Adding a Device

Before you can sync music to an iPod, you need to register it with podkit. This page covers automatic and manual device registration.

Auto-Detection with `podkit device add`

The easiest way to register a device is to plug it in and let podkit detect it:

# With the iPod mounted, auto-detect and register
podkit device add -d classic

# Specify mount point explicitly
podkit device add -d classic --path /Volumes/IPOD

# Add with quality settings
podkit device add -d nano --quality medium --no-artwork

# Add with separate audio/video quality
podkit device add -d classic --audio-quality max --video-quality high

podkit reads the volume UUID and name from the mounted filesystem and adds the device to your config file. The first device added is automatically set as the default.

Changing Device Settings

After adding a device, you can update its settings with podkit device set:

# Set quality on an existing device
podkit device set -d classic --quality max

# Set audio and video quality separately
podkit device set -d nano --audio-quality medium --video-quality low

# Disable artwork
podkit device set -d nano --no-artwork

# Reset a setting to use the global default
podkit device set -d classic --clear-quality

Manual Configuration

You can also add a device by editing ~/.config/podkit/config.toml directly:

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

Finding the Volume UUID

The easiest way to find your iPod’s volume UUID is with the scan command:

podkit device scan

This shows the volume name, UUID, size, and mount point for each connected iPod.

Alternatively, you can use platform tools directly. On macOS:

diskutil info /Volumes/IPOD | grep "Volume UUID"

On Linux:

sudo blkid /dev/sdX1

Configuration Options

Option	Description	Required
`volumeUuid`	Filesystem UUID used to identify the device	Yes
`volumeName`	Volume label shown in Finder/file manager	Yes
`quality`	Transcoding quality preset for this device	No
`artwork`	Whether to sync album artwork	No

The volumeUuid uniquely identifies the device regardless of which port or mount point it uses. The volumeName is the label shown when the iPod mounts (e.g., “IPOD”, “CLASSIC”).

Removing a Device

To unregister a device:

podkit device remove -d classic

This removes the device entry from your config file. It does not modify anything on the iPod itself.