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Internal Tool

Spindle

Got an old iPod full of music you can't get back? Spindle pulls every track off it and rebuilds your library on your Mac — clean names, intact tags, sorted into Artist / Album / Track folders. No iTunes sync, no lost songs.

🖥️ Runs locally on your Mac · desktop app

What it does

  • Rescues locked-in music. iPods scramble filenames into folders like F04/ABCD.mp3. Spindle reads the tags hidden inside each file and puts the real song back together.
  • Clean, organized output. Every rip lands in a dated folder, sorted into Artist / Album / ## - Title — ready to drop into Music, Rekordbox, or a DJ crate.
  • Lossless by default. Copies your exact original files. Optional one-click convert-everything-to-MP3 (320k) when you need universal format.
  • Smart & safe. Auto-detects the iPod's hidden music folder, skips DRM-protected tracks it can't legally rip, and lets you filter and hand-pick before you copy.

Spindle is a desktop app built in-house at Media Wave SD for our own archive work — digitizing old iPods, salvaging client audio, and rebuilding music libraries. It runs on your own machine and only touches the drives you point it at. Featured here as a build; want a copy for your own iPod? Get in touch.

Electron Node.js music-metadata ffmpeg macOS

Interface preview

SPINDLE — iPod → your Mac
/Volumes/IPOD
~/Music/iPod_rip_2026-07-09
Scan for music1,284 tracks found
TitleArtistType
ClocksColdplaym4a
The MiddleJimmy Eat Worldmp3
Such Great HeightsThe Postal Servicem4a
Rip selected →