how-to record on your ipod (for free)

Posted Dec 30th 2004 1:51AM by Phillip Torrone
Filed under: ipod hacks

uncrippled

apple cripples recording on an ipod so belkin and griffin then have to sell us add-on devices for over $50 that can only record at 8khz, which is all pretty shitty. apparently (the rumor is) apple does this so people don't use their ipods to record stuff they think we shouldn't, like concerts, whatever.

but don't worry, there's a way around it and you can record at high quality, all for free.

1. Install Podzilla on your iPod (not all models are supported).
2. Boot in to Linux on your iPod.
3. Go to Extras > Recordings, choose 8,32,44.1,88.2 or 96kHz the higher, the better quality.
4. Record via Line In a microphone or even use your headphones.
5. Boot back in to the normal iPod OS plug in to the doc, grab your files from the iPod in the "Recordings" folder.

i suspect the next version of the ipod won't allow booting in to linux and/or this type of recording. enjoy it while you can.

with all the podcasting people out there apple should consider not crippling our ipods so we can all use ipods to record, apple could do this now with a simple software update... or i guess i can keep booting in to linux and never update this ipod or just buy a cheap recorder, bah.

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. pt: for what it's worth i love the ipod hacks. they're interesting, challenging and, given the recent surge in ipod sales, they're relevant. keep up the good work!!!

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by mobilexile

2. I have to agree: Enough iPod Hacks already! I mean they are cool and useful and all, if you have an iPod, but don't you think some variety would be nice?

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Nils

3. #7 : I'd rather buy any of the other players who have more features, and doesn't require strange hacks to be used properly. If you're happy with your overpriced piece of sh... er, electronics, fine for you, but there's other people who'd like to read about more interesting hacks (as #11 finely said). Hack-a-day started fine, but the last entries seems less and less interesting, i hope it'll change for the better (let's say more hardaware hacks ?).

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Florent

4. I am having the same trouble sko is having. I suspect there may be something we need to do to "activate" recording on the iPod. In other words, I've never bought the Belkin recorder or anything similar. As a result, I can't find a "Recordings" folder anywhere. And I've looked everywhere. I also can't get it to record for very long. Can anyone point me to a good tutorial on iPod recording? Maybe there's something obvious I'm missing.

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Matt

5. Um... this is hackaday, right? How about changing the name to ipodaday... and how about getting things at least worthy of being called "hacks". Thanks!

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Jim

6. sko, what do you mean? you can record as much as you want and the files are exactly where i said they are, in the recordings folder. cheers, pt

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by phillip torrone

7. i like ipod hacks, but this one is useless: - still limited to 5 sec of recording - i can not find my recorded files

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by sko

8. Um. If you don't like reading about iPod hacks go somewhere else perhaps? The internet's pretty big, I hear.

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by quin

9. keep sending those iPod Hacks, It would help though, that the people without and ipod would keep there wide traps shut, and go out and buy one. GIVE US MORE IPOD HACKS

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by PHiB3r OPTIx

10. agreed with #3, the only interesting thing that these hacks demonstrate is that the stock iPods seems to be unbelievably crippled by Apple itself

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Florent

11. dude, enough of the ipod hacks!

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by tom

12. This installed after a few tries and the Linux part ran, but it wouldn't boot back into iPod. Some mp3s played at the wrong speed and some where garbled on playback. After restarting with the two outside buttons held down to go into disk mode, I reinstalled the firmware with the latest iPod updater and then with iTunes put all my music backon. I'll wait a few more versions before trying this again.

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Scott Waters

13. PLEASE stop with the ipod hacks :(

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by ant

14. I take it there is no way to set levels... should I be using an attenuator cable when recording a concert?

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by John

15. im having a problem. i have a 4th generation ipod that i booted linux onto. now when i unhook it from my computer the apple logo appears then a folder with a caution sign on it, then it reboots itself and does the same thing. when i plug the ipod back into my computer the ipod says ok to disconnect, so the software does not think there is an ipod connected. what should i do?

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Mike

16. In reference to 4. The iPod is unbelievably crippled by Apple. The 3rd Gen has a dual 90MHz processor but is underclocked at 44MHz. In reference to 1. The 4th Gen (Clickwheel) and iPod Mini are not yet supported. I am currently (and have been for a LONG time) dual booting the native iPod OS and Linux. I find that Linux has many many more features than the native OS. The only thing holding me back from deleting the native OS is the fact that it tries to load everything into memory because it does not have smart caching (did that come out right?), which leads to a "malloc failed" error when trying to play huge .WAV files and somewhat staticy playback on MP3s with higher bitrates. In reference to 11. There was quite a bit of hacking involved in this project. A large portion was guesswork because the iPod firmware is closed-source. The rest of it deals mainly with hacking the uClinux kernel to run on the iPod, trust me, there was a lot of hacking invloved here. In reference to 22. It is not very early beta. If you scrounge through the forums and the supplementary websites, there are applications and hacks that solve a lot of those problems. hdparm for one is a battery saver, it spins down the harddrive when idle for x number of seconds (where x is defined by the user). In reference to 52. The root directory is "/" (without the quotes) on your /dev/hda3 partition. In reference to 61. If you backed up the MBR and tossed the apple firmware into a .bin, then it should be possible to dd it back in.

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by integer zero

17. yay

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by jason

18. Loook,, enough of the BS.. as far as I am concerned, this site is provided to us (the internet community) for posting unusual and different methods of modifying expensive stuff to do what you would really like it to do versus what the company wants you to do and wants you to buy if you want to do something else other than what they explicitily what you to do.. Personally I think all the various hacks listed on this site i-pod or not are really cool.. Putting requests to ban any kind of modification to any device or software which may not be intended by corporate america I think is BS and subverts the freedom of speech and exchange of ideas within the community to spawn what may be the next generation of tech.. As stated before, if you do not like the content provided by this web site. Go else where, or start your own.. Other wise get off and shut up about it, or do something constructive to support/promote it in a positive manner.. Complaining about insignificant stuff is best left to kids/immature individuals and people who lack the grasp of reality and it's true nature.. Thank you for your time and attention to this comment. tGk

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by gamekeeper

19. When used on my 3g 20gb with a line-level source, the audio is overloaded when mic input is selected (of course, its amped), but when line in is selected, the audio level is very low and lacking fidelity. With recordings longer than ~5 sec, the audio also becomes garbled. Is this known/common or is it something wrong on my behalf?

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by rob

20. "Sorry the 1 and 2g ipods do not support recording." Directly from the ipodlinux.org forums.. http://www.ipodlinux.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=774&highlight=recording+1st

Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by RikiHo

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