DiamondBond/q2-pod: Shanling Q2 Pod firmware mod

iPod classic experience for the Shanling Q2.
Wheel navigation, Coverflow, PEQ, and optional Spotify and Rockbox, all built on top of the stock firmware.

Download · Install · User guide · Changelog

Features

• iPod UI: Home, menus, Now Playing, Coverflow and four visualizers. Choose your accent colour, Home layout and battery display.
• Wheel navigation: smooth scrolling, and menus remember your place.
• EQ: Simple's Low, Mid and High sliders, or Advanced's parametric EQ with up to 30 bands and a live curve. Import AutoEQ and Equalizer APO presets.
• Streaming: Spotify (Premium): browse your library, search, play and download playlists on the Q2 after a one-time pairing from your phone; AirPlay from your iPhone, and Internet Radio.
• Scrobbling: send your listens to Last.fm or ListenBrainz over Wi-Fi.
• Ratings: rate songs and albums 0–5 hearts, then browse Top Rated, Loved and rated albums.
• Browsing and playback: favourites, playlists, Most Played, Long Songs, Crossfade, and shuffle by song, album or folder.
• Podcasts and audiobooks: .m4b audiobooks (including ones split by a CUE sheet) and podcasts resume where you stopped, with per-folder playback speed, and audiobooks stay out of Library shuffle.
• AirPods: stem controls, ear detection and two-way volume sync.
• Battery: an optional 80% charge limit, Low Power mode, and a Standby limit that powers off a Q2 left asleep.

Install

Requirements: a Q2 with a microSD card, a USB-C cable and a computer with internet.

Optional: The user guide.

[!IMPORTANT]

Charge the Q2 before you start. Only insert or remove the microSD card while the Q2 is fully shut down (not asleep), or the card can be corrupted.

> Flashing firmware carries risk. Back up anything on the card you can't lose before you start.

1. Download update.tar from the latest release.
2. Plug the Q2 into your computer with the USB-C cable. The card shows up as a drive.
3. Copy update.tar to the root of the card (not inside a folder), then eject and unplug.
4. Update: open System settings → System Update → TF card update. Leave the card in until the Q2 restarts.

[!TIP]

Prefer Shanling's original look? Download update-legacy.tar instead, then rename update-legacy.tar to update.tar before you copy it to the card. It has the same features and fixes, without the iPod UI.

Extras

• Spotify (optional, Premium): unzip q2-librespot-*.zip from q2-librespot's latest release (v1.3 or later to browse on the Q2, v1.6 to download playlists) to the card's root. Then open Streaming → Spotify on the Q2 and, the first time, pick it in the Spotify app on your phone on the same Wi-Fi. More.
• Scrobbling: connect Last.fm or ListenBrainz with the user guide.
• Lock screen: six built-in wallpapers, a large clock, or your own images (user guide).
• Boot logo: put your own JPEG at /Q2Pod/boot/boot-logo.jpg on the card. It shows from the next power-on (user guide).
• Rockbox (optional): a separate player. Unzip rockbox.zip to the card's root only if you want it. Hold Play/Pause while powering on to use Q2 Pod for that session. See the setup guide and ported themes.

Controls

| Control | Action | | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Wheel | Scroll. Spin faster to speed up. Adjust a slider when one is open. | | Centre | Open the selected item. Double-press to turn the screen off. | | Hold Play/Pause | View the playing queue, or open track, playlist and shuffle/repeat options. | | Hold Return | Jump to Now Playing; hold again to go back. Display can make it go Home. |

The user guide covers every control, EQ, Coverflow and more tips.

Library

Copy your music to the card over USB-C, then run Library → Update Local Music on the Q2.

These folders at the card's root each add their own Library entry: Podcasts/, Audiobooks/, Photos/, Books/ and Videos/; EQ/ holds EQ presets to import. See the user guide for supported formats.

On iPod, Library → Games has Sudoku, Vortex and Solitaire, playable while music plays.

Settings, play counts, ratings and resume points are stored on the Q2 itself, so they stay put when you swap cards.

Updating

Repeat the install steps with the newest release. Your settings, ratings and play counts are kept. The updater skips a version that's already installed, so a newer release always goes on.

Or, over Wi-Fi: System settings → System Update → Network Update downloads the newest release to the card's update.tar, replacing any that's there, then opens the TF card update's confirmation. Press the row again to cancel the download.

Restoring stock firmware

• Back to Shanling's firmware: install the official Shanling firmware the same way.
• If the Q2 won't start up: copy the recovery-update folder from Shanling's recovery package to the card, then hold Previous and power on with Centre.

Help

• Question or suggestion? Please join the Discord.
• Bugs: Please open an issue.

Documentation

• For users: User guide · Setup · Changelog
• For developers: Building · Releasing · Internals · Remote control (dev builds)

License

MIT covers this repository's code and docs. The Shanling firmware included in release images remains Shanling's. Q2 Pod is an independent project and is not affiliated with Shanling.

Support

Q2 Pod is free and built in spare time. If it has made your Q2 better and you'd like to give something back, you can support development on Ko-fi. If that isn't an option, please consider donating to a good cause instead ❤️