iPods & Rockbox players

OrgZ recognizes iPods and Rockbox-based players when you plug them in, identifies the exact model, and reads their music library into the app. This page covers connecting a device, what OrgZ can detect, and how it remembers each device.

Supported devices

Device	How OrgZ reads it	Writable?
iPod running Apple firmware ("stock")	Parses the on-device iTunesDB (or iTunesSD on Shuffles, SQLite on the Nano 5G)	Read / write - see Supported Hardware
iPod running Rockbox	Walks the filesystem and reads tags with TagLib	Read / write
Other Rockbox players (Sansa, iRiver, Cowon, FiiO, ...)	Same filesystem walk	Read / write
Generic USB players	Removable drive with audio files	Read / write

Writing to stock iPods

OrgZ writes each generation's native database directly - the plain iTunesDB, the hash58-checksummed variant (Classic, Nano 3G/4G), the Nano 5G's SQLite library, and the Shuffle's iTunesSD play order - no iTunes required. Tracks the device can't decode are transcoded on the way in (lossless where the hardware allows), and on Shuffles you can drag rows in the track grid to change the device's play order. See Supported Hardware for every model, its database tier, and its transcode target. The Nano 6G/7G and iPod Touch stay read-only: their databases require a signature with no open-source implementation.

Connecting

Plug the device in over USB. OrgZ detects it automatically and adds it to a Devices group in the sidebar - with a product image for recognized iPod generations, or a fallback icon. A scan starts immediately; tracks stream into the library grid as they're read, and the activity panel shows progress.

Selecting the device shows its info bar with everything OrgZ could identify:

• Model: the decoded iPod identity (e.g. iPod Classic 6G 80 GB). Click the Model label to toggle to the raw hardware model instead - handy on modded iPods, where this reveals the storage adapter (e.g. iFlash) behind the Apple shell.
• Apple model number (e.g. MA446LL/A), serial, and FireWire GUID.
• Firmware: shows both where applicable, e.g. iPod OS 1.3 / Rockbox 3.15.
• Format: normalized to Windows (FAT32), Mac (HFS+), or Linux (ext4).
• Capacity bar: audio vs. other vs. free space.

Where the identity comes from

OrgZ pulls identity from whichever source a given device and firmware mode exposes - SysInfo, SCSI INQUIRY VPD data, Apple opcode 0xC6, the Rockbox target string, and (on Windows) the WMI disk descriptor. No single source is complete, which is why OrgZ keeps a per-device record (below).

The .orgz/device record

The first time you select a device, OrgZ writes a small text file to /.orgz/device on the device itself. It's a plain Key=Value record (with a header comment) and is safe to delete: OrgZ regenerates it.

Its purpose is to accumulate identity across firmware boots. When an iPod boots Rockbox, the USB bridge hides the Apple serial and GUID; when it boots Apple firmware, those become visible but the Rockbox version doesn't. By merging what each boot reveals, OrgZ builds a complete picture over time. The record tracks when the device was last seen in each mode (LastSeenStock, LastSeenRockbox).

Rockbox devices also get a /.orgz/library.db cache so repeat connects don't have to re-scan and re-tag every file.

Refreshing identity

If you edit /.orgz/device by hand, or reboot the device into a different firmware mode, use Refresh device info on the device to re-fingerprint it without unplugging and replugging.

Recognized generations

OrgZ ships product imagery for these iPod generations (others still work - they just fall back to a generic icon):

iPod 4G · Photo · Mini 1G/2G · Video 5G/5.5G · Classic 6G/6.5G/7G · Nano 1G/2G/7G · Shuffle 4G

Next: Playlists & syncing covers browsing the device library, sending playlists, and ejecting safely.