This tutorial explains how to make your very own TTPod with the help of an app called alterPod. This tutorial is for Mac. I don't know if there is a Windoze version of alterPod, and I don't care enough to check. Be warned, though: altering the firmware of your iPod could potentially make it as useless as a pile of your mom's deep-fried boiled eggplant casserole, and I won't take responsibility if your iPod does just that. Proceed at your own risk. :)

Here's how you do it:

1. Download alterPod to your desktop after registering...it's free! (If you have any major problems with alterPod, you can post them in the podite's forums there. B) )
2. Plug in your iPod via the USB or Firewire plug...I would recommend FireWire because it's faster than USB.
3. Download Spunk's TTPod modification kit . (Right+click the link and select "Download Linked File As..." There should be 2 folders inside the main folder of the file: modpics and modtext. Move those folders into your Home folder.)
4. In your Home folder, make a new folder called "modpod." In the modpod folder, make 4 folders: firmware, modpics raw, modtext raw and resources.
5. Start up alterPod. You should see 4 tabs; Firmware, Updater, Resources, and Preparation. We will use all of these tabs except for Updater.
6. If the Firmware tab isn't selected, select it. Your iPod's name should be in the bar, if it isn't, click rescan or check your connections.
7. Click Choose next to Destination in the Backup box and go to your modpod folder. Go to your firmware folder and select Choose. Then, click extract. (alterPod has no progress bar, but the button stays highlighted until it is finished...this is because alterPod is alphaware and progress bars haven't been implemented as of yet O.o) A new file should appear in the firmware folder when alterPod is done. It should be called ipod_firmware_backup. Keep it there.
***IMPORTANT: EXTRACT YOUR FIRMWARE AGAIN INTO ANOTHER FOLDER AS A BACKUP IN CASE YOUR iPOD DIES. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!!***
8. Drag the modpics and modtext folders that you dragged into your Home into your modpod folder.
9. Let's go back to alterPod for a minute. Click on the Preparation tab and select Choose next to Source Folder in the Prepare Multiple Files box. Navigate to the modpics folder and choose it (not modpics raw , mind you). In Destination, choose modpics raw. Click Prepare. AlterPod then makes the images into a file type that the iPod can recognize...it usually takes a few seconds. Remember, there is no progress bar, so don't freak out if it looks like alterPod is frozen!
10. Next, click the Source Folder chooser and choose the modtext folder. For destination, choose modtext raw. Click prepare. AlterPod does the same thing that it did for the modpics.
11. Click on the Resources tab. In Write Resources, click on the Source Folder choose button and select the folder modpics raw . It is important that you choose the raw folder and not the un-raw folder, because the iPod won't recognize the regular modpics folder! For Firmware, navigate to your firmware folder and choose the ipod_firmware_backup file. Click Write. It will take a minute.
12. Now, just change the modpics raw folder to modtext raw on the Source Folder button and click write. Again, it will take a minute.
13. Go to the Firmware tab. In the Restore box, choose your ipod_firmware_backup file and click Restore. Make sure your iPod is hooked up! This will take the longest of all to completely load all the files. Just be patient - alterPod is not frozen!!
14. Once alterPod displays the message confirming that it's done loading the iPod, open up iTunes. Unmount your iPod. (I know you're smart enough to turn the Manually Manage Songs and Playlists selection on! :) )
15. Look! Your iPod is loading the firmware! Hopefully the startup icon is the Tank, but for people with the 4th Generation iPod (20 gigs and a scroll wheel like the iPod mini), it will be just the regular Apple logo. I'm trying to figure out how to make the 4th generation iPod display the Tank logo, but from what I've gathered, it's virtually impossible. O.o
16. Once your iPod has loaded the firmware, it will bring you back to the main menu. You should immediately notice new graphics and text, but take the time to explore! I did a lot more than you think. ;)

**Optional**: if you want to mod the iPod's pics and text for yourself, then...
1. Click the Resources tab. On Read Resources, select your Firmware in the first box, then in the second box, select the resources folder you created earlier.
2. Wait...it's extracting all of the iPod's images and text. It may take a while. Once it's done, there should be two folders inside your resources folder, ipod and ipod.raw. You can mod from the ipod folder, don't touch the ipod.raw folder. There should a VERY important item at the top of the ipod folder called alterpod-prep.txt. DON'T DELETE THAT FILE!! That tells alterPod where to put the images and text, and alterPod won't work without it. It should be inside both the modpics and modtext folders that you got from me, but if it isn't, option+drag it into both of them. (This creates a duplicate)
3. I would recommend using Lemke's GraphicConverter app for editing the iPod's files and browsing the folder. Open up GraphicConverter and go to File>Browse folder...and choose the new ipod folder with all of the images and text. GC is also a good choice because it recognizes that the iPod's files are only in black and white, so it gives you a choice of shades of grey. If you have an iPod Photo (lucky bastard :P ) you can use colors, but don't go overboard. (ex only go for 256 colors at the most) You also can't change the size of the image, it should have the same dimensions as the original. Ex if it's a 100x100 image, keep it 100x100 and don't change it to 99x100. Make sure to save the pictures as a pg m file, not pp m.
4. All of the text files are below the images. Open them with TextEdit and save them to your modtext folder. Try to keep them the same length as the original; if they're too long, it won't really work that well. O.o

If you have any problems regarding the alterPod, my dmg file, your life, altering of iPod's files and text, where to get GraphicConverter, suggestions for iPod themes etc complain here. It's always a pleasure of mine to help the PTT community!

If you guys would like, I can do requests for themes for your iPod if you can't do pixel work in Photoshop...just post your Skype name and we can talk about what theme you want me to do on Skype. Also, with Skype I can directly send you the dmg file of the theme's images and text after I'm done with it. :)

I hope this tutorial was useful to everyone brave enough to try it!

Oh Spunky, this is really a gem. This is so awesome it's impossible! Wow, I'm bookmarking this page... B)

WHAT DOES IT DO?

Lol now I want an iPod.

@Chilled

Thanks man! I appreciate it. B)

@Racer

It changes the iPod's graphics and text to a ThinkTanks theme. :)

Cool idea!

I have an iPod Shuffle, so no good for me. (No screen on it...)

^ poor guy. Why not splurge for a 3rd or 2nd generation iPod? You can get them pretty cheap nowadays. B)

I like the flash based idea- no hard drive to bang around when hiking...

The iPod's hard drive is skip-protected, and from what I can tell, it can go for longer than 20 minutes without skipping. I have a one-hour song and I played all of it on the dirt roads back to our French apartment and it never skipped once. This drive was a really bumpy one, too...like someone had installed hydraulics into our car and put it onto "insane hip bounce mode."

But...back to the topic at hand. Anyone besides Chilled willing and able to try it? It's quite amazing once you do! :)