Tech Goes Boom

Fix iPod Download with vim

I figured after I went off on Cory Doctorow about iPod Download, I'd write up a little howto on "fixing" iTunes 4.7 to make it work again through the terminal. Sure you can make iTunes 4.7 play nice with iPod Download by downloading and busting out a hex editor, but why go through the trouble when we have vim hanging around? Make a copy of iTunes, and let's get to it.

In the Terminal, type:
strings /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes | grep "iPod\ D"

This should output one line:

iPod Download

This is the string we want to change. Now type in:
vim -b /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes

You're now in the incomprehensible world of vim. Welcome. Now do exactly as I say or a world of pain will ensue. In this jumbled screen of garbage type:

/Download

Now hit enter. Your cursor should end up right on top of our string "iPod Download" as it's the first occurrence in the file. Now we're going to change one of the characters here to make the iTunes' little blacklist fail. Use the arrow keys to move the cursor above the "a" in download. once you're there type the following:

ro

the r stands for replace, and the o is the character we're substituting. If you use a backspace to change the character, you can kill the file. So don't. Now hit the escape key and type:

:wq

This tells vim to save and quit.

Just to check, type in our first command again and you should see that iPod Download has changed to iPod Downlood. The plug-in should now work again.

This takes about 30 seconds to do, and I just didn't want to download a hex editor.

If you're having a hard time finding iPod Download, I found a working link here. Get it while you can before Apple kills it.

Have fun kids.