iPodLinux on iPod Classic

I’ve kept an eye on the iPodLinux project since I got my 120GB iPod Classic back in 2007, I was never able to try out the fruits of the project as the last supported model was the one prior to the Classic & from the description of the site, the reason was the Classic & newer models used an encrypted firmware.
I was bored tonight & decided to revisit the project to see if any progress had been made & found the site no longer loaded, reading up on the wikipedia page revealed freemyipod which lists the device as supported, so I gave it a go.

Why would you want to do this?

Support for file formats not offered by Apple e.g FLAC & OGG

Not being tied to an instance of iTunes on a specific computer

Installation is only supported via Linux or Windows & is fairly straightforward, I went with the “no iTunes installed” path on Windows and was done in a few minutes. Only sightly annoying thing is that the device needs to be formatted as part of the install process.

Why would you not want to do this?

Rockbox interface is clunkier than the Apple one

Losing the ability to use iTunes to sync music (device presents itself as just another drive to computer, you need to manage getting the music on the device yourself)

I think It was worth the effort to have gained some flexibility & if the interface is really an issue, it is an open source project, so just roll up the sleeves and get involved!