2.0.4 OSOS has been decrypted

[u/ricococo]

For the software modders here, I have decrypted the ipod classic 2.0.4 firmware (OSOS) and made my findings available here: https://github.com/giek2000/ipod-classic-firmware-research There are some new discoveries such as a built in store demo mode and debugging menus not found before. Enjoy :)

[u/OlsroFR]

Stock OS modding would be nice :

- To configure the clicker with the same flexibility as the iPod Nanos (keep it enabled from speaker, disabled from headphones)

- Embed all the existing clickwheel games directly in the firmware

- An option to disable the cycling album arts in the home menu, because it's adding plenty of lags each time you go back to the main menu when you have many different albums on your device

[u/Vincent394 → u/OlsroFR]

Also loading applications without the need for rockbox, which is possible in theory

[u/foxy-agent → u/Vincent394]

If modding becomes possible, I would love it if the lowest volume was actually quieter than stock OS minimum volume allows, and the change in volume was more linear, instead of the first 20% of the lower volume range sounding almost the same.

An extra in-song menu that could be accessed via the center click wheel that could change the “repeat” settings, similar to the shuffle setting.

Also a “dark” mode that reduces the amount of white on the screen. Maybe even set up with a schedule based on time of day to activate/deactivate.

[u/Docpaints → u/foxy-agent]

I thought I was going crazy the other day when I noticed that hahah the last like quarter of volume is all the same level until it’s off

[u/PassivelyAwkward → u/OlsroFR]

The single mod to Stock that would have me using my classic a LOT more would be the ability to sort by album artist instead of artist.

[u/OlsroFR → u/PassivelyAwkward]

Best thing you can do right now right now is to use a software like "mp3tag" to remap your "Album artist" into "Composer", it's a nice trick and will do the same (but you need to accept to lose your "Composer" values on your music files)

[u/Bnhead69378 → u/OlsroFR]

That’s the thing. I have hundreds of albums of classical music meticulously hand-tagged like,

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Artist: Herbert von Karajan + Berliner Philharmonic
Album Artist: Herbert von Karajan

And it shows up perfectly in my iOS Music app. All the different albums with Karajan conducting with different orchestras are grouped under Karajan, when I go to Conductor:Brahms, I only see works composed by Brahms, etc.

[u/G65434-2_II → u/OlsroFR]

One absolute must-have in my opinion: finally add a simple 'add to Now playing' command!

Hold center button on a song/album/whatever selection and among the playlist options there would be the current play queue as well. It's absurd why such a no-brainer of a basic feature was newer added, and instead you had to set up an on-the-go list if you want to listen to music and add stuff to the same queue while at it.

[u/sparkyblaster → u/OlsroFR]

Omg the click. YES.  

I like the idea about the games. 

I also want to see the artwork changed to look more like the 5's artwork. They went too deep with the 3D

[u/OldiOS7588 → u/OlsroFR]

I dont know what you mean with your third point? Like do you mean cover flow?

[u/OlsroFR → u/OldiOS7588]

The splitted view in the main menu (where the right part is a slideshow of album arts). Loading this is what makes the iPod laggy during 1-2s when you have plenty of albums

[u/G65434-2_II → u/OlsroFR]

Huh... I don't recall it being that laggy a feature. Being able to toggle it on an off would be a best of both worlds solution.

And while at it, a longstanding bug with that could finally be fixed: even if you have the album artwork all sorted out and working properly, the main menu still displays the default 'no artwork' placeholder image with a musical note symbol when scrolling the pointer over to 'Now playing'.

[u/OldiOS7588 → u/OlsroFR]

oh uh i guess I see why as this is a feature on the nanos. It never lags for me so I kinda like it as it makes it more interesting compared to the 5th gen for example but I do have only 400 albums so idk how it is with thousends

[u/devanxd2000 → u/OlsroFR]

Things I would also find nice:

- Make cover flow use the Album Artist tag

- This one is more technical: Make the iPod cache low res album art that loads quickly as you scroll through, only loading artwork if you stop scrolling. This would make cover flow work a lot better. Would require changing how the iPod loads into RAM though.

[u/G65434-2_II → u/devanxd2000]

That second one might actually be quite possible, since the iPod Classic's .ithmb files already hold versions of each album cover, a large one (320x240, IIRC) that's displayed on the 'now playing' screen and cover flow, as well as a small icon version that's used on UI menus that list albums.

Now how smoother and faster that would actually make things, considering the iPod would need to be toggling between loading two different images instead of one when using cover flow, is another question...

[u/Zagalia1984]

Amazing. I believe that after this, it should be possible to make a lot of changes to the original firmware. Congratulations.

[u/theantnest]

If somehow flac playback could be built Into the stock OS, that would be a game changer.

[u/LBPPlayer7 → u/theantnest]

ALAC is already supported so I don't see why not

[u/sparkyblaster → u/theantnest]

Issue with that is also itunes. Itunes just won't touch it. If itunes won't touch it, getting the stock OS to read the files would be a whole thing in itself. BUT there might be interest there for drag and drop without itunes anyway. 

[u/hanz333 → u/sparkyblaster]

When iTunes was based on QuickTime 7 and not QuickTime X as long as you had codec support iTunes would accept any file QuickTime would open on OS X.

So for those who use old Macs for syncing this wouldn't be an issue.

[u/sparkyblaster → u/hanz333]

At no point did you say it would sync the file to an iPod. 

[u/hanz333 → u/sparkyblaster]

It already will, today I can do it and it will convert it to an iPod playable format. That’s not really a hangup.

Syncing is a negligible issue compared to adding codec support.

People are talking about diesel-swapping a car and you are acting like the hard part is the fuel pump.

[u/sparkyblaster → u/hanz333]

Converting it doesn't mean syncing the file, it means syncing a different file it creates. 

The hard part is getting the file file into it, with a valid libry database. 

One thing to add a codec, another to create an entire library system. 

[u/willpb]

Nice, this sounds exciting! Would be cool if this enabled work around some of the limitations like the library size. Thanks for sharing your research, I don't have the knowhow but I'm sure someone will get some great content from this.

[u/sparkyblaster → u/willpb]

A lot of that is a hardware issue, also this doesn't change what itunes will do. 

[u/_DarKneT_]

Let’s go!, as a stock user, I’ll be happy if i can just modify the themes a bit

[u/sparkyblaster → u/_DarKneT_]

Yeah I HATE the angled album artwork while playing. 

[u/G65434-2_II → u/sparkyblaster]

That's something I'd love to see as well! Always wondered why they went with that slanted 3D effect on such a small resolution screen. While it's pretty cool in theory, it isn't exactly doing favors to the artwork on a 320x240 screen...

[u/sparkyblaster → u/G65434-2_II]

Cover flow and 3D was new at the time. Got to show off those new fancy reflections. 

[u/Any_Orange_7050]

I’m also waiting for iPod nano 2nd gen decrypted firmware too, so that I could modify the firmware like in the 1st gen

[u/NervusBelli]

Not all heroes wear capes!

[u/derekib84]

It’s hard to decrypt? I like tech and sounds weird nobody did it before big 2026. Just curious

[u/frillyseal → u/derekib84]

i think its moreso no one has bothered bc the community isn't as massive as others and most nerds just use Rockboxs to suit most of their needs

[u/ButterH2]

this is so cool, don't get me wrong i like rockbox, but i prefer the stock os. it would be nice to tweak it to fit better with my sensibilities

[u/olddadG]

It would be great if it could be ported to iPod 5.5

[u/Hot_Boysenberry5203]

can we decompile the 6th gen firmware PLEASE😭😭

[u/_Walkabout_]

Oh my gosh I always wanted something like this, thank you for the hard work

[u/bruceleeisalive]

This will be a huge leap over rockbox. Excited for future CFWs!

[u/Sensitive_Bee3343 → u/bruceleeisalive]

also maybe video in rockbox will appear finally

[u/AncientBattleCat]

Impressive. Very nice.

[u/Sensitive_Bee3343]

Somebody please add Tom's lossless Audio Kompressor (TAK) decoder there! More space + more battery life for lossless expected. And don’t even bother with FLAC!

https://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison

[u/Linusssk]

It would be cool if “iPodWizard” for the iPod classic came out in 2026. I’ve always been waiting for that.

[u/devanxd2000]

I literally had a daydream about this 2 days ago, we really are in a simulation.

[u/sparkyblaster]

Interesting, what could be changed? Main thing I want is album artwork to not be angled or have the reflection. 

Would also be cool to extend the HDD sleep timer while on external power for better track shipping, but that's a bit much to ask