Free firmware for the iPod Video · latest: 0.7.0-alpha
The classic feel, free for your iPod Video.
ProkBox5g is free, open-source firmware for the iPod Video (5th generation and 5.5). Drag your music on, play almost any format, and enjoy audiobooks the way they should work.
- Drag and dropCopy music on and off over USB. No sync app needed.
- Every formatMP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus, WAV and many more.
- Audiobooks done properlyChapters, playback speed and a resume point for every book.
- Free, nothing to unlockGPL-licensed, with the full source code. Built on Rockbox.
The road to 1.0#
0.8, the first pre-release: music, audiobooks, drag-and-drop over USB, basic video and a music visualiser. Later 0.8 updates add Photos and wider hardware testing.
1.0, the finish line:
- Album Flow, a browser that flips through your albums’ cover art;
- sleep and hibernation, so the iPod wakes instantly and rarely needs a full shut-off;
- a games SDK for richer games;
- public, tested hardware references for the iPod Video’s main processor (PP5022) and video processor (BCM2722);
- complete user and technical documentation.
After 1.0, in no particular order (not a priority list, and no dates): smart playlists (Top 25 Most Played, Favourites), Smart Mixes, dark mode, a warm screen filter for night use, custom EQ, more languages, faster library updates after you copy music on, a companion app, soft subtitles for video, easier use of very large flash cards on Macs, one download for flash and hard-drive iPods, USB extras (maybe), our own install and recovery, and more games.
Giving back: once ProkBox5g is stable at 1.2, we’ll start sending fixes and improvements back to Rockbox, the project this is built on.
Safe to try#
Apple’s own software stays on your iPod. If you ever want it back, hold Menu while the iPod starts up. The guide explains how to install, update and go back.