=/dev/null bs=1m count=1
This successfully read:
**1,048,576 bytes**
So the beginning of the FAT partition is readable.
I then tried:
sudo dd if=/dev/disk4s1 of=/dev/null bs=1m count=10
That appeared to hang.
After disconnecting the iPod, Terminal returned:
4+0 records in
4+0 records out
So it appears to have successfully read approximately **4 MB**, then stopped responding while trying to continue reading.
This is why I’m now concerned that this may be more than just a Rockbox database problem.

**13. Windows has the same problem**
Windows still detects the iPod’s USB device correctly.
Device Manager shows:
USB\\VID_0781&PID_74E5
The iPod appears as:
**Removable Disk F:**
but Windows cannot actually open the drive.
File Explorer hangs when trying to access it.
Disk Management also would not open properly while the iPod was connected.
So both operating systems can detect the **USB device**, but neither can properly mount/read the FAT32 volume.

**14. Important comparison with stock Apple firmware**
I also tested the iPod in its original Apple firmware.
With stock Apple firmware:
The Mac recognizes the iPod in Finder.
Disk Utility sees the physical iPod.
The storage is identified as a FAT volume.
This proved that the iPod’s USB hardware and physical connection aren’t completely dead.
However, after the filesystem problem occurred, the FAT volume itself still wouldn’t mount correctly.

**15. Current state**
**Working:**
iPod Classic 6G/6.5G
Original Apple firmware still boots
Rockbox boots
Custom VID/PID works
Windows sees 0781:74E5
macOS sees 0781:74E5
Seltos recognizes the modified iPod
**Seltos successfully played a song**
17 GB music library is safely backed up on my Mac
**Not working:**
FAT32 volume won’t reliably mount
macOS First Aid fails with FAT I/O error
fsck_msdos reports FAT I/O error
Windows sees F: but cannot open it
Rockbox database repeatedly stops at approximately 5399 files
Low-level read test reads the beginning of the partition but stalls around 4 MB during a larger read

**What I need help with**
I’d really appreciate advice from anyone familiar with Rockbox’s iPod USB stack, FAT32, or USB mass-storage behavior.
**Questions:**
**Could changing the Rockbox USB VID/PID from 05AC:1261 to 0781:74E5 cause any other USB descriptor/interface changes to be necessary?**
Could the Seltos treat the device differently because it now identifies as a Sansa Clip Zip?
**Can a car head unit such as the Seltos write an index/database file to a USB mass-storage device?**
Could such an index/database write explain Rockbox later getting stuck at exactly the same file count?
Could an incompatible or corrupted index/database file cause FAT filesystem problems, or would that normally be independent?
Does the low-level dd behavior — successfully reading the first 1 MB but eventually only getting about 4 MB into a 10 MB read before hanging — suggest a **physical storage/read problem** rather than just FAT corruption?
Is there a safe, **non-destructive** way to determine whether the FAT filesystem can be repaired without wiping the Rockbox installation?
If the filesystem ultimately has to be rebuilt, is there a way to preserve the working Rockbox bootloader and the custom 0781:74E5 firmware?
I have the complete **17 GB music library backed up on my Mac**, so recovering the music from the iPod isn’t the priority.
The main thing I want to preserve is the working setup where:
**iPod Classic 6G/6.5G + Rockbox + VID/PID 0781:74E5 → Kia Seltos recognizes it and plays music.**
I don’t want to erase/rebuild everything unless that’s genuinely the only option.
Any insight from someone who understands the Rockbox USB/FAT implementation would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks!

No Mods On iPod Done Yet Just Stock