- A 1st Generation iPod Nano - (Check if your player is supported by rockbox here)
- A backup of all the data on the iPod
- Install RockBox (An Open Source Jukebox Firmware)
- You can download the current build from here - http://build.rockbox.org/
- Connect the 1st Generation iPod Nano to the PC via USB
- Connect it to the PC in Disk Mode
- Pressing both the Menu and the Select (center) buttons reboots the Nano
- As the Nano is rebooting if you hold the Play and the Select (center) button it will reboot into Disk Mode
- Extract the contents of the file downloaded into the root directory of the iPod Nano
- Explore the contents of the iPod with win explorer. You will see a directory called .rockbox (NOTE: Do not change the name of this directory or any of its sub-directories)
- Now, In order to make your player load and execute the Rockbox firmware you have just installed, you will need to install the Rockbox bootloader (next step)
- Run the iPodPatcher
- Download ipodpatcher.exe from here and run it
- Follow the instructions
- Congratulations you have a iPod that dual boots Rockbox and the Apple OS firmware
- REMEMBER the patcher installs the RockBox as the default OS
- Now to boot into the RockBox firmware
- Do nothing Reboot the iPod Nano – it boots RockBox by default
- And to boot into the Apple OS firmware -
- Reboot the iPod Nano pressing both the Menu and the Select (center) buttons
- Hold the Menu key to reboot to the Apple OS firmware
- For more details on the installation visit this link
- Encode your favorite videos
- To be played on the 1st Generation iPod Nano using WinFF from - http://biggmatt.com/winff/ - WinFF is a GUI for the command line video converter, FFMPEG
IMPORTANT NOTE :-
If anything goes wrong you can restore your iPod Nano Apple OS firmware using iTunes’ Restore utility. Just remember - In order to ensure that you do not damage your iPod, before disconnecting your cable be sure that you see the “Ok to Disconnect” message on your iPod.
