Managing Devices

podkit supports managing multiple iPod devices, each with its own quality settings, artwork preferences, and sync configuration. This guide covers how to configure and work with devices.

Multiple Devices

You can register any number of devices in your config file. Each device gets a name that you use to reference it on the command line:

[devices.classic]
volumeUuid = "ABCD-1234"
volumeName = "CLASSIC"
quality = "high"

[devices.nano]
volumeUuid = "EFGH-5678"
volumeName = "NANO"
quality = "medium"
artwork = false

[defaults]
device = "classic"

In this example, classic is a high-capacity iPod that gets the best quality audio, while nano uses medium quality and skips artwork to save space.

Setting a Default Device

Set the default device via the CLI:

podkit device default classic

Or in your config file’s [defaults] section:

[defaults]
device = "classic"

With a default set, podkit sync targets the default device automatically. To show the current default or clear it:

podkit device default          # Show current default
podkit device default --clear  # Clear the default

Referencing Devices on the CLI

Use --device (or -d) to target a specific device by its config name:

# Sync to a specific device
podkit sync --device nano

# Show device info
podkit device info classic

# List all registered devices
podkit device list

If you omit --device, podkit uses the default device from your config. If no default is set and multiple devices are configured, podkit will prompt you to choose.

Device Settings

Each device section supports the following options:

Option	Description	Default
volumeUuid	Filesystem UUID for auto-detection	Required
volumeName	Volume label (used in mount paths)	Required
quality	Unified quality preset (audio + video)	Global setting
audioQuality	Audio-specific quality override	Global setting
videoQuality	Video-specific quality override	Global setting
artwork	Whether to sync album artwork	true

Per-device settings override global settings. This lets you use lossless audio on a high-capacity Classic while using compressed audio on a space-constrained Nano. See Quality Settings for a detailed guide.

You can also configure per-device artist transforms to clean up messy artist lists. See Artist Transforms.

See Also

• Quality Settings for per-device audio and video quality
• Artist Transforms for cleaning up artist names
• Supported Devices for iPod model compatibility
• Adding a Device for registering new devices
• Configuration for full config file reference