Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

1984power

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 28, 2017
38
14
Hello everyone!

I own a 2001 Quicksilver G4 tower and a 1st gen iPod, having recently installed OS X Puma on the Mac since I wanted to make an “era-appropriate” 1st gen iPod syncing setup. My iPod is on the latest software for the 1st gen, version 1.5. Unfortunately, even the last version of iTunes to support OS X Puma (4.7.1) is too old to recognize iPod 1st gen software 1.5.

Before iTunes gained support for updating and restoring iPods, Apple released various Mac and PC apps called “iPod Software Updater” that performed such functions. From what I know, downgrading my iPod to an older software version using one of these would be the only way to make it sync with OS X Puma (if you know of another method, please let me know). However, I couldn’t find any working Mac versions of this software online. Windows versions are of no use to the 1st gen iPod (it’s completely Mac-only I believe) and the one “iPod Software Updater” link on the Apple Support website downloads an empty .dmg.

Does anyone around here happen to have a copy of one of these old “iPod Software Updater” apps? These would be, of course, PowerPC apps, so I chose this forum instead of the iPod one.


Thanks,
1984power
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hastings101

Project Alice

macrumors 68020
Jul 13, 2008
2,078
2,158
Post Falls, ID
Hello everyone!

I own a 2001 Quicksilver G4 tower and a 1st gen iPod, having recently installed OS X Puma on the Mac since I wanted to make an “era-appropriate” 1st gen iPod syncing setup. My iPod is on the latest software for the 1st gen, version 1.5. Unfortunately, even the last version of iTunes to support OS X Puma (4.7.1) is too old to recognize iPod 1st gen software 1.5.

Before iTunes gained support for updating and restoring iPods, Apple released various Mac and PC apps called “iPod Software Updater” that performed such functions. From what I know, downgrading my iPod to an older software version using one of these would be the only way to make it sync with OS X Puma (if you know of another method, please let me know). However, I couldn’t find any working Mac versions of this software online. Windows versions are of no use to the 1st gen iPod (it’s completely Mac-only I believe) and the one “iPod Software Updater” link on the Apple Support website downloads an empty .dmg.

Does anyone around here happen to have a copy of one of these old “iPod Software Updater” apps? These would be, of course, PowerPC apps, so I chose this forum instead of the iPod one.


Thanks,
1984power
You mean this?

Edit: turns out while the page is up, the actual file download is gone... Will try to do some more digging.

Try this. It says it has all the ipod software up to that point (2006). I'm using a modern mac right now so I can't install it to test, but I'm betting it's what you need. The download link is not dead this time and I also added it to the wayback machine.
This macintosh garden link also includes an updater, but being from a CD image it's quite a bit larger to download.
 
Last edited:

1984power

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 28, 2017
38
14
Thank you very much @Project Alice and @B S Magnet.

Both the 2006 updater and Macintosh Garden CD download didn’t help since they only contained the latest iPod software at the time, version 1.5 (the same I had before). However, the Wayback Machine link to Apple’s website did work, and I was able to get software version 1.3 on my iPod. Although it doesn’t “era-match” my iTunes version (4.7.1), syncing works perfectly.

@B S Magnet’s Wayback Machine link was for iPod Software Updater 1.3.1 and, in the meantime, I managed to get version 1.3.0 as well. These pieces of software have to be preserved. I’m thinking of uploading them to Macintosh Garden, I think they definitely qualify as “abandonware”…
 

z970

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2017
3,589
4,541
These pieces of software have to be preserved. I’m thinking of uploading them to Macintosh Garden, I think they definitely qualify as “abandonware”…

Don't hesitate at all, as long as it's at least 10 years old.

Even if it's close, save it a while, then upload the very moment it hits the decade mark.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Raging Dufus
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.