PodRacer

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Transfer music to an iPod from Linux without iTunes.

Plug in the iPod, open PodRacer, drag music over.

Midnight-commander-style two-pane UI: browse your music folder on the left, see what is on the iPod on the right. Manual sync, automatic duplicate avoidance, auto-transcode via ffmpeg.

Compatibility

nano 4G+ and classic 6G/7G (iTunesSD format) are planned.

Systems

Linux only, 64-bit: x86_64 (amd64) and ARM64 (aarch64) binaries, plus ARM64 via pip or the flatpak. ARM64 builds pass CI smoke tests but are not yet verified on real ARM hardware (no Pi or SBC on hand). Runs on any init system: systemd, OpenRC, runit, sysvinit. There is no systemd in the code; the device layer talks to the udisks2 daemon over D-Bus instead of udev or udisksctl. Non-systemd systems need udisks2 running and a desktop session to authorize mounts (elogind, or a local console login).

Verified on systemd distros; Artix and Devuan are next on the test list.

Want to help?

The biggest help: a real iTunesDB dump from a device we cannot verify ourselves. Nano 1G-2G especially, but any classic or mini helps, and a Shuffle 1G/2G dump would unlock the order-only DB work. One command:

python3 scripts/dump_itunesdb.py

then open a PR adding the file under fixtures/public/<model>/, or send it along. Heads up: the DB lists your whole music library (titles, artists, play counts), so only share one you are comfortable with.

I'd love to buy some iPods to test on if possible. I have a Buy Me a Cofee

Themes

Six of the twenty-one built-in themes, rendered in demo mode (synthetic data only). Run ./podracer --demo to preview any theme with a mock library, nothing real is touched.

Run it

• From PyPI: pipx install podracer_mapple (or pip install podracer_mapple inside a venv), then launch podracer from a terminal.
• From the repo: scripts/build_onefile.sh produces ./podracer (one file, ~90 MB; podracer-arm64 on ARM64). Symlink it into your PATH: ln -s "$PWD/podracer" ~/.local/bin/podracer. Launch from a terminal or double-click.
• From source: PYTHONPATH=src python3 -m podracer.main

pip installs the app only. It still needs ffmpeg (tag reading + transcoding) and udisksctl (auto-mounting) on your system.

Plug in the iPod, and that's the whole setup. Enjoy the click of the wheel.

The podracer_db library

PodRacer is built on a small, standalone library: podracer_db parses and writes the classic iTunesDB format, the database on nano 1G–3G, classic 1G–5.5G, and mini. Pure stdlib, zero dependencies, no Qt.

It is also handy on its own. Point it at the iTunesDB file from a device or a backup and you get every track with its tags, play counts, and ratings, plus the playlists, smart-playlist rules included:

from pathlib import Path
from podracer_db import parse_db, write_db

lib = parse_db(Path("iTunesDB").read_bytes())
for track in lib.tracks:
    print(track.artist or "Unknown", "-", track.display_title)

# And back the other way: serialize the library to a valid DB,
# hash58 checksum included, ready for a device to boot.
db_bytes = write_db(lib, firewire_guid="0011223344556677")

The write side is hardware-verified: a PodRacer-written DB boots on the real nano 3G with its full library, and the codec round-trips the device's own DB byte-for-byte. The codec is the heart of the app, but it works just as happily without a UI.

Development

• Python 3.13, PySide6 (Qt6) UI in src/
• podracer_db in packages/podracer_db/ (its own PyPI dist, see above)
• ffmpeg for tagging and transcoding to MP3
• scripts/extract_fixtures.py pulls the DB and sample tracks from a real iPod for tests
• Tests: python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -t . -v (stdlib only)
• Python floor: both dists declare >=3.11 (CI runs 3.13); the onefile and flatpak bundle their own Python, so the floor only affects source and pip installs