ShuffleDrop

A free, open-source Windows music manager for iPod Shuffle — without iTunes.

Browse music already on your player, add MP3 files, listen on your computer, export songs, and arrange playback order. Includes light and dark themes. The app and installer are in English.

Download for Windows · Lietuviška instrukcija · Report a problem

Install

1. Open the release page above and download ShuffleDrop-Setup-0.3.1.exe.
2. Run the installer, then open ShuffleDrop from the Start menu.
3. Connect an already initialized iPod Shuffle. Existing songs appear in Library.
4. Open Add music, choose MP3 files, then select Transfer to iPod.
5. Use Windows to safely eject the player when finished.

The installer includes all app libraries and installs for the current user without administrator rights. Requires .NET Framework 4.7.2 or later on Windows. Windows N editions may need Microsoft's Media Feature Pack for audio preview. The release is not digitally signed.

A portable ZIP is also available on the release page: extract the entire folder before running ShuffleDrop.exe.

Features

• Existing library with title, artist, album, duration, size, and search.
• MP3 import using a file picker, folders, or drag and drop; identical file contents are skipped.
• Computer playback with play/pause, seek, volume, and embedded album artwork.
• Export selected songs to the computer with readable filenames.
• Remove songs with verified local recovery copies; undo the most recent operation.
• Reorder songs for sequential playback and explicitly save the order.
• Light/dark theme and an original app icon.

Compatibility and current limits

Experimental release: keep a separate copy of important music before changing the player. Simulated transfers, removals, reordering, and recovery are tested in temporary folders. Existing music and the legacy database have been read from a real second-generation Shuffle. Playback of newly transferred music on physical hardware has not yet been verified. Third/fourth-generation compatibility is based on published formats and synthetic tests, not hardware validation.

• Supports legacy first/second-generation and modern third/fourth-generation iTunesSD layouts on an already initialized FAT/FAT32 player.
• Does not initialize, format, restore firmware, or repair an unsupported device.
• Battery percentage is not supported. The app shows this explicitly rather than estimating a value.
• Imports MP3 only. No FLAC/M4A conversion, tag editing, or creation of new playlists.
• Does not generate new VoiceOver announcements.
• Removal from mixed third/fourth-generation podcast/audiobook libraries is not supported.
• Updates iTunesSD, not iTunesDB; a later sync through iTunes or another manager can replace the library.
• Playback order applies in sequential mode, not random shuffle mode.
• Recovery covers the latest operation and depends on backups on the same computer and Windows account. Later operations replace the recovery point. Interrupted imports can leave unlisted audio files; automatic cleanup is not implemented.

Backups are stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ShuffleDrop\Backups; transaction records are stored under iPod_Control\ShuffleDrop\transactions on the player. Backups are not automatically deleted. Uninstalling preserves local backups and preferences.

Build from source

Use Windows PowerShell with .NET Framework 4.7.2 or newer installed:

.\restore-dependencies.ps1
.\build.ps1
.\tests\run.ps1

The restore script downloads pinned official NuGet packages and verifies each runtime DLL against dependency-hashes.json. The build uses the Windows .NET Framework C# compiler and produces dist\ShuffleDrop.exe with required libraries and notices. The default tests use generated local fixtures and do not require an iPod.

For the installer, obtain the NSIS 3.13 portable ZIP from the official NSIS download page, extract it so tools\nsis-3.13\Bin\makensis.exe exists, and run:

.\build-installer.ps1

The installer and SHA-256 file appear in releases. Optional UITests.cs and AudioTests.cs are local interactive/device smoke tests, separate from the default suite. Do not submit music, device databases, serial numbers, or backups with bug reports.

Contributing

Bug reports, hardware compatibility reports, translations, and pull requests are welcome. Include the Shuffle generation, Windows version, app version, and whether importing, on-device playback, and recovery were tested. Remove personal information from logs or screenshots.

Broader physical-device testing and accessibility improvements would be useful contributions. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License and acknowledgments

ShuffleDrop is free to use, modify, and share under the MIT license. No subscription or paid activation is required. Third-party components retain their own licenses:

Component	Version	License
TagLibSharp	2.3.0	LGPL-2.1-only
Krypton.Toolkit	90.25.2.55	BSD-3-Clause
NAudio.Core / NAudio.Wasapi	2.2.1	MIT
NSIS installer runtime	3.13	See bundled NSIS notices

Notices and TagLibSharp corresponding source/build files are in third-party. The TagLibSharp DLL is separate and replaceable with a compatible custom build; debugging modifications to that library is permitted. Original format references and attribution are in SOURCES.md.

ShuffleDrop is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple. iPod and iTunes are Apple trademarks.