14 DAY TRIAL // AriX, a guy who helped “the amazing Geohot” release his Purplera1n iPhone 3Gs jailbreak for Mac OS X, claims to have written a script that generates a URL to the 3.0 IPSW for the iPod touch for free download. Apple only allows iPod touch owners to download and install the new software after confirming their device model with iTunes and paying a $9.95 fee.
Labeled iPod1,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw and iPod2,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw, the two software update files are for first- and second-generation iPod touch devices. To get the update, the legal way, users must connect their device to iTunes on their computer (Mac or PC) using the provided USB cable, and use the software update method offered by the program. The user, with a valid Apple ID (and credit card), is automatically charged the $9.95 upgrade fee. Only after these requirements are met can the iPod touch owner get the appropriate IPSW file for his or her device. By providing direct download to the OS 3.0 IPSW files, AriX has eliminated the need to authenticate with iTunes and, implicitly, pay the upgrade fee imposed by Apple.
“If you’d like to download 3.0 for the iPod touch without the $9.95 fee, I just wrote a quick script that generates a URL to the 3.0 IPSW for the iPod touch for your downloading pleasure,” AriX wrote in a blog post last month. The blogger’s post also contains a message addressing Apple. “Apple, if you don’t like this, feel free to ask me to take it down,” he says. As noted above, AriX helped GeoHot roll out the Mac version of Purplera1n, a jailbreak tool for the iPhone 3G S.
Readers should note that Softpedia does not condone jailbreaking & unlocking Apple’s iPhone or iPod touch devices. Softpedia also advises against downloading restore / update IPSWs for iPod touch that are not provided directly by Apple, via iTunes (the only legal way to update your iPod touch software). This article has a purely informational purpose and doesn’t, in any way, suggest that readers should download OS 3.0 for the iPod touch from WinXBlog.