Revival of my old iPod Touch 2nd Gen device; Useful pocket scripture, including Hindu scripture, ebook reader

Last updated on 1st October 2017

After I got onto JioFi 3 router, a device providing 4G Internet via WiFi, I took out my old iPod Touch 2nd Gen device which I had virtually stopped using after Bhagawan Mahasamadhi in April 2011. From Dec. 2009 till Bhagawan Mahasamadhi, I was using the device primarily as a pocket scripture ebook reader which I would take with me (in my pocket) to Sai Kulwant Hall and read scripture on it while waiting for Bhagavan's darshan. I was quite a scripture reading freak then - Hindu scripture mainly but with some Christian scripture too, and occasional Islamic scripture. Bhagawan Mahasamadhi and ensuing chaos, confusion and trauma changed all that for me. Hopefully I will get back to my scripture reading freak mode in the near future. I have lined up reading Bhagavat Purana full version (unabridged) which has accounts of many Hindu avatars, and located an Internet based source providing Sanskrit text (which I don't really understand but can read and guess some of it) as well as English translation. But now I will be reading it at home and so may do that reading mainly, if not wholly, on my 22 inch desktop TFT/LCD monitor (and not the pocket display iPodTouch).

The iPodTouch device provides a facility to browse the Internet through WiFi Internet. So I brought it out of storage in a table drawer and wanted to check whether this device works with JioFi 3 router.

The device had to be plugged into USB port of the computer to power its battery which was at zero state (or close to it). But it started charging the battery without any hiccups! After some time it was up and running. That was a pleasant surprise. Further it sensed the JioFi 3 router WiFi network and connected to it on providing the password.  I could then browse the Internet using its built-in Safari browser as well an Opera Mini browser app that I had set up on it (in 2009).

One major issue that I faced now (Sept. 2017) was that iTunes latest version downloaded and installed on my computer, did not list the apps on the old iPod Touch. Further the iOS related to this 2nd Gen ipod Touch device (ver 4.2.1) is too old for the newer version apps put on the Apple App Store. The older version apps are not shown on App Store. Effectively, iTunes only allows me to view my iPodTouch (through iTunes) as a music player but not as a device that can install and run apps.

[1st Oct. 2017 update: I should also mention that the iPodTouch has an iTunes as well as an AppStore app. Both the apps run and connect to Apple website. So here I am not using iTunes program on desktop computer but am using the ipodTouch directly to connect to Apple website. But the AppStore lists the latest version Apps (and not older versions of the apps which may run iOS 4.2.1). On downloading such latest version apps, during install they give an error that they need a higher version iOS to run! For example, I downloaded the UC Browser App (Free) from the AppStore on the iPodTouch directly (without using iTunes on desktop computer) but it tripped up on install saying that it needed iOS version 7.0 or higher! BTW iOS 4.2.1 version is the highest that will run on the iPodTouch 2nd Gen, and so I cannot update the iOS on it to a higher version.

The older version of UC browser which will run iOS 4.2.1 is available for download from here: http://www.ucweb.com/wor/prd/prd/apple-iPodTouch(iOS4)-xz-15263.html. But then how does one install it, as the iPod Touch by default does not have a mechanism to do such installation of programs outside of its standard interface which is tied to Apple's AppStore? This is the classic lock-in of customer to Apple App Store by Apple. Not so pleasant and not so fair to the customer, I think. But such is life! The goodies of Apple have this lock-in issue.

This is where 3rd party programs (or something technically complex called jail-breaking which is more into hacking zone which I prefer to not get into) comes into play. Some of these 3rd party programs do claim to provide the facility to install apps on iPodTouch using the install files (.ipa files). But I am somewhat scared to try them for apps installation. What if the iPod Touch gets messed up? Then I may get really stuck as Apple official software like iTunes does not provide any support now for 2nd Gen iPod Touch. So I am very hesitant to use 3rd party programs to install apps into my old iPod Touch. end-update]

Fortunately I got some 3rd party programs from the Internet which could list the apps on the device and allowed me to extract the app files from it to create a backup. Most of my apps are free apps and I had not backed up those apps presuming that I could download them from App Store when needed! I had backups of two app files which were paid apps/books. 'Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba - The Man and the Avatar: An Interpretation by V K Gokak', https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/bhagavan-sri-sathya-sai-baba/id468051148, is one of the paid ebooks I have on it (but I have an older version of the ebook; current version will not run on my old iPod Touch).

This activity took me down memory lane to the blog posts I had made about using this iPodTouch as a scripture reader in 2009. At that time I was blogging anonymously under the name 'Gabbar Singh' with my blog being gabbarsing.blogspot.com (which I later renamed to its present name of ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com). I think this blog was my first social media writer activity with the first post dated 15th Aug. 2007 being a user review of a TFT/LCD monitor I had bought then. Note that at that time I was offering free service as a Systems Manager, software lab. course teacher and M.Tech. project technical consultant in the Sai university in Puttaparthi.

I have included below links to three relevant posts and some pics from them:

1) Viewing Sanskrit/Hindi documents on ipod Touch/iPhone, http://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2009/12/viewing-sanskrithindi-documents-on-ipod.html, 6th Dec. 2009.

Note that the ipodTouch pics below are a little fuzzy (as both the camera and the photographer - me, were not really good at that task). The pics following the ipodTouch pics are screenshots of the ipodTouch display (if I recall correctly) which is how crisp the ipodTouch display was (and still is). The iPod Touch (2nd Gen) was an amazing device then which is still useful to me now.

2) Affordable Pocket ebook Reader for Sanskrit/Hindi/English, http://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2009/12/affordable-pocket-ebook-reader-for.html, 9th Dec. 2009

First set of verses from the RigVeda (the first Veda) are shown in the pics below. One pic is of a Symbian (Nokia phone OS) emulator and another is from Firefox browser on computer (not pocket device).

3) Setting up ipod Touch to be a Pocket ebook Reader, http://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2009/12/setting-up-ipod-touch-to-be-pocket.html, 14th Dec. 2009.