Chosen Solution
I love my 2gb white 1st gen iPod nano, that being said I was sad when I lost it four years ago and just recently found it. when plugged it only gives a white screen. I’m 95% sure that the logic board is dead as it makes a quiet humming noise as well and I can not get it to read off of my computer. However, I bought it with 350ish songs on it that I really like and are now nostalgic to me and I don’t want to lose them and I can not put them back on there as I don’t own them and I can’t remember all the songs on there. So is there any way I can save them? Could I even take the drive and plug it into a different logic board, or is that even possible because there are two screws holding it in and looks to only be held in with adhesive besides the screws? So is there anyway and I mean ANYWAY that I could save my childhood? Thank you so much for reading and have an amazing day/night or whenever your reading this
Based on the age of the iPod, they’re probably FairPlay .m4p files or 64-128kbps Limewire files. The FairPlay files are encrypted and you need to know the Apple ID to decrypt them and get the key. When it comes to Limewire files, the files were usually low bitrate because of how many low storage MP3 players were on the market due to flash cost; the iPod and Rio (HDD based) players were the only ones with lots of storage at the time. Unless you know the Apple ID or can crack the FairPlay encryption with the keys on the iPod (DMCA issues when it comes to brute force), the DRM songs are gone. The Limewire files aren’t worth the effort. Your best bet is if you really, really wanted to is to move the flash chip to a matched capacity Nano from the era, but these are also prone to battery issues and a lot of them exploded or were replaced with later models so it can be quite hard to find one to transplant the chip on. Your best bet is to pick the ones you want the most, buy the CD with it and then rip it so you truly own the songs without purchaser metadata as required by the record labels or more DRM.
